He won a single Group II sprint race, but being bred for speed proved a top 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. Bletchingly was a powerful horse, standing 15.3hh with a good shoulder, 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.

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 and proved to have some real speed about him. 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. It was his only ever start the right hand way (NSW) of going. 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) 

Entering Widden Stud in the spring of 1975, 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 Kingston Town, who was named Australia's champion racehorse in 1980. Subsequent crops included 1984's champion Emancipation, the Golden Slipper winners Star Watch (1988), Canny Lad (1990), and the Group One winners Canny Lass (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. 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 August.

RACE RECORD - 5: 4-1-0

EARNINGS - A$28,725

The Galaxy Handicap (1975)