Fancy Red bidding for Belmont Oaks glory
In-form filly Fancy Red (Sessions) will bid to make it three wins on the bounce when she lines up as a short-priced favourite in Saturday’s Belmont Oaks (Listed, 2019m) at Bunbury.
Bred and raced by Oakland Park Stud, Fancy Red will look to deliver another Belmont Oaks victory for the operation’s owner Neville Duncan, trainer Adam Durrant and jockey William Pike, the trio having combined to win the 2023 edition with fellow Sessions (Lonhro) filly Ihts Closing Inn.
The progressive three-year-old heads into the $125,000 feature in peak form, with four wins and three placings from eight starts. Her most recent victories came in a Class 3 over 1400 metres at Northam on June 26 and a 1412-metre handicap at Pinjarra on July 5.
Saturday’s step up to 2019 metres will be her first attempt beyond 1600 metres, but from barrier five in a field of 14, and with leading rider William Pike aboard, she looks well placed to handle the rise in trip.
“I think she’s well qualified,” Duncan told ANZ News.
“It’s her first time at the trip, so she’s in the same boat as all the rest of the horses, so until we go around, we won’t really know.
“We don’t take Saturday for granted. She will be coming home after Saturday and then we’ll plan whatever she says we should do after Saturday’s race. She has a fantastic record, eight starts and four wins, but we never get ahead of ourselves in racing.”
Oakland Park Stud stands Sessions (Lonhro), alongside Shooting To Win (Northern Meteor) and Ingratiating (Frosted), and Fancy Red will aim to become the seventh individual stakes winner for her sire.
His sixth came just last week when talented three-year-old gelding Repossession (Sessions) extended his winning streak to three with a victory in the Beaufine Stakes (Listed, 1000m).
Although Sessions was a top-class sprinter himself, winning from 1000 to 1200 metres including the The Shorts (Gr 2, 1100m), he has proven capable of producing stayers. Among them is Sail Session, who won the JC Roberts Stakes (Listed, 1800m) and Melvista Stakes (Listed, 2200m) in succession, before placing in the WATC Derby (Gr 2, 2400m).
“It would be great for Sessions to get another stakes winner. He had Sale Session who won over 1800 metres and 2200 metres and then ran third in the Derby last year. So with the right mare, Sessions can get a horse that gets a middle distance,” said Duncan.
Fancy Red is out of the winning Show A Heart (Brave Warrior) mare Showme Thediamonds, who is already the dam of Diamond Made (Duke Of Marmalade), winner of the Adrian Knox Stakes (Gr 3, 2000m). Duncan secured the mare with Belmont Bloodstock for just $5,000 at the 2019 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale with a clear plan in mind.
“Fancy Red’s mother has had a Group 3 winner in Sydney, and he got a trip. We bought the mare empty to go to Sessions, just to breed one horse and then we moved her on.”
Now firmly establishing himself as a value sire, Sessions boasts a 63.2 per cent winners-to-runners strike rate, standing for just $9,000 (plus GST) this upcoming season, and Duncan believes his best crops are yet to be seen.
“Sessions is doing a great job. He is in the top ten Apex A Horses in Australia. The Apex A indices is something I put a lot of credit in, and he is ahead of some of the big guns, believe it or not. So he’s doing a really good job,” Duncan said.
“His winners to runners is fantastic, and his average earnings per horse is really good, so he is very good from our point of view.
“He doesn’t seem to get many two-year-olds or early three-year-olds. So he’s dragged down a bit by those horses, but his first crop he’s got 90 per cent winners to runners, his second crop close to that as well. So as they get further into their life, the chances of getting a winner is almost certainly more than 80 per cent, which is insane.
“In general, he does seem to have horses that can be persistent in their campaign. Our breaker comments are that they are so easy to deal with, everything’s a cruise for them. So that’s very helpful when they’re racing, because they just go to the races, cool their jets and then go out and do the racing.”