Umatilla’s wonderful race record saw him become the first cornerstone in what is now Australia’s most pre-eminent family. He leads off a roll call of high class racehorses and stallions under his dam that include Redoute’s Choice, Hurricane Sky, Al Maher and Platinum Scissors.

From day one Umatilla has defied convention. Bred to southern time in the northern hemisphere, he travelled in utero from Kentucky to New Zealand where he was foaled down. The first foal of his dam, the Nijinsky mare Dancing Show, Umatilla didn’t fit the generalisation related to a first foal either. He was a ‘moose’ who couldn’t support himself for days and spent the first week of his life in splints! As a yearling he travelled to Melbourne where he was sold to the very astute US breeder Bill duPont who entrusted his training to leading Flemington mentor Tommy Hughes. And still the Miswaki colt bucked the system! As a two-year-old he raced 12 times in four different States, winning in three of them and only missing the frame once. That was in the nations richest two-year-old race, the Golden Slipper Stakes!

Umatilla’s wonderful race record saw him become the first cornerstone in what is now Australia’s most pre-eminent family. He leads off a roll call of high class racehorses and stallions under his dam that include Redoute’s Choice, Hurricane Sky, Al Maher and Platinum Scissors. Rising 19 this season Umatilla remains a great favourite on the farm. A kind temperament and a cheeky disposition when there’s a crowd to act up to, there would be few stables in the country unfamiliar with the toughness of the breed. While fashion waxes and wanes, Umatilla lets his progeny do the talking on the racetrack. Retired to Blue Gum farm in 1993, he is the sire of 338 winners from 554 runners, returning the excellent winners-to-runners ratio of 61%. To date we credit Umatilla with 27 Stakes-winners and over $27 million in progeny earnings, figures any Stud Manager would gladly take if guaranteed when their new First Season Sire walked through the front gates. Umatilla’s Group 1 winners are five; Valedictum, Umrum, Umah, Streak and Bohemiath and collectively their Group 1 winning distance ranges from 1,200 to 3,200 metres.

As a Broodmare Sire, Umatilla is heading down the same path as his own illustrious sire Miswaki who is responsible for the dams of over 120 Stakes winners worldwide. During April Umatilla notched another Stakes winner to take his tally to six after the astute Adelaide trainer Philip Stokes presented a first-up winner in a two-year-old Stakes race at Morphettville. That horse, a filly named Faslina, is by Fasliyev out of Umatilla’s former very smart racemare Umaline, a winner of the 2001 Group 2 Swettenham Stud Stakes, now a Group 1 race called the Robert Sangster Stakes. From the gates Faslina jumped smartly and led throughout to post a memorable maiden victory in the Listed South Australia Stakes over 1,050 metres. “She’s a filly with a real future,” said Stokes after the race. “She didn’t have an official trial but we knew she was pretty good having won a couple of jumpouts. There’s only two options for her now, either go to the Jansz or the paddock and be aimed at the spring.” We’ll be watching with interest to see which course he takes.

Heading into his 15th season in 2007, Umatilla’s fertility has always been terrific. He is in excellent health, a credit to our Stallion Manager James Nurcombe, and for a stallion with his record, he represents remarkable value at a fee of just $5,000 plus GST.