Mum’s the word as Esha eyes spring riches
The unflappable nature she inherited from her suitably stellar mum I Am A Star (I Am Invincible) should set dominant debut winner Esha (Extreme Choice) in good stead as she prepares to add some precious black type to her pedigree page this spring.
That is the considered view of her trainer Shane Nichols, who prepared I Am A Star to Group 1 glory over the Flemington Mile in the 2016 Empire Rose Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) (then listed as the Myer Classic).
Given that was Nichols’ breakthrough at the elite level, it is unsurprising that I Am A Star still commands a special place in his heart and perhaps explains why, in partnership with Kia Ora Stud, he went to $900,000 to secure her third foal at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
His emotional ties to the mare had previously persuaded Nichols to part with $800,000 for her first-born, a Deep Field (Northern Meteor) colt who never quite lived up to his price tag and is now racing in Darwin for trainer Jason Manning.
If he was understandably burned by the experience, it didn’t prevent the Mornington horseman from returning to the well to acquire Esha, a flashy chestnut who raced right up to her photogenic looks with a dashing display which illuminated an otherwise humdrum meeting at Morphettville on Saturday.
It was the proverbial win-win for Kia Ora, who part-own the quinella with another blueblood filly in Chisholm (I Am Invincible) – a $500,000 purchase at last year’s Inglis Easter Yearling Sale – chasing Esha home as the $1.60 favourite.
While Esha’s connections only recouped a fraction of their considerable outlay – Nichols’ share of the $27,300 winner’s cheque went towards shouting dinner for his son’s 21st birthday – the manner of the 3.4-length romp would suggest that she is destined for much bigger and better things.
Nichols has resisted the urge to press on with her preparation in the hope that an immediate spell would yield rich dividends this spring, when she is likely to be kept to sprint trips with a view to potentially extending her distance range next year.
“She’ll have a little break for the next three weeks, because there’s not much around for her,” said Nichols, whose stable is currently in fine fettle with four winners and a pair of placings from their last six starters.
“We did consider the Lightning Stakes at Morphettville in July, but it would have been a fast turnaround to get her ready for the spring so we decided to pull up stumps and send her to the paddock now. There are plenty of stakes races for sprinting fillies during the spring, so we’ll take a closer look at the program and try to find one we think we can win.
“I’m very confident that this filly will run out a strong 1200 metres, but we probably wouldn’t be looking to stretch her out over much further at this stage of her career. That may come with maturity, so you may see her over 1400 metres next autumn but for the time being I think we’ll stick to the shorter trips with her.”
At this stage any comparisons to her mother would be a touch premature and indeed a little unfair, given I Am A Star collected ten victories – nine of them in stakes company – and amassed racecourse earnings in excess of $1.5 million before she was retired in 2019.
However, Nichols does see similarities between the pair, not least in their raceday demeanours which – particularly when it comes to the fairer sex – can often separate the great from the merely good.
The ability to flick the switch on gameday is a crucial component of any professional athlete’s armoury, and it would appear that Esha’s otherwise relaxed persona hides an insatiable appetite for battle.
“She doesn’t remind me of her mum physically, I Am A Star was a nuggety bay mare whereas this filly is a more lightly-framed chestnut,” said Nichols, who is confident of continuing the stable’s hot streak when his juvenile filly Torsheen (Toronado) makes her competitive debut at Sandown this Saturday.
“But in terms of their temperament, they’re very similar. Nothing fazes this girl, she’s very relaxed in everything she does but when it’s time to go to the races, she really switches on.
“We’ve liked her all the way through, in all of her gallops she’s always disposed of her workmate pretty quickly. In her final gallop last Tuesday morning I paired her up with Zousinger, a pretty fast filly who went and won at Echuca on Saturday, and Esha accounted for her pretty easily.
“So I’m very fortunate that I get the opportunity to train her, and I have to thank Kia Ora Stud and also Matthew Sandblom, who bred and part-owns her. If it wasn’t for their support, there’s no way I could’ve afforded to have a filly like her in my stable. It was obviously a lot of money to pay and although there’s a long way to go, it does look like she might have inherited some of her Mum’s talent so hopefully we can have a lot of fun with her.”
For Matthew Sandblom, the publishing magnate who owns Kingstar Farm and also has a 25 per cent stake in Newgate Farm, Esha’s potential provides cause for optimism and fully vindicates the decision to team up with Nichols and Kia Ora to race the filly.
While he was quietly confident that Lot 766 at last year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale would sell well given the inspection rate – not to mention the relative scarcity of Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt) progeny – he was still pleasantly surprised to fetch close to seven figures for her.
“The underbidder was Henry Field and the Ladbrokes Racing Club, I knew Henry really liked her and given Shane’s association with the dam it certainly helped to push the price up,” Sandblom told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“It’s always satisfying when some good judges are on a horse you’ve bred. The mother lives on the farm and Henry had monitored the foal from the day she was born, so he could obviously see the progress she had made.
“I was pleased for Shane that he came out on top and got the chance to train her, because he did a great job with the mum. He trained the full-sister [called Band On The Run], who was stakes-placed and had shown plenty of promise at the time, which is why I decided to send I Am A Star to him after I bought her as a yearling through James Harron.
“At the time I Am Invincible was still an up-and-coming stallion, which is why I was able to pick her up for $40,000 plus she was also a bit of a smaller, finer type. There wasn’t intense competition on her, and given she went on to win nine stakes races it was certainly one of my better buys.”
Having called time on her career, Sandblom elected to send I Am A Star to the 2019 Magic Millions Broodmare Sale but when she just failed to meet her $1.5 million reserve price, she was instead put on a float to Newgate Farm to be served by Deep Field.
Whilst that mating didn’t quite bring the desired result, and the colt produced via her subsequent date with Fastnet Rock (Danehill) is yet to win a race, Sandblom believes he is onto a surefire winner with her match with Extreme Choice.
He was therefore determined to retain a share in Esha’s sister when she was sold for $400,000 at this year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
Anthony Cummings was on the ticket but after he lost his licence, the filly will instead be trained by Michael Freedman and will shortly make the journey from Queensland to his Sydney stables now that she has been successfully broken-in.
“She’s a very similar type to Esha in terms of her looks and size, and we have another weanling by Extreme Choice in the same mould as both siblings,” Sandblom said.
“The mare got into foal first-time with Extreme Choice on each occasion, so given his fertility issues that was a great result. I was hoping the match was going to work because I have access to the stallion through my partnership with Newgate, and we’ve obviously had some great success with Extreme Choice through Stay Inside and Devil Night, which were both bred at Kingstar.
“So he’s very much my go-to stallion now. Provided your mare gets in foal then you’re virtually guaranteed class with him, and we’ll certainly be in the queue for a repeat visit with I Am A Star later this year.”