Breeding barn beckons as in-form mare prepares for one last dance

Ahead of her proposed spring date with Zoustar (Northern Meteor), in-form mare Coeur Volante (Proisir) will bid to embellish her pedigree page further with stakes success in the P.B. Lawrence Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m) next month.

A $500,000 joint acquisition between Bangaloe Stud’s Julia Ritchie and Widden Stud, Coeur Volante has already recouped more than half her $500,000 purchase price thanks chiefly to a hat-trick of city victories and, should she continue her winning ways at Caulfield in mid-August, her partners would very nearly recover their entire outlay from just five starts.       

 

With Coeur Volante bought primarily as a broodmare prospect, Ritchie freely admits that the five-year-old’s recent racetrack returns have been a very welcome bonus and, provided the daughter of Rich Hill Stud’s resident Proisir (Choisir) retains her appetite for racing, connections are keen to press on with her prosperous preparation for at least one more outing.

“We already knew we’d bought a very nice broodmare, but her recent wins have really been the icing on the cake,” Ritchie told ANZ News.

“We gave her a long break, and when she returned to the stables at Lindsay Park she showed the [Hayes] boys that she still had the ticker for racing. The stable is obviously loving how she’s been going, as are we, so until she tells us otherwise then we’ll keep going and hopefully she can keep winning.

“At this stage the P.B. Lawrence will be her grand final, then she’ll need some time to let down in a paddock before heading to the breeding barn. She’s thriving and when mares are in form then you’d be mad not to keep running them, although in the past she’s let the boys know once she’s had enough so we’ll be guided by them. But at this stage, it’s all systems got for the P.B. Lawrence.”  

Should she add a fourth black type triumph to an already impressive CV, the door remains ajar for Coeur Volante to continue racing throughout her six-year-old campaign but in all likelihood she will be retired next month to prepare for her first date with Zoustar, who has mounted a sterling defence of his Australian Sires’ Premiership crown but will ultimately cede his title to Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice).

Given that Zoustar stands at the ‘Valley of Champions’ and Ritchie is a part-owner of the Widden wonder, having paid $1.3 million for a share through the Inglis Digital Sale in 2024, the identity of Coeur Volante’s first suitor wasn’t exactly a mystery. Under her Bangaloe Stud banner, over the past few years Ritchie has set about acquiring shares in several of the country’s most sought-after – not to mention expensive – stallions.

At this year’s Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale, before successfully bidding on both Thalassophile (Not A Single Doubt) and Complicit (Blame), Ritchie shelled out $735,000 for a piece of Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt) – largely as it was the only way of gaining access to one of the world’s most prolific producers of equine gold.

In light of Extreme Choice’s well-documented fertility challenges, it was perhaps a risky strategy but Ritchie felt the rewards far outweigh any potential pitfalls as she seeks to upgrade a broodmare band which currently numbers “around 25 that I’ll publicly admit to”.   

“It’s really the only way to guarantee getting your foot in the door, especially with a stallion like Extreme Choice,” she told ANZ News.

“As the market changes its configuration, a lot of breeders are realising that you really need to send your mares to quality stallions to keep your returns high at the yearling sales. We’ll be sending Complicit back to Extreme Choice once she has foaled down, so hopefully we can get another positive result there. And Thalassophile will be going to I Am Invincible before we bring her back to the farm.

“I’ll also be sending a couple of mares to Delacroix at Coolmore, because I really like the look of him, and I’ll be supporting Storm Boy not just because I’m a shareholder in him, but also because I really believe he will make a big impact at stud. It’s a pity he didn’t quite realise his potential on the track, but I do think he’ll definitely make it as a stallion.”  

While undoubtedly excited by what may come of her expanding association with some of the breeding industry’s hottest properties, it is a filly sired by Extreme Choice’s former Newgate neighbour that is currently occupying Ritchie’s thoughts as Pacific Palisades (North Pacific) prepares to make an unlikely debut at Kembla Grange on Thursday.

While her two trials to date have only been steady rather than spectacular, the fact that the filly is heading to the races at all is nothing short of miraculous, given the bleak prognosis delivered by vets when she the foal born with severe neural damage and was unable to walk for the first few weeks of her life.

Merely keeping her alive was Ritchie’s primary aim at that point, but fast forward a little under four years and Pacific Palisades is set to step out for a first start which, whether she wins or runs last, is likely to bring a tear to her owner’s eye.         

“We were actually advised to put the filly down for her own sake, but we decided to do everything we could for her and now I’m so glad that we did,” Ritchie told ANZ News.

“She had such severe nerve damage that she couldn’t stand up, and after about a week the vets said that her quality of life would be pretty poor. But when you looked at her, she was really willing her legs to move so we really thought we at least owed her a chance at life. At that point we never thought she’d become a racehorse one day, I just wanted her to be self-sufficient and able to look after herself.

“So it was amazing what the team at Coolmore and the vets and farriers at Oakridge did for her. They made contraptions for her legs out of drainage pipes, and when she was still learning how to walk we used to have to carry her around like a teapot so that she could drink some milk from her mum.

“For a long time she was walking around like Jake The Peg, but slowly she made steady improvements and then when all the gear came off her legs, she was cantering round the paddock like nothing had ever happened. It was amazing to see, and to get to where she is now from such a low bar warms your heart.

“It shows that the breeding industry has a horse’s welfare as the priority, whatever some people from outside the industry will have you believe. It also shows that if you’re prepared to be patient, you can get the results.”