USA Group 1 winner The Factor will shuttle to Newgate Farm this year and will stand for a fee of $22,000 (inc gst).

Newgate launched Foxwedge in 2012 and has already added high-class Australian prospects Sizzling and Eurozone to its roster this year.

“We stand horses we believe in and our formula is simply to stick to what works – fast, good-looking horses by potent stallions,” Newgate’s Henry Field said.  “They don’t get any faster than The Factor and we will be supporting him with many of our own Group I mares.”

The Factor (USA) stood his first season at Lane’s End Farm last year and his initial Kentucky-bred foals are on the ground in North America.  He is a son of War Front (Danzig) who has established himself as arguably the hottest sire in the world today with 28 stakes-winners – 5 of them at Group 1 level – and his oldest are just six year-olds.

Trained by Bob Baffert, The Factor was a brilliant 8 lengths juvenile winner at Santa Anita and returned as a three year-old to claim Group 1 victories in the Santa Anita Malibu Stakes (1400m) and Del Mar Pat O’Brien Stakes (1400m).

“Baffert described him a ‘freak’ and the fastest horse that he has ever trained,” Field said.  “He clocked 1.06.80s for 1200 metres and that makes him the fastest horse ever to stand in Australia at that distance.”

The Factor was a 2YO purchase for John Moynihan, the leading USA bloodstock agent who has been active in Australia at the sales this year.

Moynihan describes The Factor as ‘a rocket-ship’.  “He’s the fastest horse we’ve ever had,” Moynihan said.  “Physically he’s a 15 out of 10, he really does have the physical presence to match just how fast he was.

“Having looked at the champion stallions and racehorses in Australia, he’s tailor-made for the Australian market.”

THE FACTOR