Petit Artiste paints a pretty picture for Team Yargi
Bargain buy Petit Artiste not only secured a first stakes win in Australia and second overall for her sire Earthlight (Shamardal) when the filly trounced her rivals in the Without Fear Stakes (Listed, 1050m), she also preserved the Yargi stable’s unblemished record in Adelaide.
Team Yargi, comprising husband and wife Ash and Amy, are now two from two from their interstate raids to South Australia after Petit Artiste followed their 2023 Adelaide Cup (Gr 2, 3200m) hero Rebel Racer (Rebel Raider) into the winner’s enclosure.
Rebel Racer assumed the villainous role of ‘quaddie killer’ that day when he saluted at odds of $26, and, while Petit Artiste started considerably shorter in the market at Morphettville last Saturday, the result was still something of an upset given her rivals included $1.35 favourite Meisho (Tagaloa).
The Yargis weren’t among the surprised parties, however, as their $15,000 purchase had shown sharp improvement following a pleasing debut run behind Military Tycoon (Written Tycoon) in the Ottawa Stakes (Gr 3, 1000m) at Flemington in mid-March.
After a subsequent minor placing (beaten a long neck) at Sandown, her connections – including breeder and part-owner Doug Love – raised their collective sights and the away day appears to have been the making of the filly as she romped to victory by 3.5 lengths.
Encouragingly, Amy Yargi feels their young charge will be even better suited when she encounters tracks with some give – a trait she perhaps inherited from her dam Little Artist (More Than Ready), whose debut win by four lengths for Peter Moody came on a Soft 7 track at Ballarat back in 2010.
That explains why the stable, provided she doesn’t show any signs of weariness, is open to the idea of pushing on through the winter months with Petit Artiste, whose half-sister Miss Alabania (Magnus) was stakes placed and a multiple city winner.
“There’s another stakes race in Adelaide over 1200 metres [Gr 3 Breeders’ Stakes] in two weeks’ time, but she lost 20 kilos from the travel, so we’re very mindful of that and won’t be rushing her back to the races,” said Yargi.
“If she tells us she’s had enough we won’t hesitate to tip her out, but if she’s still enjoying her work we’ll press on and we actually think she’s better on softer ground. So we might hold her back a little bit and step her out in some nice races over the winter.
“Any time she’s worked on rain-affected ground, she’s gone particularly well. She’s got an economical action, so she’s quite light on her feet and tends to skip along. So even though she hasn’t been under race pressure on wet ground, we’d be pretty confident that she’d grow another leg on tracks with a bit of give in them.”
Earthlight, who went through his juvenile season unbeaten, was equally adaptable on all types of ground, with his first victory at the elite level in the 2019 Darley Prix Morny (Gr. 1, 1200m) achieved in attritional conditions at Deauville in France.
After retiring from racing with a record of seven wins and a second from his nine career starts for Godolphin, the son of Sharmadal (Giant’s Causeway) shuttled to Darley Australia for two seasons before returning to full-time stud duties in the northern hemisphere, where he stands for a fee of €12,500 (approx. AU$20,600).
With his stakes-winning daughter Daylight currently shining a bright light on her sire’s capabilities, Earthlight is likely to be stationed at Kildangan Stud in Ireland for the foreseeable future, but Yargi remains hopeful that he may return to Australian shores in the future.
“We really liked the Earthlight progeny, so it’s a shame he’s not shutting to Australia any more,” she said.
“But hopefully they might reconsider now that this filly has got a stakes win and is showing plenty of promise. He throws a really nice type, and we were delighted to find her for such a good price. She’s got really good strength through her hocks, which is what first attracted me to her at the sale.
“She had a great attitude to go with her shape, and her dam has done a good job so for me it was a no-brainer to bring her home. It’s always easy to say after the fact, but right from the start we did think we’d got ourselves a bit of a bargain. We obviously don’t have a lot of money to spend when we go to the sales so we have to shop around at the lower end of the market, and it’s really satisfying when you can find a diamond in the rough.
“It’s certainly not easy to buy a yearling for $15,000 and get a stakes win with them at two, so we’re feeling pretty pleased with ourselves. She’ll have a fair bit of residual value as a broodmare going forward, and hopefully she can enhance her pedigree page in the near future.”
Her breeder certainly shares those warm sentiments, despite making a loss on the filly having sold her at the 2024 Inglis Premier Yearling Sale for $5,000 less than Earthlight’s $20,000 service fee.
The somewhat disappointing result forced Love to disperse his broodmares – which had numbered up to 35 – and instead limit his outgoings to training fees for the handful of racehorses in which he has retained a share.
As well as Petit Artiste, the 74-year-old bred and part owns King Zephyr (Hallowed Crown), a winner of four of his five starts for the in-form Grahame Begg yard.
So that promising pair will keep his spirits up during the Melbourne winter, and he was also delighted to receive a congratulatory call earlier in the week following Petit Artiste’s breakthrough.
“It was very nice to get a phone call from Darley congratulating me on breeding the first stakes winner for Earthlight in Australia,” said Love, who paid $6,000 for Little Artist through the Inglis Online Sale in 2020, before selling her on to Claremont Thoroughbreds four years later.
“I asked them if he’s coming back out here and unfortunately they said there’s not much chance of that happening, which is a shame. They did offer me a couple of other options on the Shamardal line, but I’ve decided to take a bit of a break from breeding.
“It’s very difficult to compete with the bigger farms and even more difficult to breed stakes winners. I’ve had a few in my time but they’re certainly not easy to find, so it was a great thrill to see Petit Artiste explode like that – even if I made a loss on her.
“This game has its ups and downs, and for whatever reason unfortunately there wasn’t much interest in the filly at the sales. So Amy picked her up after she’d been passed in, and it looks like a great bit of business for her now.
“The upside is that I stayed in the filly, and it’s great to be involved in such an exciting young horse. She’s from a very nice family, the dam was a city winner and she’s now thrown a stakes winner and a stakes-placed mare [Miss Albania] who was sold for a decent sum as a broodmare. So the better fillies in the family are certainly doing very well, and I hope Petit Artiste can continue her journey.”