Readers voted 64% to 35% that Elvstroem was more likely to succeed as a sire than half-brother Haradasun which surprised me as the poll was held straight after Haradasun's Royal Ascot victory. Don't ask me where the missing 1% has gone. As was proved on this blog a long time ago, my math isn't up to much.
Cast your vote in the new poll about Sunday's broodmare values.
Victoria Jumps Racing Petition
Commenting under one of my earlier posts, Execute Had the Killer Instinct, reader steph g wrote to make people aware of a petition being drawn up regarding the future of jumps racing in Victoria. If this subject is near and dear to you, you might like to follow up. Here's what steph g wrote:
I hope this doesn't seem to cheeky but I thought this particular blog was the one to post the link below.
As most of you would be aware our so called Minister For Racing has called for an immediate review of Jumps Racing in Victoria, and from what I can gather the letter had quite negative undertones. Anyway I could go on all day but I won't.
We are putting together a petition to hand to Parliament, so if anyone feels as strongly as I do about not losing Jumps Racing in Victoria it would be much appreciated if you would participate.
PETITION TO SAVE JUMPS RACING
http://www.mediafire.com/?jge0g3xv0dn
Print this as many times as you like, get as many signatures as you can, and send it to:
Daniel Bevan
5 Brentwood Drive
Avondale Heights
VIC 3034
This will be presented to Parliament in the week after the Hiskens, so get as many signatures and as much support for our great sport before then!
I hope this doesn't seem to cheeky but I thought this particular blog was the one to post the link below.
As most of you would be aware our so called Minister For Racing has called for an immediate review of Jumps Racing in Victoria, and from what I can gather the letter had quite negative undertones. Anyway I could go on all day but I won't.
We are putting together a petition to hand to Parliament, so if anyone feels as strongly as I do about not losing Jumps Racing in Victoria it would be much appreciated if you would participate.
PETITION TO SAVE JUMPS RACING
http://www.mediafire.com/?jge0g3xv0dn
Print this as many times as you like, get as many signatures as you can, and send it to:
Daniel Bevan
5 Brentwood Drive
Avondale Heights
VIC 3034
This will be presented to Parliament in the week after the Hiskens, so get as many signatures and as much support for our great sport before then!
It's All Over Folks - Resume Normal Sleep Pattern
There’s a very good mate of mine in Auckland – let’s call him Anthony (because that’s his name) - who’ll be spewing if he ever finds out the result of last night’s Gr 1 Golden Jubilee Stakes. Thank heavens he wouldn’t have been up in the middle of the night in NZ tuned into Royal Ascot. He lives a saner life than I do. And he has a partner, which is another good reason.
Anthony and I have bought a couple of horses together in the last few years. After I’d been underbidder on Choisir he gave me a brief that if I saw a cheapie 'special' to let him know and he would put his hand up for it. It’s true that after buying an Encosta de Lago colt in Melbourne (which turned out to be Encosta’s absolutely most horrid horse) we asked the question of John O’Shea if he had any owners for the Encosta colt he’d just ‘stolen’ at the following Easter sale, but naturally he did. That was Racing To Win!
Prior to the 2005 Magic Millions I latched onto an Orpen colt in Attunga Stud's draft which I thought was a great type. I wrote Anthony’s name alongside the horse in my catalogue when I first saw it during pre-sale inspections on 23 November. After second-looking the colt at the sale I liked him every bit as much. I rang Anthony and told him it would fetch nothing because its sire Orpen had a right pox on him.
“That no-good Encosta’s costing me a fortune, I’ll give it a miss,” he decided. The colt made $57,500, went to South Africa and was War Artist who upstaged the higher-profile Antiopdeans when a mighty second in the Golden Jubilee.
I’ve never had the balls to tell Anthony he’s already won a Gr 1 in South Africa. Anthony puts me up when I visit Auckland several times a year, and I'm due over there again next month, so I need to stay in his good books.
The Golden Jubilee winner Kingsgate Native has a tenuous connection with Australia – his fourth dam is the third dam of Aqua d’Amore.
Still a mighty effort by Takeover Target. He looked as if he might have jarred up at the end? Seachange, who has an action uniquely her own to go with the conformation, never got in a blow.
Earlier on Saturday, I took satisfaction from Absolut Glam’s win in the Gr 1 Winter Stakes as she had been bought at the 2006 Magic Millions Sale on my recommendation. She was a bonny, big yearling and cost $150,000 with Danny O’Brien bidding her in for my client. Her prior run in the Stradbroke was exceptional and she looked the best of good things for the mares’ race.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Even hardened anti-monarchists couldn’t have begrudged 82-year-old Queen Elizabeth her winner, Free Agent, in the Chesham Stakes, Listed, for two-year-olds run last night at Royal Ascot, the racecourse itself owned by the Crown Estate. And a decent win it was too, Free Agent coming from last.
I imagine Her Majesty reflected with a touch of irony on the colt’s pedigree. He is out of a Listed race winner by Unfuwain, a son of the famous mare Height Of Fashion who was herself bred and raced by Queen Elizabeth until sold to Sheikh Hamdan at the end of her three-year-old season, for a reputed million-and-a-half pounds. For the Sheikh, Height Of Fashion produced five stakeswinners including the champion Nashwan.
The Chesham Stakes was also notable for the sire Dr Fong getting the quinella, something I seriously doubt his progeny ever managed in a stakes race in Australia.
Macarthur, winner of the Gr 2 Hardwicke Stakes, is a younger brother to English Derby winner Motivator (Montjeu-Out West, by Gone West). Montjeu's other winner this morning, Honolulu, is out of Gr 1 winner Cerulean Sky, by Darshaan. I've solved the puzzle why Montjeu and Galileo are hugely successful in the northern hemisphere but only moderately so down here. Simply, they represent deep stamina and the races and tracks in this part of the world are just not demanding enough.
The dam of Sugar Ray (by Danehill), winner this morning of the Duke Of Edinburgh Stakes, is American-bred Akuna Bay, by Mr Prospector from the Irish St Leger winning filly Dark Lomond. I wonder how she got her name? Sydneysiders know Akuna Bay as an idyllic spot on the Hawkesbury waterway amid the Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. The world's a big place; there must be another Akuna Bay?
----------------------------------------------------------
In Whobegotyou – why the question? - do we have a young galloper by Street Cry (Ire) who might go on and be something akin to the sire’s better northern hemisphere runners?
Mark Kavanagh’s two-year-old looked pretty impressive keeping his record intact at Moonee Valley, suggesting he has a proper future.
The rise of Street Cry in the northern hemisphere during 2006-07 and the simultaneous decline in interest in Australia meant he didn’t have his ticket punched to return to Darley last season (just as well, with the EI hassle). With his first crop now rising four, Street Cry has just 42% winners-to-starters and one stakeswinner (Sarthemare) from 150 Australian foals of racing age and is 14th on the Two Crop Sires’ list this season.
In the northern hemisphere where he is six months ahead he has 15 stakeswinners including the outstanding Street Sense who is on the Darley roster this year. (Street Cry four-year-old Big Timer scored an upset win this morning in Royal Ascot’s Wokingham Stakes). Amongst third crop stallions standing in North America, Street Cry is fourth this year (behind a couple of luminaries like Johannesburg and Orientate) but well ahead on an overall career basis.
Whobegotyou, bred by Canberra’s Lockyer Thoroughbreds and offered by Widden, attracted no interest in the ring at the Inglis Classic Sale last year, being passed in well short of the $25,000 reserve. He has an interesting pedigree being out of a stakes-placed Japanese-bred Carnegie mare, out of a Kris mare out of a Riverman mare. He is bred 3m x 4f to Mr Prospector and 4f x 4f to Riverman. One of Street Cry’s better northern hemisphere horses, Street Sounds, is 3m x 4m Mr Prospector and his Australian stakeswinner Sarthemare is 4m x 4m Riverman.
A few generations back in Whobegotyou’s family, and a few removes in, is an American graded stakes winning filly named Buffythecenterfold, by Capote.
I happened to be at Del Mar, "where the turf meets the surf", in July 2002 when Buffythecenterfold scored her most important win, the Gr 2 Sorrento Stakes. The two-legged Buffythecenterfold, after whom the filly was named, was there, too, the Del Mar publicity department eager to cash in on the two-legged version’s notoriety should the filly, hotly favoured, win.
I cast a discerning eye over both of them. For a change, it was good to see Buffythecenterfold without those pesky staples spoiling the view. She looked pretty good to me.
If you're feeling like a winter getaway in July, go to Del Mar, just north of San Diego, for the meeting. Pretty special.
---------------------------------------------------------
Res Judicata (GB), sire of promising stayer Get Up Jude, left only 60 live foals in his four seasons at stud in NSW’s central west before he died in 2006. The son of Rainbow Quest won five races at 2400m and 2500m including a stakes at Lyon in France. Hardly a surefire winner profile for a stallion in Australia so he was rowing against the current from day one.
His sharper and classier half-brother Johann Quatz (Fr) also had modest support here, and poor fertility, and went back to France permanently in 1999. Thirty-six of his 48 starters in Australia were winners and included the admirable Precise Timing. Worldwide, he has a 71% winners-to-runners score including Geordieland who finished second to Yeats in the Ascot Gold Cup earlier this week.
Another half-brother is Hernando (by Niniski), a quality English-based staying sire which I was interested in shuttling to NZ when he was due to retireat the end of a distinguished career. Though we had the contract drawn up, we couldn’t get Lanwades Stud’s signature on the line. Hernando has sired two winners of the French Derby, a race he won himself, and a daughter, Look Here, won this year's English Oaks. He has never shuttled.
---------------------------------------------------------
SIRES OF WINNERS AT ROYAL ASCOT, 2008
Sire (and sireline): winners, Gr 1 in bold
* indicates the stallion has stood in Australia/NZ
Acclamation (Royal Applause/*Waajib): Equiano
*Cape Cross (Green Desert/Danzig): Sabina Perdida
*Danehill (Danzig/Northern Dancer): Duke Of Marmalade, Sugar Ray
*Dr Fong (Kris S/Roberto): Free Agent
Dynaformer (Roberto/Hail To Reason): Michita
*Exceed And Excel (*Danehill/Danzig): Flashmans Papers
Forest Camp (Deputy Minister/Vice Regent): South Central
*Fusaichi Pegasus (Mr Prospector/Raise A Native): Haradasun
*Galileo (Sadler’s Wells/Northern Dancer): Cuis Ghaire, Lush Lashes
Indian Ridge (*Ahonoora/*Lorenzaccio): Patkai
*Invincible Spirit (Green Desert/Danzig): Festivale
Kalanisi (Doyoun/Mill Reef): Missoula
Kingmambo (Mr Prospector/Raise A Native): Campanologist, Henrythenavigator
Lear Fan (Roberto/Hail To Reason): Mr Aviator
Lucky Story (Kris S/Roberto): Art Connoisseur
*Montjeu (Sadler’s Wells/Northern Dancer): Macarthur, Honolulu
Mujadil (Storm Bird/Northern Dancer): Kingsgate Native
*Noverre (Rahy/Blushing Groom): Langs Lash
Oasis Dream (Green Desert/Danzig): Aqlaam
*Peintre Celebre (Nureyev/Northern Dancer): Collection
Pivotal (Polar Falcon/Nureyev): Regal Parade
Point Given (*Thunder Gulch/Gulch): Fifteen Love
Sadler’s Wells (Northern Dancer/Nearctic): Yeats
*Spinning World (Nureyev/Northern Dancer): Supaseus
*Statue Of Liberty (Storm Cat/Storm Bird): Colony
*Street Cry (Machiavellian/Mr Prospector): Big Timer
Anthony and I have bought a couple of horses together in the last few years. After I’d been underbidder on Choisir he gave me a brief that if I saw a cheapie 'special' to let him know and he would put his hand up for it. It’s true that after buying an Encosta de Lago colt in Melbourne (which turned out to be Encosta’s absolutely most horrid horse) we asked the question of John O’Shea if he had any owners for the Encosta colt he’d just ‘stolen’ at the following Easter sale, but naturally he did. That was Racing To Win!
Prior to the 2005 Magic Millions I latched onto an Orpen colt in Attunga Stud's draft which I thought was a great type. I wrote Anthony’s name alongside the horse in my catalogue when I first saw it during pre-sale inspections on 23 November. After second-looking the colt at the sale I liked him every bit as much. I rang Anthony and told him it would fetch nothing because its sire Orpen had a right pox on him.
“That no-good Encosta’s costing me a fortune, I’ll give it a miss,” he decided. The colt made $57,500, went to South Africa and was War Artist who upstaged the higher-profile Antiopdeans when a mighty second in the Golden Jubilee.
I’ve never had the balls to tell Anthony he’s already won a Gr 1 in South Africa. Anthony puts me up when I visit Auckland several times a year, and I'm due over there again next month, so I need to stay in his good books.
The Golden Jubilee winner Kingsgate Native has a tenuous connection with Australia – his fourth dam is the third dam of Aqua d’Amore.
Still a mighty effort by Takeover Target. He looked as if he might have jarred up at the end? Seachange, who has an action uniquely her own to go with the conformation, never got in a blow.
Earlier on Saturday, I took satisfaction from Absolut Glam’s win in the Gr 1 Winter Stakes as she had been bought at the 2006 Magic Millions Sale on my recommendation. She was a bonny, big yearling and cost $150,000 with Danny O’Brien bidding her in for my client. Her prior run in the Stradbroke was exceptional and she looked the best of good things for the mares’ race.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Even hardened anti-monarchists couldn’t have begrudged 82-year-old Queen Elizabeth her winner, Free Agent, in the Chesham Stakes, Listed, for two-year-olds run last night at Royal Ascot, the racecourse itself owned by the Crown Estate. And a decent win it was too, Free Agent coming from last.
I imagine Her Majesty reflected with a touch of irony on the colt’s pedigree. He is out of a Listed race winner by Unfuwain, a son of the famous mare Height Of Fashion who was herself bred and raced by Queen Elizabeth until sold to Sheikh Hamdan at the end of her three-year-old season, for a reputed million-and-a-half pounds. For the Sheikh, Height Of Fashion produced five stakeswinners including the champion Nashwan.
The Chesham Stakes was also notable for the sire Dr Fong getting the quinella, something I seriously doubt his progeny ever managed in a stakes race in Australia.
Macarthur, winner of the Gr 2 Hardwicke Stakes, is a younger brother to English Derby winner Motivator (Montjeu-Out West, by Gone West). Montjeu's other winner this morning, Honolulu, is out of Gr 1 winner Cerulean Sky, by Darshaan. I've solved the puzzle why Montjeu and Galileo are hugely successful in the northern hemisphere but only moderately so down here. Simply, they represent deep stamina and the races and tracks in this part of the world are just not demanding enough.
The dam of Sugar Ray (by Danehill), winner this morning of the Duke Of Edinburgh Stakes, is American-bred Akuna Bay, by Mr Prospector from the Irish St Leger winning filly Dark Lomond. I wonder how she got her name? Sydneysiders know Akuna Bay as an idyllic spot on the Hawkesbury waterway amid the Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. The world's a big place; there must be another Akuna Bay?
----------------------------------------------------------
In Whobegotyou – why the question? - do we have a young galloper by Street Cry (Ire) who might go on and be something akin to the sire’s better northern hemisphere runners?
Mark Kavanagh’s two-year-old looked pretty impressive keeping his record intact at Moonee Valley, suggesting he has a proper future.
The rise of Street Cry in the northern hemisphere during 2006-07 and the simultaneous decline in interest in Australia meant he didn’t have his ticket punched to return to Darley last season (just as well, with the EI hassle). With his first crop now rising four, Street Cry has just 42% winners-to-starters and one stakeswinner (Sarthemare) from 150 Australian foals of racing age and is 14th on the Two Crop Sires’ list this season.
In the northern hemisphere where he is six months ahead he has 15 stakeswinners including the outstanding Street Sense who is on the Darley roster this year. (Street Cry four-year-old Big Timer scored an upset win this morning in Royal Ascot’s Wokingham Stakes). Amongst third crop stallions standing in North America, Street Cry is fourth this year (behind a couple of luminaries like Johannesburg and Orientate) but well ahead on an overall career basis.
Whobegotyou, bred by Canberra’s Lockyer Thoroughbreds and offered by Widden, attracted no interest in the ring at the Inglis Classic Sale last year, being passed in well short of the $25,000 reserve. He has an interesting pedigree being out of a stakes-placed Japanese-bred Carnegie mare, out of a Kris mare out of a Riverman mare. He is bred 3m x 4f to Mr Prospector and 4f x 4f to Riverman. One of Street Cry’s better northern hemisphere horses, Street Sounds, is 3m x 4m Mr Prospector and his Australian stakeswinner Sarthemare is 4m x 4m Riverman.
A few generations back in Whobegotyou’s family, and a few removes in, is an American graded stakes winning filly named Buffythecenterfold, by Capote.
I happened to be at Del Mar, "where the turf meets the surf", in July 2002 when Buffythecenterfold scored her most important win, the Gr 2 Sorrento Stakes. The two-legged Buffythecenterfold, after whom the filly was named, was there, too, the Del Mar publicity department eager to cash in on the two-legged version’s notoriety should the filly, hotly favoured, win.
I cast a discerning eye over both of them. For a change, it was good to see Buffythecenterfold without those pesky staples spoiling the view. She looked pretty good to me.
If you're feeling like a winter getaway in July, go to Del Mar, just north of San Diego, for the meeting. Pretty special.
---------------------------------------------------------
Res Judicata (GB), sire of promising stayer Get Up Jude, left only 60 live foals in his four seasons at stud in NSW’s central west before he died in 2006. The son of Rainbow Quest won five races at 2400m and 2500m including a stakes at Lyon in France. Hardly a surefire winner profile for a stallion in Australia so he was rowing against the current from day one.
His sharper and classier half-brother Johann Quatz (Fr) also had modest support here, and poor fertility, and went back to France permanently in 1999. Thirty-six of his 48 starters in Australia were winners and included the admirable Precise Timing. Worldwide, he has a 71% winners-to-runners score including Geordieland who finished second to Yeats in the Ascot Gold Cup earlier this week.
Another half-brother is Hernando (by Niniski), a quality English-based staying sire which I was interested in shuttling to NZ when he was due to retireat the end of a distinguished career. Though we had the contract drawn up, we couldn’t get Lanwades Stud’s signature on the line. Hernando has sired two winners of the French Derby, a race he won himself, and a daughter, Look Here, won this year's English Oaks. He has never shuttled.
---------------------------------------------------------
SIRES OF WINNERS AT ROYAL ASCOT, 2008
Sire (and sireline): winners, Gr 1 in bold
* indicates the stallion has stood in Australia/NZ
Acclamation (Royal Applause/*Waajib): Equiano
*Cape Cross (Green Desert/Danzig): Sabina Perdida
*Danehill (Danzig/Northern Dancer): Duke Of Marmalade, Sugar Ray
*Dr Fong (Kris S/Roberto): Free Agent
Dynaformer (Roberto/Hail To Reason): Michita
*Exceed And Excel (*Danehill/Danzig): Flashmans Papers
Forest Camp (Deputy Minister/Vice Regent): South Central
*Fusaichi Pegasus (Mr Prospector/Raise A Native): Haradasun
*Galileo (Sadler’s Wells/Northern Dancer): Cuis Ghaire, Lush Lashes
Indian Ridge (*Ahonoora/*Lorenzaccio): Patkai
*Invincible Spirit (Green Desert/Danzig): Festivale
Kalanisi (Doyoun/Mill Reef): Missoula
Kingmambo (Mr Prospector/Raise A Native): Campanologist, Henrythenavigator
Lear Fan (Roberto/Hail To Reason): Mr Aviator
Lucky Story (Kris S/Roberto): Art Connoisseur
*Montjeu (Sadler’s Wells/Northern Dancer): Macarthur, Honolulu
Mujadil (Storm Bird/Northern Dancer): Kingsgate Native
*Noverre (Rahy/Blushing Groom): Langs Lash
Oasis Dream (Green Desert/Danzig): Aqlaam
*Peintre Celebre (Nureyev/Northern Dancer): Collection
Pivotal (Polar Falcon/Nureyev): Regal Parade
Point Given (*Thunder Gulch/Gulch): Fifteen Love
Sadler’s Wells (Northern Dancer/Nearctic): Yeats
*Spinning World (Nureyev/Northern Dancer): Supaseus
*Statue Of Liberty (Storm Cat/Storm Bird): Colony
*Street Cry (Machiavellian/Mr Prospector): Big Timer
Four Down, The Big One To Go
Prepare yourself for a shock, dear readers. I’m not an expert on Gaelic.
Much debate on AtTheRaces about the correct pronounciation of last night’s Albany Stakes winner Cuis Ghaire, a two-year-old daughter of Galileo out of a Danehill mare.
All I can say is, it’s lucky they didn’t have to contend with the filly’s grandam Smaioneamh. Get your non-Gaelic tongue around that one.
Odds-on Cuis Ghaire is unbeaten in three, though she didn’t win with the ease you expect from a short chalk. The utterly irritating Big Mac insisted the firm ground was against her (just like he wanted to insist the night before that Geordieland could have beaten Yeats – what’s he on, this Paddington bear?). Cuis Ghaire’s jockey said she struggled because she’s looking for more distance. You choose who to believe.
Cuis Ghaire is another above-average product of her sire Galileo, whom I’ve talked about in hopeful tones previously on this blog … I’m waiting! What an enigma he is: so many talented horses in the north – two-year-olds, three-year-olds and older horses - but so slow to find his feet here. With his oldest crop four-year-olds, he’s sitting on 53% winners-to-runners in Australasia with a respectable enough seven Australian-conceived stakeswinners.
Two races after Cuis Ghaire, Galileo had yet another triumph courtesy of three-year-old filly, Lush Lashes, in the feature event, the Gr 1 Coronation Stakes. What an affinity breeder/owner/trainer Jim Bolger (no relation I hope to the ex-NZ Prime Minister of the same name) has with the breed with not only this pair but also the brilliant colts colts Teofilo and New Approach.
Lush Lashes is the first foal of a daughter of Anabaa (shaping like a genuine broodmare sire-to-be) out of an Arazi mare from the family of Arc winner Saumarez. She is one of eight Galileo stakeswinners so far from daughters or grand-daughters of Danzig line stallions. Galileo has struck previously with Cuis Ghaire’s distaff line, being responsible for last year’s Irish champion staying three-year-old Soldier of Fortune, winner of the Irish Derby and the Epsom Coronation Cup. Third dam Fanghorn produced the outstanding sprinter Double Form and she’s also third dam of current top class short-course horse, Captain Gerard (by Oasis Dream).
---------------------------------------------------------
The Kingmambo-Sadler’s Wells cross is having a fun meeting at Royal Ascot. Crack three-year-old Henrythenavigator is its main flag-bearer and this morning the Ascot ‘Derby’, the Gr 2 King Edward VII Stakes, was won by the identically bred Campanologist.
The cross demonstrates linebreeding to Special through the three-quarter brothers Nureyev, damsire of Kingmambo, and Sadler’s Wells.
Appropriately-named Campanologist (someone who studies bell casting and ringing) is out of Ring Of Music, a daughter of the wonderful Glorious Song, dam of Singspiel, Rahy and Rivotious (USA), so he’s a colt with a hell of a pedigree. Success, however, didn’t come easily for this Kingmambo-Ring Of Music union, but it was a union someone in Sheikh Mohammed’s pedigree backroom must have been determined to pursue. Campanologist is the fourth Kingmambo foal produced by Ring Of Music. The earlier three, between them, have won one race. In fact, prior to Campanologist, Ring Of Music had produced six foals with just the single solitary racetrack success, a minor race in Dubai.
Blood will out, they say.
---------------------------------------------------------
Supaseus, who won the Listed handicap on the card, the Wolferton, provided a boost for a breeder-client of Queensland’s Wattle Brae Stud.
Supaseus is out of Supamova (Seattle Slew sister to Septieme Ciel) whose daughter Supamach (Machiavellian) had her first foal, a Wattle Brae-reared Danzero colt, sell at this year’s Gold Coast Magic Millions Yearling Sale.
This was a cracking good sort. I made several trips over to Z Block to inspect him. I bet the Wattle Brae people had my name written in the catalogue before he went to the ring. But at the death I just couldn’t get my punter on to him.
But the next best thing. He had been found by Gai – I’ve said before, you have to get up early in the morning to beat her – and he was knocked down to Denise Martin’s Star Thoroughbreds. Perhaps he’ll be another Sebring for the purple-and-white stars? He was ‘only’ $100,000. If I had to fault him I’d say a smidgen light in the girth, but a quality individual who as a first foal would only keep improving. His name’s Antiguan. Black book him.
Later in the sale, Gai bought another Danzero colt, out of Global Dance, by Spinning World (sire of Supaseus!). $120,000 this time. I was in love with this horse, in my opinion one of the standouts of the sale. Two of my clients took half each. He’ll be a winner.
Though he’s getting on and can be hard to pick, Danzero has been producing some smart types. With Danglissa, Kingsgate, Miss Bussell and of course Dance Hero all graduates of Tulloch Lodge, Gai clearly knows how to get the best out of this breed.
----------------------------------------------------------
Patkai (by Indian Ridge), hollow winner of the Gr 3 Queen's Vase for three-year-olds, is yet another big race winner out of a Sadler's Wells mare. His unraced dam, Olympienne, is a daughter of Gr 1 Yorkshire Oaks winner Hellenic (by Darshaan), one of the great broodmares with three Gr 1 winners and two other stakeswinners to her credit. Four of the five were by Sadler's Wells, the other by Danehill.
----------------------------------------------------------
Thank God there's only one more night to go. I'm walking around during the day an even bigger zombie than usual.
Much debate on AtTheRaces about the correct pronounciation of last night’s Albany Stakes winner Cuis Ghaire, a two-year-old daughter of Galileo out of a Danehill mare.
All I can say is, it’s lucky they didn’t have to contend with the filly’s grandam Smaioneamh. Get your non-Gaelic tongue around that one.
Odds-on Cuis Ghaire is unbeaten in three, though she didn’t win with the ease you expect from a short chalk. The utterly irritating Big Mac insisted the firm ground was against her (just like he wanted to insist the night before that Geordieland could have beaten Yeats – what’s he on, this Paddington bear?). Cuis Ghaire’s jockey said she struggled because she’s looking for more distance. You choose who to believe.
Cuis Ghaire is another above-average product of her sire Galileo, whom I’ve talked about in hopeful tones previously on this blog … I’m waiting! What an enigma he is: so many talented horses in the north – two-year-olds, three-year-olds and older horses - but so slow to find his feet here. With his oldest crop four-year-olds, he’s sitting on 53% winners-to-runners in Australasia with a respectable enough seven Australian-conceived stakeswinners.
Two races after Cuis Ghaire, Galileo had yet another triumph courtesy of three-year-old filly, Lush Lashes, in the feature event, the Gr 1 Coronation Stakes. What an affinity breeder/owner/trainer Jim Bolger (no relation I hope to the ex-NZ Prime Minister of the same name) has with the breed with not only this pair but also the brilliant colts colts Teofilo and New Approach.
Lush Lashes is the first foal of a daughter of Anabaa (shaping like a genuine broodmare sire-to-be) out of an Arazi mare from the family of Arc winner Saumarez. She is one of eight Galileo stakeswinners so far from daughters or grand-daughters of Danzig line stallions. Galileo has struck previously with Cuis Ghaire’s distaff line, being responsible for last year’s Irish champion staying three-year-old Soldier of Fortune, winner of the Irish Derby and the Epsom Coronation Cup. Third dam Fanghorn produced the outstanding sprinter Double Form and she’s also third dam of current top class short-course horse, Captain Gerard (by Oasis Dream).
---------------------------------------------------------
The Kingmambo-Sadler’s Wells cross is having a fun meeting at Royal Ascot. Crack three-year-old Henrythenavigator is its main flag-bearer and this morning the Ascot ‘Derby’, the Gr 2 King Edward VII Stakes, was won by the identically bred Campanologist.
The cross demonstrates linebreeding to Special through the three-quarter brothers Nureyev, damsire of Kingmambo, and Sadler’s Wells.
Appropriately-named Campanologist (someone who studies bell casting and ringing) is out of Ring Of Music, a daughter of the wonderful Glorious Song, dam of Singspiel, Rahy and Rivotious (USA), so he’s a colt with a hell of a pedigree. Success, however, didn’t come easily for this Kingmambo-Ring Of Music union, but it was a union someone in Sheikh Mohammed’s pedigree backroom must have been determined to pursue. Campanologist is the fourth Kingmambo foal produced by Ring Of Music. The earlier three, between them, have won one race. In fact, prior to Campanologist, Ring Of Music had produced six foals with just the single solitary racetrack success, a minor race in Dubai.
Blood will out, they say.
---------------------------------------------------------
Supaseus, who won the Listed handicap on the card, the Wolferton, provided a boost for a breeder-client of Queensland’s Wattle Brae Stud.
Supaseus is out of Supamova (Seattle Slew sister to Septieme Ciel) whose daughter Supamach (Machiavellian) had her first foal, a Wattle Brae-reared Danzero colt, sell at this year’s Gold Coast Magic Millions Yearling Sale.
This was a cracking good sort. I made several trips over to Z Block to inspect him. I bet the Wattle Brae people had my name written in the catalogue before he went to the ring. But at the death I just couldn’t get my punter on to him.
But the next best thing. He had been found by Gai – I’ve said before, you have to get up early in the morning to beat her – and he was knocked down to Denise Martin’s Star Thoroughbreds. Perhaps he’ll be another Sebring for the purple-and-white stars? He was ‘only’ $100,000. If I had to fault him I’d say a smidgen light in the girth, but a quality individual who as a first foal would only keep improving. His name’s Antiguan. Black book him.
Later in the sale, Gai bought another Danzero colt, out of Global Dance, by Spinning World (sire of Supaseus!). $120,000 this time. I was in love with this horse, in my opinion one of the standouts of the sale. Two of my clients took half each. He’ll be a winner.
Though he’s getting on and can be hard to pick, Danzero has been producing some smart types. With Danglissa, Kingsgate, Miss Bussell and of course Dance Hero all graduates of Tulloch Lodge, Gai clearly knows how to get the best out of this breed.
----------------------------------------------------------
Patkai (by Indian Ridge), hollow winner of the Gr 3 Queen's Vase for three-year-olds, is yet another big race winner out of a Sadler's Wells mare. His unraced dam, Olympienne, is a daughter of Gr 1 Yorkshire Oaks winner Hellenic (by Darshaan), one of the great broodmares with three Gr 1 winners and two other stakeswinners to her credit. Four of the five were by Sadler's Wells, the other by Danehill.
----------------------------------------------------------
Thank God there's only one more night to go. I'm walking around during the day an even bigger zombie than usual.
As Aussie As Pork And Puha
The Daily Telegraph’s racing editor Ray Thomas is someone I’ve admired since I became involved in Sydney racing a decade ago. He’s a writing machine with prodigious output, and the nicest of blokes.
But I can’t forgive him for including (or allowing to be included if someone else is responsible) Balmerino (NZ) in the list of notable ‘Australian Horses Overseas’ in Friday morning’s Tele centre spread which focuses on the big races at Royal Ascot tomorrow night.
Fair dinkum you Aussies, you take some liberties. Don’t have such an inferiority complex! Balmerino was as Aussie as pork and puha.
He wasn’t Australian-bred or Australian-owned or Australian-trained other than as a sometime visiting racehorse, just like, for example, Rough Habit was. I've been here 10 years and no one regards me as (or wants me to be!) an Aussie.
Stud groom-turned trainer Brian Smith who I think hailed from Ngaruawahia (see footnote) handled Balmerino until he was finally turned over to John Dunlop in England as a five-year-old. I stand corrected but I think he still has the highest Timeform rating given to any southern hemisphere performer in Europe, 133.
He had the most amazing career between March 1975 and August 1978. In those three-and-a-half years he raced in six countries. Despite the traveling, he only ever had four breaks from racing. Two of those breaks could only be described as ‘fresheners’. Balmerino won 22 races including the Gr 1 Gran Premio del Jockey Club in Italy which he lost on protest. When pretty much written off as a serious horse by the Poms he ran second in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, the Eclipse Stakes and Coronation Cup.
We think it’s a real big deal for Australian and New Zealand horses to be competing on the international scene and the reason for that is two-fold: (1) television - we can watch them every step of the way, and (2) modern-day globe-trotting and truncated quarantine procedures makes it feasible for some of these horses to be campaigned by their ANZ trainers.
But they were commonplace campaigners in earlier decades when that luxury wasn’t available, when only Movietone News was king. You were lucky if the news even came off the wire services.
The Tele listed a few of those earlier stars and I definitely don’t propose to compile a definitive list here. Apart from those in the Tele, others to succeed at a high level come to mind readily, such as the NZers Cadiz and Caterman, Good Lord (My Good Man), Panzer Chief, Braganza, Pride Of Rosewood, Tangent and the gelding gifted to the late Queen Mother by the late Sir Ernest Davis, Bali Ha’i, who won a Listed race at the very same Royal Ascot in 1960, and at Sandown (UK).
Then there were the jumpers. While Crisp (Aus) will go down in history for what he didn’t win owing to the spectacular manner of his loss and the champion who beat him, the Daddy of them all was probably Grand Canyon, an Oakville gelding who couldn’t win a race in NZ in 13 attempts but ended up winning 19 races internationally. He twice won the Camden Colonial Cup Steeplechase in the USA – an invitational of Gr 1 calibre – as well as major races in England, France and Italy. Royal Mail and Chumson won important races in England and then there were the two NZ-bred latter-day winners of the Aintree Grand National, Lord Gyllene and Seagram. And what about Owhata Chief? I think this Kiwi ran 54 times in his homeland before he won a race. Then he took a liking to jumping, won six at that discipline before his export to the USA where he won a further 10, five of which were black-type rated including the important Bolla Hard Scuffle Steeplechase.
What do they say on Anzac Day? Lest we forget? And keep up the good work, Ray!
Footnote: For Aussies, Ngaruawahia is a township a few miles north of Hamilton in the Waikato area of the North Island. Laurie Laxon started his training career there, the Vela brothers were locals as was George Simon the racecaller and I have a suspicion Syd Brown might have hailed from there - I seem to recall his brother Ian, who worked with me on Best Bets in the 1970s, did. If I'm wrong on any of these I'm sure someone will jump down my throat! As a youngster coming to grips with Maori pronounciation and spelling, Ngaruawahia always presented a bit of a challenge until a Kiwi wisehead told me: 'Remember this sentence: the first letter of each word joined together spell out Ngaruawahia - "Nude girls are running under a waterfall and here I am" !
But I can’t forgive him for including (or allowing to be included if someone else is responsible) Balmerino (NZ) in the list of notable ‘Australian Horses Overseas’ in Friday morning’s Tele centre spread which focuses on the big races at Royal Ascot tomorrow night.
Fair dinkum you Aussies, you take some liberties. Don’t have such an inferiority complex! Balmerino was as Aussie as pork and puha.
He wasn’t Australian-bred or Australian-owned or Australian-trained other than as a sometime visiting racehorse, just like, for example, Rough Habit was. I've been here 10 years and no one regards me as (or wants me to be!) an Aussie.
Stud groom-turned trainer Brian Smith who I think hailed from Ngaruawahia (see footnote) handled Balmerino until he was finally turned over to John Dunlop in England as a five-year-old. I stand corrected but I think he still has the highest Timeform rating given to any southern hemisphere performer in Europe, 133.
He had the most amazing career between March 1975 and August 1978. In those three-and-a-half years he raced in six countries. Despite the traveling, he only ever had four breaks from racing. Two of those breaks could only be described as ‘fresheners’. Balmerino won 22 races including the Gr 1 Gran Premio del Jockey Club in Italy which he lost on protest. When pretty much written off as a serious horse by the Poms he ran second in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, the Eclipse Stakes and Coronation Cup.
We think it’s a real big deal for Australian and New Zealand horses to be competing on the international scene and the reason for that is two-fold: (1) television - we can watch them every step of the way, and (2) modern-day globe-trotting and truncated quarantine procedures makes it feasible for some of these horses to be campaigned by their ANZ trainers.
But they were commonplace campaigners in earlier decades when that luxury wasn’t available, when only Movietone News was king. You were lucky if the news even came off the wire services.
The Tele listed a few of those earlier stars and I definitely don’t propose to compile a definitive list here. Apart from those in the Tele, others to succeed at a high level come to mind readily, such as the NZers Cadiz and Caterman, Good Lord (My Good Man), Panzer Chief, Braganza, Pride Of Rosewood, Tangent and the gelding gifted to the late Queen Mother by the late Sir Ernest Davis, Bali Ha’i, who won a Listed race at the very same Royal Ascot in 1960, and at Sandown (UK).
Then there were the jumpers. While Crisp (Aus) will go down in history for what he didn’t win owing to the spectacular manner of his loss and the champion who beat him, the Daddy of them all was probably Grand Canyon, an Oakville gelding who couldn’t win a race in NZ in 13 attempts but ended up winning 19 races internationally. He twice won the Camden Colonial Cup Steeplechase in the USA – an invitational of Gr 1 calibre – as well as major races in England, France and Italy. Royal Mail and Chumson won important races in England and then there were the two NZ-bred latter-day winners of the Aintree Grand National, Lord Gyllene and Seagram. And what about Owhata Chief? I think this Kiwi ran 54 times in his homeland before he won a race. Then he took a liking to jumping, won six at that discipline before his export to the USA where he won a further 10, five of which were black-type rated including the important Bolla Hard Scuffle Steeplechase.
What do they say on Anzac Day? Lest we forget? And keep up the good work, Ray!
Footnote: For Aussies, Ngaruawahia is a township a few miles north of Hamilton in the Waikato area of the North Island. Laurie Laxon started his training career there, the Vela brothers were locals as was George Simon the racecaller and I have a suspicion Syd Brown might have hailed from there - I seem to recall his brother Ian, who worked with me on Best Bets in the 1970s, did. If I'm wrong on any of these I'm sure someone will jump down my throat! As a youngster coming to grips with Maori pronounciation and spelling, Ngaruawahia always presented a bit of a challenge until a Kiwi wisehead told me: 'Remember this sentence: the first letter of each word joined together spell out Ngaruawahia - "Nude girls are running under a waterfall and here I am" !
Three Down, Two To Go
Ladies’ Day at Royal Ascot. Voila, a dyselxic and geographically challenged female presenter, Zoe, on AtTheRaces last night.
Lauding the suitability of American-breds to handle the firm going in light of 2YO South Central’s narrow win in the Gr 2 Norfolk Stakes, Zoe proceeded to laud Exceed And Excel, sire of the second and fourth placegetters, as another Yank product. AUS might look like USA if you’re dyslexic or looking at an atlas upside down. Aushorse/Darley to the rescue! Mind you, E & E is by American-bred Danehill out of American-bred Patrona but I think that’s too long a bow for the lady to draw – we know where he took his first breath and won his races!
Norfolk winner South Central, by Deputy Minister’s son Forest Camp, is the ninth foal and first black-type winner produced by his dam who is by Forty Niner. Never give up.
---------------------------------------------------------
The pro-American theory proved spot on in the Ribblesdale Stakes over 2400m for 3YO fillies with the favoured daughter of Dynaformer, Michita, prevailing very easily. Dynaformer, now 23 and still standing at US$150,000 thanks to Barbaro’s heroism last year, has been a really decent sire with in excess of 80 stakeswinners and almost $75 million in progeny earnings – more than half of it on turf.
By Roberto, Dynaformer stands a massive 17 hands. He’s out of an His Majesty mare (like Danehill), often a factor for size. Dynaformer has had little exposure in this part of the world but his broodmare sire stats are also quite impressive. Given his pedigree and turf proclivities, I’d expect his daughters to fit in nicely down here and you mightn’t have to pay an arm, a leg and half your torso to buy one.
---------------------------------------------------------
The present day Yeats is made of much, much sterner stuff than his namesake who first graced these shores a quarter century ago amid much euphoria, being one of the first by Nijinsky to make his way down under.
The first Yeats was an Irish Listed winner at two – imagine getting excited about that these days – and soon joined the majority as a sire: disappointing. He got three Group 1 winners amongst his 16 stakeswinners (from 957 named foals) but only one true top-notcher: the magnificent and versatile (Our) Poetic Prince.
Bred in Australia by an American cardiologist, Alex Sywak, and a NZ$16,000 yearling bargain, Poetic Prince finished second in the Cox Plate as a three-year-old then won it the following year, finishing his racing as a four-year-old with 16 wins and 11 placings from 36 runs.
His relegation from first in the Caulfield Guineas which he won by a space remains one of the worst travesties I’ve seen. They ganged up on Kiwi trainer and jockey John Wheeler and Noel Harris and gave the race to Geoff Murphy’s Marwong.
Alas, Our Poetic Prince proved even inferior to his own sire at stud and departed for Korea in 2001.
With jumps racing again on the skids, if the noises coming out of Victoria are to be believed, we’re unlikely to see the modern-day Yeats standing at stud down here; a ‘dual purpose’ National Hunt sire seems likely to be his fate in Ireland. His shortest win was over one mile as a two-year-old, his furthest the two-and-a-half miles of the Ascot Gold Cup.
Not that marathon-running colts can’t make good sires. Forgetting about several useful Melbourne Cup winning entires, Zamazaan (Fr) never won a race short of 2450m, winning up to 3100m. He was outstanding and figures as the sire of the grandam of Haradasun and Elvstroem. Sea Anchor (Ire) finished third in the Ascot Gold Cup, never won shorter than 2000m and won as long as 3800m in top company. He sired the brilliant Horse Of The Year Red Anchor and a NZ gelding virtually unknown in Australia, Weston Lea, which I daresay might have been Red Anchor’s equal. A magnificent type, Weston Lea smashed a hind pastern in an exhibition gallop five days before the Derby which was at his mercy.
The present day Yeats is Ireland/England’s Makybe Diva equivalent. He’s had seven races since finishing seventh in the 2006 Melbourne Cup behind Delta Blues and Pop Rock, carrying 59 kgs, winning six of them.
Lauding the suitability of American-breds to handle the firm going in light of 2YO South Central’s narrow win in the Gr 2 Norfolk Stakes, Zoe proceeded to laud Exceed And Excel, sire of the second and fourth placegetters, as another Yank product. AUS might look like USA if you’re dyslexic or looking at an atlas upside down. Aushorse/Darley to the rescue! Mind you, E & E is by American-bred Danehill out of American-bred Patrona but I think that’s too long a bow for the lady to draw – we know where he took his first breath and won his races!
Norfolk winner South Central, by Deputy Minister’s son Forest Camp, is the ninth foal and first black-type winner produced by his dam who is by Forty Niner. Never give up.
---------------------------------------------------------
The pro-American theory proved spot on in the Ribblesdale Stakes over 2400m for 3YO fillies with the favoured daughter of Dynaformer, Michita, prevailing very easily. Dynaformer, now 23 and still standing at US$150,000 thanks to Barbaro’s heroism last year, has been a really decent sire with in excess of 80 stakeswinners and almost $75 million in progeny earnings – more than half of it on turf.
By Roberto, Dynaformer stands a massive 17 hands. He’s out of an His Majesty mare (like Danehill), often a factor for size. Dynaformer has had little exposure in this part of the world but his broodmare sire stats are also quite impressive. Given his pedigree and turf proclivities, I’d expect his daughters to fit in nicely down here and you mightn’t have to pay an arm, a leg and half your torso to buy one.
---------------------------------------------------------
The present day Yeats is made of much, much sterner stuff than his namesake who first graced these shores a quarter century ago amid much euphoria, being one of the first by Nijinsky to make his way down under.
The first Yeats was an Irish Listed winner at two – imagine getting excited about that these days – and soon joined the majority as a sire: disappointing. He got three Group 1 winners amongst his 16 stakeswinners (from 957 named foals) but only one true top-notcher: the magnificent and versatile (Our) Poetic Prince.
Bred in Australia by an American cardiologist, Alex Sywak, and a NZ$16,000 yearling bargain, Poetic Prince finished second in the Cox Plate as a three-year-old then won it the following year, finishing his racing as a four-year-old with 16 wins and 11 placings from 36 runs.
His relegation from first in the Caulfield Guineas which he won by a space remains one of the worst travesties I’ve seen. They ganged up on Kiwi trainer and jockey John Wheeler and Noel Harris and gave the race to Geoff Murphy’s Marwong.
Alas, Our Poetic Prince proved even inferior to his own sire at stud and departed for Korea in 2001.
With jumps racing again on the skids, if the noises coming out of Victoria are to be believed, we’re unlikely to see the modern-day Yeats standing at stud down here; a ‘dual purpose’ National Hunt sire seems likely to be his fate in Ireland. His shortest win was over one mile as a two-year-old, his furthest the two-and-a-half miles of the Ascot Gold Cup.
Not that marathon-running colts can’t make good sires. Forgetting about several useful Melbourne Cup winning entires, Zamazaan (Fr) never won a race short of 2450m, winning up to 3100m. He was outstanding and figures as the sire of the grandam of Haradasun and Elvstroem. Sea Anchor (Ire) finished third in the Ascot Gold Cup, never won shorter than 2000m and won as long as 3800m in top company. He sired the brilliant Horse Of The Year Red Anchor and a NZ gelding virtually unknown in Australia, Weston Lea, which I daresay might have been Red Anchor’s equal. A magnificent type, Weston Lea smashed a hind pastern in an exhibition gallop five days before the Derby which was at his mercy.
The present day Yeats is Ireland/England’s Makybe Diva equivalent. He’s had seven races since finishing seventh in the 2006 Melbourne Cup behind Delta Blues and Pop Rock, carrying 59 kgs, winning six of them.
Two Down, Three To Go
If you thought John McCririck looked like he’d forgotten to change his clothes between days 1 and 2 of Royal Ascot, then he probably did forget.
--------------------------------------------------------
Someone wise me up: what’s the story behind the expression “early doors” that’s creeping into commentaries everywhere like an infectious disease? I’ve heard it used repeatedly in Australia this year, particularly by some Queensland callers, and it cropped up again during Royal Ascot this morning. I’m not so silly that I don’t know what it means but why all of a sudden has it gained such currency? I swear I never heard it more than twice in the previous couple of decades. Next thing you know we’ll be saying “close home” like the Poms.
--------------------------------------------------------
Aqlaam, winner of the Gr 3 Jersey Stakes, is by the pure sprinter Oasis Dream (Green Desert) but out of a half-sister to the pure stayer and an old favourite of the Melbourne crowds, Persian Punch. Persian Punch’s shortest win was over 2000m and his longest over 3600m. He won 20 of his 66 starts between the ages of three and 11, 13 of them Group wins – but never a Gr 1 – and three listed races. His seven Gr 1 placings included twice third in the Melbourne Cup which he should have won on at least one occasion. Sadly, he collapsed and died on the racecourse and there is now a lifesize bronze statue in his honour at Newmarket.
--------------------------------------------------------
Notice how often horses fighting out the finish lose their compass at the end of their races at Ascot, particularly if they’ve competed on the straight track. It’s a slight uphill climb to the post and clearly the horses are tired but there doesn’t seem to be much emphasis on finding the rail over there (except Haradasun and Equiano!), which usually keeps horses on the straight and narrow. Fields tend to clump rather than string out. One seldom sees horses wandering up the middle of Flemington or swerving home like drunken sailors, uphill, at Sandown. Riding style might have something to do with it?
---------------------------------------------------------
Once again Coolmore used a pacemaker to make the play for their heavily-favoured Duke Of Marmalade in the Gr 1 Prince Of Wales’s Stakes over 10 furlongs. Poor Red Rock Canyon, winless in 12 starts but twice Irish Gr 1 placed, just a pacemaker but maybe the best-bred pacemaker in history – by Rock Of Gibraltar out of the Sadler’s Wells Oaks and Guineas winner Imagine, dam earlier of the ill-fated Gr 1 hero Horatio Nelson, and a daughter of Generous’s blue hen dam Doff The Derby. Don’t think we’ll see Red Rock Canyon on the shuttle. But put the ring around Duke Of Marmalade, now a triple Gr 1 winner over a middle distance and not dissimilar to current shuttler Oratorio (Ire) though he lacks that one’s two-year-old record. By Danehill from a Kingmambo mare (those names again), The Duke is from one of the world’s premier families, his third dam being Lassie Dear from whom descend the likes of Weekend Surprise, A.P. Indy, Summer Squall, Wolfhound, Lemon Drop Kid and the good South African stallion Al Mufti. Duke Of Marmalade is named after a peerage created in Haiti in 1804 after the colonial powers were overthrown by a slave insurrection, Haiti then becoming the world’s first independent black state. He was not related to the Prince Of Orange or the Viscount Vegemite. I knew you were dying to know that.
---------------------------------------------------------
Where are the boys in Blue? I suppose the week’s young yet.
---------------------------------------------------------
Most valuable information gleaned from day two's TV coverage: the size of the weather girl's derriere, as divulged by style guru John McCririck. Just doing his form study.
--------------------------------------------------------
Someone wise me up: what’s the story behind the expression “early doors” that’s creeping into commentaries everywhere like an infectious disease? I’ve heard it used repeatedly in Australia this year, particularly by some Queensland callers, and it cropped up again during Royal Ascot this morning. I’m not so silly that I don’t know what it means but why all of a sudden has it gained such currency? I swear I never heard it more than twice in the previous couple of decades. Next thing you know we’ll be saying “close home” like the Poms.
--------------------------------------------------------
Aqlaam, winner of the Gr 3 Jersey Stakes, is by the pure sprinter Oasis Dream (Green Desert) but out of a half-sister to the pure stayer and an old favourite of the Melbourne crowds, Persian Punch. Persian Punch’s shortest win was over 2000m and his longest over 3600m. He won 20 of his 66 starts between the ages of three and 11, 13 of them Group wins – but never a Gr 1 – and three listed races. His seven Gr 1 placings included twice third in the Melbourne Cup which he should have won on at least one occasion. Sadly, he collapsed and died on the racecourse and there is now a lifesize bronze statue in his honour at Newmarket.
--------------------------------------------------------
Notice how often horses fighting out the finish lose their compass at the end of their races at Ascot, particularly if they’ve competed on the straight track. It’s a slight uphill climb to the post and clearly the horses are tired but there doesn’t seem to be much emphasis on finding the rail over there (except Haradasun and Equiano!), which usually keeps horses on the straight and narrow. Fields tend to clump rather than string out. One seldom sees horses wandering up the middle of Flemington or swerving home like drunken sailors, uphill, at Sandown. Riding style might have something to do with it?
---------------------------------------------------------
Once again Coolmore used a pacemaker to make the play for their heavily-favoured Duke Of Marmalade in the Gr 1 Prince Of Wales’s Stakes over 10 furlongs. Poor Red Rock Canyon, winless in 12 starts but twice Irish Gr 1 placed, just a pacemaker but maybe the best-bred pacemaker in history – by Rock Of Gibraltar out of the Sadler’s Wells Oaks and Guineas winner Imagine, dam earlier of the ill-fated Gr 1 hero Horatio Nelson, and a daughter of Generous’s blue hen dam Doff The Derby. Don’t think we’ll see Red Rock Canyon on the shuttle. But put the ring around Duke Of Marmalade, now a triple Gr 1 winner over a middle distance and not dissimilar to current shuttler Oratorio (Ire) though he lacks that one’s two-year-old record. By Danehill from a Kingmambo mare (those names again), The Duke is from one of the world’s premier families, his third dam being Lassie Dear from whom descend the likes of Weekend Surprise, A.P. Indy, Summer Squall, Wolfhound, Lemon Drop Kid and the good South African stallion Al Mufti. Duke Of Marmalade is named after a peerage created in Haiti in 1804 after the colonial powers were overthrown by a slave insurrection, Haiti then becoming the world’s first independent black state. He was not related to the Prince Of Orange or the Viscount Vegemite. I knew you were dying to know that.
---------------------------------------------------------
Where are the boys in Blue? I suppose the week’s young yet.
---------------------------------------------------------
Most valuable information gleaned from day two's TV coverage: the size of the weather girl's derriere, as divulged by style guru John McCririck. Just doing his form study.
Execute Had The Killer Instinct
In the post below I mentioned a horse named Execute which raced in NZ in the '70s. He was by Head Hunter (GB)-Queen Arma, by Blueskin II (GB). Subsequent to Execute's foaling, IRT's Quentin Wallace part-owned the mare Queen Arma.
Execute was a swimmer. He loved the track when only his ears were above water, as you used to get occasionally in NZ. He won 23 races including a Founders' Plate, which was weight-for-age 1400m, a black-type handicap at Ellerslie as well as a Great Northern Hurdle which was 4200m. Bill Sanders trained him. His son Graeme is tending to Seachange in England right now and chief Queensland steward Reid Sanders is of similar pedigree.
I'm not sure anyone in the 'modern' era races their horses as often, as hard and as well as Bill Sanders did, but by golly he had a lot of good horses, most of them el-cheapos. Probably the horses aren't up to it today, the guts has been bred out of them. Horses, especially those out of the South Island like Eiffel Tower, Kumai and Loch Linnhe, did unbelievable things by today's standards. I'm sure there have been Australian equivalents but my knowledge of Australian racing is much shallower.
Perhaps Toulouse Lautrec is headed in that direction. The erstwhile Derby winner has resuscitated his waning career as a jumper, though those farcical yellow toothbrushes which masquerade as fences in Victoria are more a risk to a horse than a help. Somehow skipping over a dozen or two of them doesn't seem the same as going 6,400m in the deepest bog, three times up the Ellerslie hill, jumping two at the top then having to negotiate a stone wall on the way down each time (don't worry folks, they got rid of the stone wall some years back), not to mention the live stand double, the water jump and several other energy-sappers.
I know - we didn't have satellite TV back then or mobile phones or computers so we needed something to occupy our time. Like crocheting, macrame or watching a long race. Today all we're interested in is the last 600m sectional.
Recent events in the USA spotlighting Big Brown, Eight Belles and Barbaro are causing a lot of teeth-gnashing about just where the breed is going. Americans in general only care about racing for no more than five minutes per year and to be confronted with these calamities one after the other has unleashed an unbelievable fury of anti-racing sentiment. Like John McCririck's diatribe against excessive use of the whip from Royal Ascot this morning (which I agree with; there are shocking examples to be seen every day on Australian TV but nothing's said) - these issues lie simmering just beneath the surface everywhere and if we become too obsessed with win-at-all-costs they will eventually engulf us and destroy us. Mark my words.
Apparently, man can do whatever the hell he likes to his fellow man - and lamentably does, often - but his dignity is measured by how he behaves towards animals subservient to himself.
Execute was a swimmer. He loved the track when only his ears were above water, as you used to get occasionally in NZ. He won 23 races including a Founders' Plate, which was weight-for-age 1400m, a black-type handicap at Ellerslie as well as a Great Northern Hurdle which was 4200m. Bill Sanders trained him. His son Graeme is tending to Seachange in England right now and chief Queensland steward Reid Sanders is of similar pedigree.
I'm not sure anyone in the 'modern' era races their horses as often, as hard and as well as Bill Sanders did, but by golly he had a lot of good horses, most of them el-cheapos. Probably the horses aren't up to it today, the guts has been bred out of them. Horses, especially those out of the South Island like Eiffel Tower, Kumai and Loch Linnhe, did unbelievable things by today's standards. I'm sure there have been Australian equivalents but my knowledge of Australian racing is much shallower.
Perhaps Toulouse Lautrec is headed in that direction. The erstwhile Derby winner has resuscitated his waning career as a jumper, though those farcical yellow toothbrushes which masquerade as fences in Victoria are more a risk to a horse than a help. Somehow skipping over a dozen or two of them doesn't seem the same as going 6,400m in the deepest bog, three times up the Ellerslie hill, jumping two at the top then having to negotiate a stone wall on the way down each time (don't worry folks, they got rid of the stone wall some years back), not to mention the live stand double, the water jump and several other energy-sappers.
I know - we didn't have satellite TV back then or mobile phones or computers so we needed something to occupy our time. Like crocheting, macrame or watching a long race. Today all we're interested in is the last 600m sectional.
Recent events in the USA spotlighting Big Brown, Eight Belles and Barbaro are causing a lot of teeth-gnashing about just where the breed is going. Americans in general only care about racing for no more than five minutes per year and to be confronted with these calamities one after the other has unleashed an unbelievable fury of anti-racing sentiment. Like John McCririck's diatribe against excessive use of the whip from Royal Ascot this morning (which I agree with; there are shocking examples to be seen every day on Australian TV but nothing's said) - these issues lie simmering just beneath the surface everywhere and if we become too obsessed with win-at-all-costs they will eventually engulf us and destroy us. Mark my words.
Apparently, man can do whatever the hell he likes to his fellow man - and lamentably does, often - but his dignity is measured by how he behaves towards animals subservient to himself.
One Down, Four To Go
Royal Ascot began in near-perfect fashion for the southern hemisphere this morning with Haradasun’s epic victory in the Gr 1 Queen Anne Stakes and Takeover Target’s game second in the Gr 1 King’s Stand.
And Exceed And Excel got in the act with a longshot (but impressive) Listed two-year-old winner in the form of Flashmans Papers.
Congratulations to the Coolmore/Arch of Gold team. They took the big gamble to expose Haradasun on the international stage when so much was at stake, that being his huge purchase price and the reputation that goes with it. Their management and skill have now established the ultimate breeding platform for Haradasun who, though he is the shining light sired by the mentally fragile Fusaichi Pegasus, is a great cut of a horse out of clearly one of the broodmares of our times, Circles Of Gold, a Eulogy-line Oaks winning daughter of Marscay who raced on 43 occasions and who was probably better at five than she was at three.
Haradasun has come a long way from 10 June 2006 when Tony Vasil took him to Swan Hill to win the Super Vobis 2YO Handicap by 10 lengths on debut.
Aidan O’Brien won with Haradasun and, two races later, with the outstanding three-year-old Henrythenavigator in the St James’s Palace Stakes. On both occasions he employed pacemakers to ensure these megadollar studs got their races run to suit. Nothing left to chance when $100 million rests on the results.
The pacemakers, longshots Honoured Guest in Haradasun’s race and Minneapolis in the other, were tried to their limits but of course were found wanting. When Honoured Guest, who had been breaking the wind for Haradasun camped behind him on the rail, moved over to give the big colt racing room, jockey David McCabe gave a look over his shoulder which was straight out of the Shane Dye box of tricks, identical to RSD’s effort on Imprimatur when inviting Myocard to come through in the AJC Derby all those years ago. (I remember, I had a racing interest in Imprimatur!).
Years ago I was in charge of a stallion, Diagramatic (USA), who was a good middle distance racehorse on his day but his greatest usefulness in life was as pacemaker for the champion Exceller (USA). Diagramatic was by Sir Wiggle (a son of the brilliant Australian mare Wiggle) out of a Chilean-bred mare. As his breeding might have foretold, he was a sire of little account though he got a freak little filly in Tidal Light (NZ).
There is nothing new to be said about Takeover Target who lines up again on Saturday night. Cynics might say that anyone can train a champion but that’s a load of crap. I’ve never met Joe Janiak but I also know I’ve never met any trainer who could have done a better job with the horse than the low-brow cabbie from Queanbeyan. Horses don’t train themselves, they don’t feed themselves, they don’t travel themselves. Someone has to do it for them. Joe rules.
Spare a thought for Magnus who, like Haradasun, is meant to have run his last race. He didn’t figure in the finish of this morning’s event but he wasn’t disgraced; he’s not won many races but he’s competed honourably in a vintage era of sprinters and he’ll be a valued addition to Victorian stallion ranks. Sir Tristram only won two races!
If the Aussies were proud of the way their horses ran, think how the Spanish (the Spanish??) must have felt when one of their own, Equiano, won the Gr 1 King’s Stand. Actually, Equiano is French-bred and has raced in La Belle France over the last 12 months, trained by his Spanish trainer. A remote relative of Equiano is the plodding Danehill stayer Roanoke which Anthony Cummings cajoled to win a poor Listed Handicap at Randwick one day.
I know jack about Spanish racing but I do recall a marathon runner named Royal Gait (by Gunner B) which hailed from there in the mid-80s. He was remarkable. He had a total of 14 starts in Spain, winning seven of them, but became famous when he crossed the Pyrennees to win some of Paris’s great staying tests. He raced from three years until 10, had 99 starts and his last win was in none other than the Champion Hurdle at the famous Cheltenham National Hunt Festival. There was an unforgettable horse not unlike him in New Zealand in the '70s named Execute, but that story's for another day.
Art Connoisseur’s turn of foot to win the Gr 2 Coventry Stakes was unbelievable. He came from last, straight past a supposedly hot field, to win in a jog. He is by a sire named Lucky Story, a non-Gr 1 winner who is a brother to Dr Fong who stood in Australia almost without trace a few years ago. Art Connoisseur and the second horse in the Coventry, Intense Focus (by the despised-in-Australia Giant’s Causeway), are out of Danehill mares.
Henrythenavigator, on form, had a lot on his rivals in the St James’s Palace, and though he was run close enough at the end by Elusive Quality’s son Raven’s Pass, his win was fairly contemptuous. He and Dolphin Street share some common ancestry; he’s a magnificently-bred son of Kingmambo and when he shuttles (will he shuttle?) will be a natural beau for Danehill mares. Though he’s just 18 years old with still plenty of time to right the picture, Kingmambo has been rather despairing as a sire of sires. Lemon Drop Kid is possibly his best to date. King’s Best was worse than bad in Australia and now we are waiting to see if Dubai Destination will amount to anything. (I hope so, I have 20% of one of his fillies!).
----------------------------------------
I spent most of the morning flicking between TVN and Sky to see what sort of coverage they were providing. Both took the same feed from the UK, that of the specialist UK racing channel, AtTheRaces. The British coverage was liberally interspersed with ad breaks which naturally become ad breaks here also. In the case of TVN the breaks were insufferable, filled with those interminable house ads, hour after hour, ad infinitum, promoting themselves, their programmes and their publications. We’re already watching and are committed, nitwits, that’s why we’re up at 2.30 in the morning. Obviously they can’t sell ad time on TVN. I’ve never got up and made so many cups of tea in three hours. You just can’t watch it. On the other hand, Sky used a continuity voice-over, Andrew le Jeune, to fill in most of the gaps. Visually it wasn’t exciting television with static betting markets displayed on screen, but this man is impressively right on top of his subject and what he says is well worth listening to. It’s Sky for me for the rest of the week, no race.
---------------------------------------
Apart from some memorable performances on the turf, three images stick in my mind from Day One’s coverage.
Firstly, watching class mare Finsceal Beo going to post in the Queen Anne. If she was walking away from you at the yearling sales with the knees and action she looked to possess in last night’s shots, you’d be putting the line straight through her. I’m constantly reminded that legs are only wheels, not motors, but I’d have to say her wheels looked square. I’d be interested if anyone’s seen her in the flesh and could comment on her conformation. Timeform describe her as an “excellent walker”.
Secondly, Jay Ford won the prize for the worst haircut (apart from John McCririck's of course).
Thirdly, what was that thing on Mrs Magnier’s head?
And Exceed And Excel got in the act with a longshot (but impressive) Listed two-year-old winner in the form of Flashmans Papers.
Congratulations to the Coolmore/Arch of Gold team. They took the big gamble to expose Haradasun on the international stage when so much was at stake, that being his huge purchase price and the reputation that goes with it. Their management and skill have now established the ultimate breeding platform for Haradasun who, though he is the shining light sired by the mentally fragile Fusaichi Pegasus, is a great cut of a horse out of clearly one of the broodmares of our times, Circles Of Gold, a Eulogy-line Oaks winning daughter of Marscay who raced on 43 occasions and who was probably better at five than she was at three.
Haradasun has come a long way from 10 June 2006 when Tony Vasil took him to Swan Hill to win the Super Vobis 2YO Handicap by 10 lengths on debut.
Aidan O’Brien won with Haradasun and, two races later, with the outstanding three-year-old Henrythenavigator in the St James’s Palace Stakes. On both occasions he employed pacemakers to ensure these megadollar studs got their races run to suit. Nothing left to chance when $100 million rests on the results.
The pacemakers, longshots Honoured Guest in Haradasun’s race and Minneapolis in the other, were tried to their limits but of course were found wanting. When Honoured Guest, who had been breaking the wind for Haradasun camped behind him on the rail, moved over to give the big colt racing room, jockey David McCabe gave a look over his shoulder which was straight out of the Shane Dye box of tricks, identical to RSD’s effort on Imprimatur when inviting Myocard to come through in the AJC Derby all those years ago. (I remember, I had a racing interest in Imprimatur!).
Years ago I was in charge of a stallion, Diagramatic (USA), who was a good middle distance racehorse on his day but his greatest usefulness in life was as pacemaker for the champion Exceller (USA). Diagramatic was by Sir Wiggle (a son of the brilliant Australian mare Wiggle) out of a Chilean-bred mare. As his breeding might have foretold, he was a sire of little account though he got a freak little filly in Tidal Light (NZ).
There is nothing new to be said about Takeover Target who lines up again on Saturday night. Cynics might say that anyone can train a champion but that’s a load of crap. I’ve never met Joe Janiak but I also know I’ve never met any trainer who could have done a better job with the horse than the low-brow cabbie from Queanbeyan. Horses don’t train themselves, they don’t feed themselves, they don’t travel themselves. Someone has to do it for them. Joe rules.
Spare a thought for Magnus who, like Haradasun, is meant to have run his last race. He didn’t figure in the finish of this morning’s event but he wasn’t disgraced; he’s not won many races but he’s competed honourably in a vintage era of sprinters and he’ll be a valued addition to Victorian stallion ranks. Sir Tristram only won two races!
If the Aussies were proud of the way their horses ran, think how the Spanish (the Spanish??) must have felt when one of their own, Equiano, won the Gr 1 King’s Stand. Actually, Equiano is French-bred and has raced in La Belle France over the last 12 months, trained by his Spanish trainer. A remote relative of Equiano is the plodding Danehill stayer Roanoke which Anthony Cummings cajoled to win a poor Listed Handicap at Randwick one day.
I know jack about Spanish racing but I do recall a marathon runner named Royal Gait (by Gunner B) which hailed from there in the mid-80s. He was remarkable. He had a total of 14 starts in Spain, winning seven of them, but became famous when he crossed the Pyrennees to win some of Paris’s great staying tests. He raced from three years until 10, had 99 starts and his last win was in none other than the Champion Hurdle at the famous Cheltenham National Hunt Festival. There was an unforgettable horse not unlike him in New Zealand in the '70s named Execute, but that story's for another day.
Art Connoisseur’s turn of foot to win the Gr 2 Coventry Stakes was unbelievable. He came from last, straight past a supposedly hot field, to win in a jog. He is by a sire named Lucky Story, a non-Gr 1 winner who is a brother to Dr Fong who stood in Australia almost without trace a few years ago. Art Connoisseur and the second horse in the Coventry, Intense Focus (by the despised-in-Australia Giant’s Causeway), are out of Danehill mares.
Henrythenavigator, on form, had a lot on his rivals in the St James’s Palace, and though he was run close enough at the end by Elusive Quality’s son Raven’s Pass, his win was fairly contemptuous. He and Dolphin Street share some common ancestry; he’s a magnificently-bred son of Kingmambo and when he shuttles (will he shuttle?) will be a natural beau for Danehill mares. Though he’s just 18 years old with still plenty of time to right the picture, Kingmambo has been rather despairing as a sire of sires. Lemon Drop Kid is possibly his best to date. King’s Best was worse than bad in Australia and now we are waiting to see if Dubai Destination will amount to anything. (I hope so, I have 20% of one of his fillies!).
----------------------------------------
I spent most of the morning flicking between TVN and Sky to see what sort of coverage they were providing. Both took the same feed from the UK, that of the specialist UK racing channel, AtTheRaces. The British coverage was liberally interspersed with ad breaks which naturally become ad breaks here also. In the case of TVN the breaks were insufferable, filled with those interminable house ads, hour after hour, ad infinitum, promoting themselves, their programmes and their publications. We’re already watching and are committed, nitwits, that’s why we’re up at 2.30 in the morning. Obviously they can’t sell ad time on TVN. I’ve never got up and made so many cups of tea in three hours. You just can’t watch it. On the other hand, Sky used a continuity voice-over, Andrew le Jeune, to fill in most of the gaps. Visually it wasn’t exciting television with static betting markets displayed on screen, but this man is impressively right on top of his subject and what he says is well worth listening to. It’s Sky for me for the rest of the week, no race.
---------------------------------------
Apart from some memorable performances on the turf, three images stick in my mind from Day One’s coverage.
Firstly, watching class mare Finsceal Beo going to post in the Queen Anne. If she was walking away from you at the yearling sales with the knees and action she looked to possess in last night’s shots, you’d be putting the line straight through her. I’m constantly reminded that legs are only wheels, not motors, but I’d have to say her wheels looked square. I’d be interested if anyone’s seen her in the flesh and could comment on her conformation. Timeform describe her as an “excellent walker”.
Secondly, Jay Ford won the prize for the worst haircut (apart from John McCririck's of course).
Thirdly, what was that thing on Mrs Magnier’s head?
No Pictures? Listen on the Net.
If there's anyone who doesn't have SKY/TVN and wants an alternative to 2KY/3UZ etc to listen to Royal Ascot races, crank up your internet, go to http://www.sportinglife.com/racing/news/, click on Racing Radio then click Play. This is what to log on to if you ever want to hear an English race commentary (or an occasional Irish one).
What? A Week Without Sales?
I feel a blog coming on. I might put pen to paper during the week as it seems we have a hiatus between sales. I am thinking of making access to the blog subscription only. That would sort out all of you who complain I haven't written anything for weeks and would also mean I wouldn't need to bother.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
