He won a single Group II sprint race, but being bred for speed proved a champion sire at stud

BLETCHINGLY foaled in 1970 was an Australian sprinter and successful stallion. A brilliant speed merchant, he was by the successful speed stallion, BISCAY out of COOGEE (by Relic USA). Bletchingly was bred by Stanley Wootton on the Baramul Stud in the Widden Valley, and was a three-quarter brother to another high-class sprinter, BEACHES (by Todman). Stanley Wootton had imported Bletchingly's grandsire, STAR KINGDOM (IRE), from the United Kingdom in the 1950s, and the Irish stallion established Australia's foremost 20th century sireline.

In the 1969 breeding season, BISCAY covered 19 mares at 'Baramul', six of whom were subsequently exported to the USA in 1970. ZEPHYR BAY, BLETCHINGLY, SCARLET KINGDOM and TANGENT were among the products of this first crop.

BLETCHINGLY was a powerful looking horse, standing 15.3hh with good shoulders, but his back-end defied the breed. His hindquarters were those of a quarter horse, so broad and flat that ‘he could hardly fit through the stable door’. He was also terribly unsound with that ‘massive chest and hindquarters on billiard table legs’, according to an old Caulfield character.

BLETCHINGLY probably could have won a Golden Slipper or Blue Diamond as a two-year-old but broke down before he could get to the races after cracking both sesamoids. Angus’ foreman Mick Crawford rode him in work and managed to get him up and running. Because he was known as a ‘bleeder’ they were determined to prove he had the ability on the racetrack prior to the breeding barn. A horse like Bletchingly, could spring out of the gates and lead by a couple of lengths on the bit and then would pull up after the race and walk back like a stayer and that temperament would be passed down.

The colt only raced 5 times for 4 wins and 1 placing, and a low stakes return of $28,000. He was thought to be too small, but broke his maiden trained by Angus Armanasco and proved to have some real speed about him. The team knew Bletchingly was an extraordinary talent after a win at Headquarters.

Bletchingly's racing career coincided with a period when Armanasco was recognised as the preeminent juvenile trainer, ensuring constant scrutiny during early morning trackwork sessions at Caulfield. A few had noticed Bletchingly for sure as he went around at 6/4 ($2.50) in his debut at Bendigo. When he won at Flemington. Jockey Stan Aitken sat him in second and he won so easily running something like 56 seconds, which was the track record until they changed the distances from furlongs to metres.

The BISCAY influence undoubtedly contributed to the fleet-footedness of the colt, which only heightened his stallion prospects. Later, Bletchingly won his fifth and final race start in the then Gr.2 Galaxy Stakes (1100m) at Randwick in 1975 ahead of his half-brother, ZEPHYR BAY. It was his only ever start the right hand way (NSW) of going and he jumped from the widest gate.

Since then the race has been a linchpin for high class sprinters, having been won by LUSKIN STAR (1978), SNIPPETS (1988), MR TIZ (1991), SCHILLACI (1992), GOLD ACE (1996), RUSSIAN REVOLUTION (2017), NATURE STRIP (2019) and EDUARDO (2021).

He was far too unsound with dicky legs so was soon retired to stud with a service fee of $1500. Entering Widden Stud in the spring of 1976, Bletchingly was an immediate success. In his time, the brilliant Bletchingly stood alongside such horses as LUNCHTIME (GB), MARSCAY and VAIN. For three consecutive seasons he was Champion Sire of Australia, beginning in 1979 and bowing out to SIR TRISTRAM in 1982. His first crop included the amazing KINGSTON TOWN, who was named Australia's champion racehorse in 1980 and is considered one of the greatest thoroughbreds to ever grace the Australian turf.

Subsequent crops included 1984's champion EMANCIPATION who won 19 of her 28 starts at three and four, including six Group ones - the Golden Slipper winners STAR WATCH (1988), CANNY LAD (1990) (won three Gr.1 races), CORONATION DAY (two Gr.1 wins), BOARDWALK ANGEL, KENNY'S BEST PAL (VRC Australian Guineas), SPIRIT OF KINGSTON, (VRC Oaks), BEST WESTERN (AJC Spring Champion Stakes), TRUE VERSION and WRAP AROUND. He also produced the great New Zealand sprinter MR TIZ, winner of three consecutive Railway Handicaps at Ellerslie and also won The Galaxy in 1991, almost 16 years after his father had achieved the feat.

His progeny were also notable for winning over a variety of distances. So insistent was Bletchingly’s career at stud that he was once described as a ‘genetic furnace’, a horse whose progeny was world class. Along with SIR TRISTRAM, he is credited with sweeping revisions to the sirelines of the 1980s, and a stallion that would out-perform almost every other influence in a pedigree.

Bletchingly died on 13 July 1993 having sired 61 individual Group winners of 174 Group races. He is buried at Widden alongside MARSCAY, less than a valley away from where he was bred by Stanley Wootton at Baramul in 1970. Since his death, he has been a leading broodmare sire in Australia, with his daughters producing at least 18 individual Group One winners, including CHARGE FORWARD, BONANOVA, and STELLA CADENTE. In addition, one of his granddaughters, SHANTHA'S CHOICE (by Canny Lad), is the dam of the outstanding champion sire REDOUTE'S CHOICE.

Bletchingly is honoured through the annual running of the Bletchingly Stakes, a Group 3, weight-for-age race over 1100 metres at Caulfield in late July near the season's end.

RACE RECORD - 5: 4-1-0

EARNINGS - A$28,725

The Galaxy Handicap (1975)