Tasmania lacks the quantity and the quality of both racehorses and breeding stock residing in the mainland states of Australia, but the state has a rich history even so. One doesn’t usually have to wait too long for another top-liner to emerge from the island, with its recent champions including 1972 Melbourne Cup winner  http://www.thoroughbredinternet.com/pedigree.html?id=539869" rel="nofollow - Piping Lane  and 1990 Caulfield Cup winner  http://www.thoroughbredinternet.com/pedigree.html?id=683216" rel="nofollow - Sydeston (both of whom were, admittedly, trained on the mainland - at Epsom in Victoria by George Hanlon and Bob Hoysted respectively - by the time that they enjoyed his finest hours). One of the stars of the past spring in Melbourne was the hugely popular Tasmanian hero  http://www.thoroughbredinternet.com/pedigree.html?id=2425324" rel="nofollow - The Cleaner . Another current high-class Tasmanian galloper is 2010 Tasmanian Derby winner  http://www.thoroughbredinternet.com/pedigree.html?id=2403990" rel="nofollow - Geegees Blackflash , who has compiled a magnificent record on the island, highlighted by his excellent achievement of finishing in the frame in the Launceston Cup in five consecutive seasons, including winning the race in both 2013 and 2015. Current Tasmanian Derby winner  http://www.thoroughbredinternet.com/pedigree.html?id=2441220" rel="nofollow - Geegees Classicboy , another protégé of Gee Gees Horse Stud near Broadmarsh, now ranks as a potential Group winner, which is great news for his owner/breeders Paul and Elizabeth Geard who stand his sire  http://www.thoroughbredinternet.com/pedigree.html?id=2382686" rel="nofollow - Wordsmith , writes John Berry.

It is hard for Tasmanian studs to hold on to good stallions, bearing in mind that the financial clout held by successful studs on the mainland generally proves irresistible. The most distinguished stallion to have stood in Tasmania in recent years,  http://www.thoroughbredinternet.com/pedigree.html?id=2341946" rel="nofollow - Silent Witness ’ sire  http://www.thoroughbredinternet.com/pedigree.html?id=1171171" rel="nofollow - El Moxie , was relocated to Victoria once he had started to do well. On the other hand, The Cleaner’s sire, the impeccably-bred British maiden-race winner  http://www.thoroughbredinternet.com/pedigree.html?id=615923" rel="nofollow - Savoire Vivre , did consistently well at Armidale Stud without quite attracting enough attention for a stud in either Victoria or New South Wales to make his connections an offer which they could not refuse. It will be interesting to see what the future holds for Wordsmith, who is still aged only 11 and who has made an excellent start to his stud career.

In general, stallions blessed with both a top-class racing record and a smart pedigree do not begin their stud careers in Tasmania. In fact, top-class horses rarely retire to stud there, irrespective of their lineage. Some of the island’s recruits tend to be well-bred under-performers like Savoir Vivre, while some fall into Wordsmith’s category: good tough racehorses who did not quite make it to the top, and who have adequate but unspectacular pedigrees.

While no one would claim that Wordsmith was a champion on the racecourse, at the same time nobody could dispute that he was a good horse. Trained out of town at Yarra Glen by Shane Nichols, he proved himself an excellent two-year-old in the 2005/’06 season, breaking his maiden over 1000m at Werribee before recording two metropolitan victories later in the season, including scoring over 1000m at Flemington. He was not, however, merely a one-dimensional sprinter, and his final success of the season, over 1300m, gave his connections the confidence to set him for the Caulfield Guineas in the spring.

Unsurprisingly, Wordsmith couldn’t quite measure up the very best of his generation, but he was not far behind them. He ran a terrific race in the Caulfield Guineas, finishing fifth of the 13 runners, beaten just over three lengths by the Bart Cummings-trained winner  http://www.thoroughbredinternet.com/pedigree.html?id=2377035" rel="nofollow - Wonderful World , who won well with  http://www.thoroughbredinternet.com/pedigree.html?id=2377926" rel="nofollow - Excites , the favourite  http://www.thoroughbredinternet.com/pedigree.html?id=2380840" rel="nofollow - Court Command  and  http://www.thoroughbredinternet.com/pedigree.html?id=2376589" rel="nofollow - Churchill Downs  fighting out a three-way photo-finish for the minors. He kept going right up to the end of Melbourne’s Spring Carnival, signing off with a good third to  http://www.thoroughbredinternet.com/pedigree.html?id=2382520" rel="nofollow - Sender  in the Sandown Guineas, before resuming with a terrific Group Three victory first-up in the autumn (ie late summer) under his regular jockey Steven KIng in The Debonair over 1200m at Moonee Valley, the race having been temporarily relocated from Flemington.

Sadly, that proved to be Wordsmith’s final victory, although he continued to run well. In the Group One Cadbury Guineas at Caulfield (another race temporarily relocated with Flemington being closed for refurbishment) five weeks later he could only finish eighth of the nine runners, but he appeared to run to a similar level of form as in the Caulfield Guineas, with Churchill Downs finishing a similar distance in front of him in sixth. That term’s Caulfield Guineas had not been a vintage one, but its Flemington autumnal equivalent was a classic, with the champion filly http://www.thoroughbredinternet.com/pedigree.html?id=2376861" rel="nofollow - Miss Finland  edging out  http://www.thoroughbredinternet.com/pedigree.html?id=2377586" rel="nofollow - Casino Prince  and the top-class NZer  http://www.thoroughbredinternet.com/pedigree.html?id=2375619" rel="nofollow - Jokers Wild  in a thrilling finish, with subsequent superstars  http://www.thoroughbredinternet.com/pedigree.html?id=2380706" rel="nofollow - Haradasun  and  http://www.thoroughbredinternet.com/pedigree.html?id=2382266" rel="nofollow - Efficient  following the principals home.

Wordsmith remained in training as a four-year-old in the 2007/’08 season, but sadly he failed to build on his earlier achievements, and ultimately retired with a record of four wins and two minor placings from 17 starts, with earnings in excess of quarter of a million dollars.

Had Wordsmith been blessed with a stellar pedigree, his form would have been good enough to see him established at stud on the mainland. As it was, though, he had proved himself to be the best horse in his immediate family, so he had no celebrated relatives to plead his cause with studmasters for him – hence his eventually settling in Tasmania. What he does have, though, is a pedigree which entitles him to be exactly what he was: an above-average multiple winner. Such horses abound in his family. His first four dams have all produced large numbers of winners, with his second dam  http://www.thoroughbredinternet.com/pedigree.html?id=482581" rel="nofollow - Nahema  (a stakes-placed winner in Adelaide) having bred eight winners from eight runners, including the city winners Beats A Duck and  http://www.thoroughbredinternet.com/pedigree.html?id=2367714" rel="nofollow - Vavoom  (who, like her mother, has proved a very good broodmare). His dam, the seven-time winner  http://www.thoroughbredinternet.com/pedigree.html?id=2382685" rel="nofollow - Way With Words , was also a good producer. Although Wordsmith is her best son, he is not her winning-most son, his Archway half-brother Anyways having won 13 times including metropolitan races in Melbourne and Adelaide.

Way With Words, incidentally, is a daughter of the first Ballydoyle-trained grandson of Northern Dancer to bear the name  http://www.thoroughbredinternet.com/pedigree.html?id=2330217" rel="nofollow - Yeats , with this one (trained by Vincent rather than Aidan) being best known for siring the 1988 Cox Plate winner  http://www.thoroughbredinternet.com/pedigree.html?id=515121" rel="nofollow - Our Poetic Prince  rather than for winning four Ascot Gold Cups.

Similarly, Wordsmith’s sire  http://www.thoroughbredinternet.com/pedigree.html?id=697497" rel="nofollow - Testa Rossa  is an asset to anyone wanting to breed fast, tough winners, but has never been anything like an automatic ticket to a stud career. A son of Sadler’s Wells’ three-parts brother  http://www.thoroughbredinternet.com/pedigree.html?id=1820901" rel="nofollow - Perugino , Testa Rossa was a terrific racehorse, best remembered for his succession of duels with his peer and arch-rival  http://www.thoroughbredinternet.com/pedigree.html?id=575341" rel="nofollow - Redoute's Choice , whom he chased home in a magnificent edition of the Caulfield Guineas in 1999 with  http://www.thoroughbredinternet.com/pedigree.html?id=154519" rel="nofollow - Commands  and  http://www.thoroughbredinternet.com/pedigree.html?id=539436" rel="nofollow - Pins  just behind them. He has subsequently sired stacks of winners and has over 50 individual stakes winners to his credit, the best of whom has probably been the terrific internationally successful sprinting mare  http://www.thoroughbredinternet.com/pedigree.html?id=2394868" rel="nofollow - Ortensia .

When Wordsmith initially retired to Gees Gees Horse Stud, he was basically only covering the Geards’ own mares. However, once his small first crop (which numbered 16) started to run in Tasmania in the 2012/’13 season, it became apparent to a wider audience that he really did have plenty to offer as a stallion.

The NSW-based celebrities  http://www.thoroughbredinternet.com/pedigree.html?id=2395699" rel="nofollow - Northern Meteor  and  http://www.thoroughbredinternet.com/pedigree.html?id=2390597" rel="nofollow - Sebring  were Australia’s dominant first-season sires in the 2012/’13 season, but in his own understated way Wordsmith was quietly putting together figures equally impressive, albeit at a much lower level which reflected the fact that his mares were of a very different calibre to the blue-bloods which the principals had been covering. A late-season double at Launceston courtesy of  http://www.thoroughbredinternet.com/pedigree.html?id=2426006" rel="nofollow - Geegees Velvet  and Geegees Hot Hussie meant that he had come up with five individual winners from only 12 runners. Furthermore, his progeny collectively had a creditable amount of stakes form to their names, with Geegees Velvet and  http://www.thoroughbredinternet.com/pedigree.html?id=2426009" rel="nofollow - Gee Gees Style  having filled the minor placings in both the Elwick Stakes in Hobart and the Gold Sovereign Stakes at Launceston.

With his eldest offspring now aged four, Wordsmith has continued to build on his promising start. His small second crop included last season’s stakes-placed juveniles  http://www.thoroughbredinternet.com/pedigree.html?id=2433771" rel="nofollow - Geegees Goldengirl  (who has subsequently been placed in both the Tasmanian Guineas and the Hobart Guineas) and http://www.thoroughbredinternet.com/pedigree.html?id=2433774" rel="nofollow - Geegees Doublejay , while the recent victory of the same crop’s Geegees Classicboy in the Tasmanian Derby over 2200m adds an extra dimension the CV of the stallion. Furthermore, three days after that Tasmanian Derby victory, Wordsmith enjoyed an even better day on the Hobart Cup card, recording a splendid treble courtesy of the four-year-old Geegees Soprano in a 1200m handicap, the two-year-old Gee Gees Top Notch in the Elwick Stakes (a Listed race over 1100m in which Wordsmith also sired the third, Gee Gees Vicki) and the aforementioned three-year-old Geegees Goldengirl in the Strutt Stakes, a Listed race over 2100m. With Geegees Blackflash landing the feature race on the programme, that really was a true red-letter day for the Geards.

Wordsmith’s success has meant that he has now made available to outside mares, at a fee of $2,500. It will be very interesting to see how he can fare if and when he has a larger representation of sons and daughters on the racecourse; but if the early evidence is anything to go by, he will continue to do very well.