In case you missed it, find below excerpts from Chris McGrath's overview of "Kentucky Value Sires 2020" from the January 20th TDN. He touches on so many great points on Astern we thought it worthy of publishing again:
"...Jonabell's 2018 newcomer Astern majored in Aussie speed - a good example, as such, of the overall diversity of the El Prado branch of the Sadler's Wells sire-line... Being a reverse shuttler, the son of Medaglia d'Oro is half a year ahead of the rest of this intake and recently sold one of his first Australian yearlings for AUS$725,000. They know his worth down there, having witnessed Group 1 wins both by Astern himself and his half-sister Alizee. Third and fourth dams also scored at the highest level, and in his homeland he commands double the fee he does here.
"...A couple of hundred mares through his first two Kentucky books will give him every chance to show whether his speed and cosmopolitan pedigree will work in this environment. There's absolutely no reason why they shouldn't - but I guess we know how culpably myopic breeders everywhere tend to be, about all such transferability. So while he is yet to get due recognition here, his third crop could end up riding a wave."
