Sunrise Ruby
“Then she rolls it, and folds it, and rolls it again – layer upon layer upon layer.”
How fitting that Melbourne lawyer Susan Zeitz likes to compare her approach to breeding, her fascination with pedigrees, to that line from a 1980s ad for a famous brand of apple Danish.
For after some 14 years developing a passion she fell into almost accidentally, Zeitz – a layer-loving lawyer, if you will – appears to have struck a rich vein from one of the most successful female lines in recent Australian history, the one involving Scandinavia, Black Caviar, and which was kicked off by David Hains’ 1970s importation of a mare from Denmark, Love Song.
When the now four-year-old Sunrise Ruby won her fourth race from five starts in Randwick’s TAB Highway (1200m) last Saturday, for Zeitz and her good friend, trainer Mitchell Beer, it hopefully signalled the start of another strand of success from the Scandinavia line, which in this case, for some beautiful symmetry, has a double dollop of Danehill in the recipe as well.
“I think of breeding as like those old Sara Lee ads, for how you make the perfect puff pastry; you go back through layer after layer,” Zeitz tells It’s In the Blood. “I love the idea of taking essentially a closed pool of genes, and trying to pull out the right bits from that pool and get them to switch on to create a winning horse.
“The alchemy just appeals to me, trying to get those crosses. I’ll send a mare to a stallion who’s not particularly popular if I think it’s the best cross for the mare. I’ve crashed a few times, as you’d expect, but I was very confident with crossing this Scandinavia line with Sunrise Ruby’s sire Casino Prince.”
Zeitz ventured into breeding when a friend getting out of the game suggested it might be fun, and sold her a mare in foal to Brief Truce. That didn’t amount to much but Zeitz, now “bitten by the bug”, continued to delve ever more deeply into the layers. She was a virtual newcomer to the world of racing, let alone breeding, but was a studious one.
“I bought a couple of mares, and they didn’t work out,” she says. “I was new, so I thought I’d listen to as many people as I could. I’d go to every single Inglis sale just to wander around, eavesdrop, sit and watch. The industry is incredibly generous. People would put up with me asking questions and were always ready to talk.
“I’d mark every horse in the catalogue, write down what I thought it would fetch, then see what they actually brought. The more I learnt, the more I could see why horses were attracting higher prices, and where some were not commercially viable.”
She studied “every book by Tesio or Ken McLean I could lay my hands on”, while another major influence was The Science of Bloodstock Breeding by B Vijay, a treatise on the thoroughbreds of India.
It was in watching the most famous product of the Love Song line – Black Caviar – win just her fifth of 25, in the Australia Stakes at Moonee Valley in January, 2010, that Zeitz hatched the plan that would lead to Sunrise Ruby.
“I saw her run and said, ‘I want one of those!’” she says.
She was being cheeky of course. Caviar doesn’t grow on trees. And it’s expensive. But the determined Zeitz found a way. Seven months after seeing Black Caviar, she went to the Inglis Melbourne August Thoroughbred sale, having sniffed out Lot 202.
Scarletta was a four-year-old mare bred by Victorian heavyweight Rob Crabtree, by US stallion Distant Music. Her granddam, Scandinavia, was also the granddam of this exciting, unbeaten, Black Caviar, but Zeitz and her budget were in with a chance, since Scarletta had been retired after only seven starts, for a debut win, after fracturing her pelvis.
Scarletta’s dam Danavia, a daughter of Danehill who raced only four times, had thrown a colt by Black Caviar’s sire Bel Esprit who would become the stakes-winning earner of half a million dollars, Iconic. Fortunately for Zeitz, he was still two years off racing.
“There was another mare from the line, from the Midnight Sun side of the family, but she was out of my budget,” Zeitz says. “But I ended up getting Scarletta for $25,000. I remember my hands trembling. I was new in the game and thought she was outrageously expensive. Now I think I got away with it.”
For starters, Zeitz sought a direct second helping of Black Caviar by sending Scarletta to Bel Esprit. Esprit Joy had speed, and was placed at Sandown at her second start, but died from a snake bite when spelling soon afterwards.
Scarletta then went to Magnus. That meant a 2×3 cross to his dam Scandinavia, and a 3×3 to Danehill. Zeitz now concedes she wouldn’t try that again. The resultant filly, Scarlet Magnolia, had a volatile temperament probably due to the tight lines. In any case, she slashed a tendon and never raced (though Zeitz is breeding from her now).
Third-up Scarletta produced the Bel Esprit colt Zeitz wanted, but he died 20 minutes after foaling, having been born with a deformed diaphragm.
“I was thinking, ‘Where’s all my beginner’s luck?’” Zeitz says with a laugh.
The mare missed to Helmet – though Zeitz now feels that was the wrong cross anyway – before producing the Beer-trained mare Rarer Than Rubies, another Bel Esprit with throat issues. A try with Zoffany – “because Distant Music worked very well with Zoffany” – didn’t work either, with Sense Of Expense still winless after 19 starts.
Finally, in 2016, Zeitz sent Scarletta to Casino Prince. The result is Sunrise Ruby, while a full brother born the following year, Scarlet Prince, is also showing promise for Beer.
Sunrise Ruby also has a 3×3 cross of Danehill in her pedigree, but unlike the often disappointing “double son” mix of the great sire, it’s the more successful gender-balanced blend, comprising Casino Prince’s sire Flying Spur and Danehill’s daughter Danavia.
More importantly, Zeitz was led by how this mix had worked when Casino Prince was put over the Scandinavia line to produce multiple Group 1 winner All Too Hard, by Black Caviar’s sire Helsinge.
“I could have sent Scarletta to All Too Hard, but I thought he’s quite big, and I didn’t want to get an elephant,” Zeitz says.
Casino Prince over Scarletta blended three figures Zeitz’s research showed combined well. Casino Prince brought the Tesio-bred super broodmare Nogara, six generations back in Danehill’s paternity, and the sire Grey Sovereign, also six columns earlier, via Casino Prince’s dam Lady Capel (Last Tycoon). The third big hitter was Scandinavia’s grandsire Vain.
“It had everything I’d be looking for in a pedigree,” Zeitz says.
When Sunrise Ruby hit the ground, however, trouble flared when a virus made its home in her near side eye. Vets at Victoria’s Stockwell Thoroughbreds – where Scarletta resides – had to stitch a tube into the eye from above her ear, so the treatment could be dripped in.
The result, apart from a full recovery, was a distinctive blue ring around the eye, which meant she could not be offered at an auction.
“Probably it was a blessing in disguise because, one, I got to keep her, and two, she became used to a lot of handling as a young horse, which makes her confident around people,” Zeitz says. “She’d never been asked to go through a gap before Saturday, but she was confident enough to take one, which is a good sign.”
Scarletta now has what Zeitz calls an impressive two-year-old filly preparing to race by Shalaa, and will be covered by Hanseatic (Street Boss) this year.
After her bumpy learning curve, Zeitz is hoping her work amidst the layers of thoroughbred pedigrees can continue to bring some sweet rewards.
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Trevor Marshallsea is the best-selling author of Makybe Diva and Winx – Biography of a Champion. Click on the links to purchase yours.