Bletchingly the likely fork in the road for talented Toronado mare Mariamia
Newhaven Park-purchase identified for stallion on the rise in Xtravagant
Mariamia (Toronado) is destined for a date with Newhaven Park stallion Xtravagant (Pentire), but whether it’s this year or next could be determined by how the rising six-year-old performs in Saturday’s Bletchingly Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) at Caulfield.
Group 3-placed at Caulfield in February, which prompted connections of the then Shane Stockdale-trained mare to cash her in for $335,000 to the Kellys of Newhaven Park, Mariamia is now in the care of Group 1-winning trainer Joe Pride who will return her to Melbourne this weekend in an attempt to land a breakthrough stakes win.
In four starts under Pride since changing hands in March via the Inglis Digital platform, Mariamia has not finished further back than fourth, running third at Randwick in April, winning at Rosehill in May and finishing fourth in both the Dane Ripper Stakes (Gr 2, 1300m) in Brisbane and in the Civic Stakes (Listed, 1400m) upon her return to Sydney.
Newhaven Park’s John Kelly said yesterday that the Bletchingly Stakes had been a long-term target for Mariamia.
“Joe thinks she’s got a lot of talent hence why we’re heading off to the Bletchingly on Saturday. It is a nice little four-week freshen up and she’s back from the 1400 to 1200 metres,” Kelly told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“She trialled well last Friday and hopefully she can run well on Saturday.”
Jamie Kah has been booked to ride Mariamia, who could face fellow Sydneysider King Of Sparta (I Am Invincible), Queenslander Scallopini (Snitzel), She’s All Class (I Am Invincible), Oxley Road (Exceed And Excel) and last-start Sir John Monash Stakes (Gr 3, 1100m) winner Mileva (Headwater).
From the family of the stakes-placed Halekulani (Encosta De Lago) and Victoria Derby (Gr 1, 2500m) winner Warning (Declaration Of War), Mariamia has somewhat mirrored the success of her Swettenham Stud-based sire Toronado (High Chaparral) whose fortunes have risen significantly from a $22,000 (inc GST) fee in 2015 to $88,000 (inc GST) when the 2022 breeding season starts on the first day of spring.
Mariamia was an $18,000 purchase from the 2018 Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale before bringing 18 times that four years later.
“I was talking to my brother Charles one day and I said ‘we should find a few Toronado mares for Xtravagant’ as we like the mating and she just happened to be the one online at the time,” Kelly said.
“She was a little bit more expensive [than we’d planned] but anyway we really liked her. If she happened to win on Saturday she could easily race on in the autumn. If she gets beaten she’ll probably go to stud.”
He added: “She is a very fast mare, she’s got good form, she’s won Saturday races in Sydney and Melbourne and it’d be lovely to be able to win a weight for age race before she went to stud.
“She’s got a lot of talent and the market is what the market is at the moment. It’s very genuine, so she cost a bit of money, but we’re happy to keep buying mares to go to Xtravagant. We’ve got a lot of faith in him.”
Xtravagant, whose oldest progeny are rising four-year-olds, has sired 27 winners from 61 runners, four of them stakes winners: Lavish Girl, Devoted and siblings Xtravagant Star and He’s Xceptional.
“We think that he’s going very well. He’s probably only got three or four more bookings until his book is full for this year. He is very fertile but we’ll only cover 140 mares because we believe everyone gets a fair go when you only cover 140. They [mares] should be able to be covered when they’re ready to be covered,” Kelly said.
“His figures stack up really well. If you read the ANZ Bloodstock News you’ll see the ads in there [about his statistics], and his figures are very favourable, we feel. We’ve got a lot of faith in him. He’s got some pretty nice horses around still to come.
“With these young stallions, from what we’ve observed, if their percentages are good in all the right areas – stakes winners to runners and runners to winners – they invariably end up pretty handy stallions and we’re hoping that’s where Xtravagant’s heading.”
Xtravagant, a two-time Group 1 winner in New Zealand who demonstrated freakish talent on the racetrack, will stand for an increased fee of $24,750 (inc GST) this year.