Reprise?
Did Saturday’s Ladbrokes Top 2/3/4 Benchmark 100 handicap remind you of anything? Think back to the end of February and the Oakleigh Plate (Gr 1, 1100m). The explosive turn of foot displayed by Jimmysstar (Per Incanto) that day was a feature of the meeting.
There was a strong similarity in style even though Saturday’s Moonee Valley field was much smaller. The way Oak Hill, coincidentally also by Per Incanto (Street Cry) cruised into contention from last then broke clear from the 200 metres has all the hallmarks of a future stakes winner.
Despite having just turned five, Oak Hill has only been to the races 14 times and has won seven, four of which have taken place at The Valley including his maiden win at his second start, in November 2023. Starts four and five in May and June 2024 resulted in back-to-back wins at Sandown, one on each track, Lakeside and Hillside. They were followed by two ordinary efforts in open company before a lengthy spell, returning last January at The Valley.
Starts eight and ten were also Moonee Valley wins, both over 955 metres and both from the rear. His March 7 performance in the 55 Second Challenge Final was superb as he was caught on the fence with nowhere to go, not the place you want to be when there is only 200 metres of straight. The narrowest of gaps opened at the 50 metres and he bolted through to score brilliantly.
A further similarity to Jimmysstar was apparent at Echuca, yes, Echuca, in the $500,000 Echuca Discovery (1000m) where his chances looked hopeless soon after straightening. They were not much better at the 150-metre mark but he launched strongly, although far too late, but the acceleration was clear.
His final start as a four-year-old was in May at Caulfield saw him slow away but with clear running along the fence he sat second into the straight. He simply took over at the 250 metres and won comfortably under hands and heels. Saturday’s victory takes his earnings to $472,815.
Black-type is next as connections have their sights set on the Carlyon Stakes (Listed, 1000m), scheduled for August 23, and the Moir Stakes (Gr 1, 1000m), to be run September 6, with both sprints held at Moonee Valley.
Paul Moroney found Oak Hill at Karaka in 2022, the Covid-19 delayed sale in March of that year, outlaying $180,000. At that time, Oak Hill’s half-brother, future Group 1 winner and $1.4 million earner Desert Lightning (Pride Of Dubai), had won on debut at Ruakaka then finished a fair fourth in the Matamata Slipper (Gr 3, 1200m).
The fifth foal of the unraced Isstoora (High Chaparral), Oak Hill is one of four winners from five to race. Isstoora had three foals in Australia. Her fourth, Desert Lightning, was conceived there. Her only mate since then has been Per Incanto (Street Cry) and Peter Moody shelled out $200,000 for Oak Hill’s brother at last January’s NZB Karaka Yearling Sale. Their granddam is the Adelaide Group 3 juvenile winner Murjana (Giant’s Causeway) while his great granddam Twyla (Danehill) ranks as a three-quarter sister to Redoute’s Choice (Danehill) and represents one of the most commercial families in Australia.
Mum could run
One of the great bargain buys of recent times was I Am A Star (I Am Invincible) who was part of a dispersal sale in a supplementary catalogue at the Karaka NZB May Mixed Sale in 2014.
Pinhooked for $12,000, the filly represented the third crop of I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) who had sired more than a dozen winners in his first crop by the time the filly was offered. Isn’t hindsight wonderful?
She was reoffered at the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale the following February, making $40,000 and as a late two-year-old landed her maiden win at start two at Flemington then scored the National Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) at Morphettville.
In a star-studded career I Am A Star added a Group 3 at Caulfield and at start nine landed the Myer Classic (Gr 1, 1600m) at Flemington in November. By the time she retired she had banked more than $1.5 million from ten wins which included five Group 2s.
I Am A Star failed to reach her reserve of $1.5 million at the 2019 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale, her owners pursuing a breeding career which is proving fruitful, if Saturday’s Ladbroke’s SRM in Multis Handicap (1000m) is anything to go by.
Three-year-old daughter Esha (Extreme Choice) has clearly inherited some of Mum’s talent, evidenced at Morphettville in May when she broke away at the 150 metres to score easily on debut. However, Saturday’s win was even better because she was given no rest in the lead but once they turned heads towards the line she gave her opponents a galloping lesson, racing well clear to remain unbeaten. There is more to come from such an impressive filly.
This is the beauty of our great industry. A gamble, certainly, but someone has to be lucky and it might be you (or me). There were two opportunities prior to I Am A Star’s sale as a weanling. In 2012 her dam Star Band (Dixieland Band) was sold for $11,000 as a broodmare but this sale must have fallen through as she was back at the same Inglis Easter Broodmare Sale in 2013 and made just $8,000 but in this case was carrying I Am A Star who was foaled in New Zealand.
Her first foal by Deep Field (Northern Meteor) made $800,000. Her second, by Fastnet Rock (Danehill), made $400,000, while foal three, Esha, realised $900,000 and her fourth, a sister to Esha, made $400,000. In 2024 I Am A Star produced yet another Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt) foal. That refusal to take $1.5 million appears to have been a wise one.
Dam Star Band, who never raced, ranks as a sister to European dual Group 3 winner Common World (Spinning World) and to the dam of Wakeful Stakes (Gr 2, 2000m) winner Tiamo Grace (Monaco Consul). A strong black-type family, Star Band’s dam Spenderella (Common Grounds) is a sister to French Listed winner Raisonnable (Common Grounds), the granddam of Tattersalls Tiara (Gr 1, 1400m) winner Pear Tart (Dehere) and half-sister to three further stakes winners including the French-bred Group 1 American-raced mare Aube Indienne (Bluebird). Esha represents a quality family.
Marvellous March
Last week’s wrap of the season touched on the racing highlights but on the sire front there were also results worth recognition.
Two of the three stallion awards went to Savabeel (Zabeel) who landed the Grosvenor Award as the Leading New Zealand Sire and the Dewar Award as the Leading Sire based on combined New Zealand and Australian earnings.
The champion has been totally dominant in both categories. The Grosvenor Award was his tenth of the last 11 while the Dewar Award was also his tenth within the same time frame. The third award was to Per Incanto (Street Cry) who broke Savabeel’s nine year stranglehold on the Centaine Award which recognises world-wide earnings.
The leading sire of broodmares was Waikato Stud’s O’Reilly (Last Tycoon) but their up-and-comer, Super Seth (Dundeel) made the loudest of statements in March when he sired three million dollar earners.
March got off to a flyer when his Feroce (Super Seth) landed the Australian Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) on March 1st. He stalked Waikato Stud-bred Savaglee (Savabeel) to the 200m and took over at the 100m to score convincingly ahead of Savaglee. This his third win after nearly catching the all-the-way winner, Private Life (Written Tycoon) in the previous October’s Caulfield Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m). Feroce wrapped his season with a fair sixth in the Australian Cup (Gr 1, 2000m).
Seven days later it was Linebacker (Super Seth) to add lustre to Super Seth’s growing record, this time in the Randwick Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m). He was the main chaser sitting a distant second until the 600 metres then strode forward to lead inside the 400m. The winning of the race was at the 300 metres when he sprinted clear and that lead was enough to hold out the hot favourite Broadsiding (Too Darn Hot) to claim win three at start eight. Linebacker completed his season with a solid eighth in the Doncaster Handicap (Gr 1, 1600m).
At the end of March it was time for one of Super Seth’s second crop to show her worth. La Dorada (Super Seth) destroyed her fellow two-year-olds in the Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m), bolting clear at the 200 metres to take her record to four wins in five starts.
La Dorada is an all-Waikato Stud product as he was not only bred and sold by the stud, she is also from a mare by Savabeel, also sire of Shillellagh, dam of the runner-up Hostility (I Am Invincible).
The icing on the cake took place in June when Maison Louis (Super Seth) took out the Queensland Derby (Gr 1, 2400m), his fourth win in only seven starts, sealing the deal on a fabulous second season for Super Seth. The Ready to Run Sale in November followed by the Centenary Yearling Sale at Karaka next January will see large numbers of Super Seths up for grabs. You can almost guarantee they will be in strong demand.