Greta West Stud owners Laurie and John McCarthy operate a thriving agistment business apart from standing three stallions and its paddocks have been the launching pad for recent Group 1 winners The Quarterback and Le Romain.
The Quarterback’s victory in the G1 Newmarket Hcp was a feel-good result for trainer Robbie Griffiths. “He spelled here for four months last winter,” Laurie McCarthy recalled. “Robbie said he really strengthened through that break and it helped him come back so successfully.”
Greta West lies in a catchment area renowned for steady rainfall in the north-east of Victoria. It’s a relaxed environment and horses thrive in the spacious, fertile paddocks.
NSW owner-breeders Mark and Tony Carusi board their mares with the McCarthy brothers and among them is Mignard, the dam of Le Romain, who graduated to a Group 1 victory in the Randwick Guineas on March 5. The Hard Spun gelding is rated a $7 chance by bookies to double up in the G1 Rosehill Guineas this Saturday.
“Le Romain was born and raised here,” McCarthy said. “He went across to Tal Nolen at Benalla to be educated and then came back home before going up to Kris Lees.
“Mark and Tony are good clients and we’ve walked Mignard on to Darley for the last three years. She has a yearling filly by Domesday, a filly on the ground by Kuroshio and is back in foal to Kuroshio.”
Greta West Stud’s agistment rates for broodmares, yearlings and weanlings are $16 daily while spellers are $18. For further details, call Laurie McCarthy (0410 476 196) or John McCarthy (0414 346 749).