Waiting in the wings
If you were to visit Windsor Park Stud you would likely find a host of warm smiles to brighten up our impending New Zealand winter. Rodney Schick, Steve Till, Mike Moran, Nick Hewson and all the staff should have a distinct spring in their collective steps yet it’s autumn.
The past week has seen Ka Ying Rising, by their resident sire Shamexpress (O’Reilly), dish out his latest annihilation of the best sprinters assembled in Hong Kong and seal his claim as the Best Sprinter in the World.
Ka Ying Rising made winning 12 in a row and eight for the season look so easy with Zac Purton easing him down 50 metres from the wire, flattering his rivals by two and a quarter lengths in a scorching 1:07.88.
Unbeaten in all eight starts for the season, the four-year-old delivered four Group 1s and three Group 2s, closely matching the record of Beauty Generation (Road To Rock) whose unbeaten 2018-19 season resulted in four Group 1s, three Group 2s and a Group 3.
Book your tickets for Randwick and The Everest (Gr 1, 1200m) later this year – it’s going to be quite a show.
Windsor Park’s immediate future looks very exciting. In 2024 the stud secured the services of Paddington (Siyouni), a four-time Group 1 winner and ranked the Champion Miler of his crop. Paddington’s first southern hemisphere foals will arrive this spring.
Recently, the stud announced yet another stallion coup and will stand six-times Group 1 champion Auguste Rodin (Deep Impact). The writer is very excited about Auguste Rodin’s prospects as it evokes memories of the great Derby winner and sire High Chaparral (Sadler’s Wells), who also stood at Windsor Park Stud and whose influence in Australasia has been enormous.
High Chaparral’s and Auguste Rodin’s race records bear strong similarities. Both won at Group 1 level at two, three and four years. Both scored The Derby (Gr 1, 1m 4f) and the Irish (Gr 1, 1m 4f) equivalent, while they also both landed the Breeders’ Cup Turf (Gr 1, 12f).
Is there another stud in Australasia with so much high-powered potential?
There’s more…..
Although highly satisfying, the stud’s week was not over as their Circus Maximus (Galileo) chimed in with his first stakes winner, Towering Vision, winner of Saturday’s Waikato Equine Veterinary Centre Stakes (Listed, 1400m), and a good win it was.
The nose victory doesn’t tell half the story as he led at the 300m as well as at the 200m but was headed inside the final 100m yet, with a fighting spirit, lifted in the last couple of strides to get the decision in a tough fight back.
Circus Maximus’s own race career wasn’t too shabby either, encompassing two Group 1s at Royal Ascot and the premier mile in France, the Prix du Moulin (Gr 1, 1600m). His one and only season in the northern hemisphere has yielded Green Storm, Group 1–placed and a winner at two. Another 2YO winner is Alerta Maxima, a winner at Goodwood.
Circus Maximus was better patronized in the south as his only northern crop totalled just 49 foals. His first southern crop totalled 109 and prior to Towering Vision’s stakes-winning breakthrough his best performer was in Brisbane, namely Ha’penny Hatch, a dual winner in town and placed in the Calaway Gal Stakes (Listed, 1200m), her only three starts.
Towering Vision’s career is also just three starts. He had his first look at race day action last December at Te Rapa, finishing a solid third after a check at the 100m. Rested, in mid-April he returned to racing at his home track Matamata where he made up a heap of ground in the straight to flash into third.
Te Akau’s David Ellis found Towering Vision at Book 1 of the 2024 NZB Karaka Yearling Sale for $105,000. From a sister to Canterbury Gold Cup (Gr 3, 2000m) and ten-race winner Who Dares Wins (Iffraaj), Towering Vision is the only foal of his dam, Qiji Vision, to race. Qiji Vision’s half sister, Group 3–placed Mae West (Sir Percy) is the dam of My Bella Mae (Deep Field), a dual Listed winner in Perth.
Towering Vision’s fourth dam is Babble (King Canary), a half-sister to the charmingly named Shudup (Final Orders) who succeeded 12 times including six as a juvenile. Shudup’s three Listed wins were notable in that in each he defeated the great 51-race winner Grey Way (Grey William).
Shudup’s sister Smack (Final Orders) has left quite a legacy in Western Australia as the dam of Perth Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) winner Linc The Leopard (Balmerino) and as grandam of Western Australian Derby (Gr 1, 2400m) winner Old Money (Old Spice). Essentially a South Island family, Shudup’s dam Natter (The Cobbler) won the New Zealand Oaks (Gr 2, 12f).
Retained
Cambridge Stud’s Brendan and Jo Lindsay will be happy about their decision to retain rather than sell their now two-year-old filly Lucy In The Sky (Hello Youmzain) whose success in the Champagne Stakes (Listed, 1200m) brought up stakes winner number three for the stud’s Hello Youmzain (Kodiac).
More importantly, Lucy In The Sky is the stallion’s first southern hemisphere stakes winner. The sire’s first northern crop features Longchamp Group 3 winner Misunderstood and Chantilly Group 3 winner Electrolyte. That same crop includes Chantilly winner and Group 3 placed Godspeed, Newmarket Group 3-placed Kullazain and two Listed placegetters in France. Apart from Lucy In the Sky, his southern crop includes Randwick (Kensington) winner Stormland plus a promising sort, Ellerslie winner Remala.
The Champagne Stakes was Lucy In the Sky’s third start. She won on debut at Ellerslie in February then was asked a serious question when stepped up to the Sistema Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) in which she finished a fair sixth.
At Riccarton she sped to the lead within the first 200m and was not pressured to lead into the straight where she increased her lead. To the line it was a pretty comfortable victory by a length and three quarters.
Lucy In The Sky is the fifth winner and second stakes winner to represent her unraced dam, Too Many Diamonds (O’Reilly). The mare is also the dam of Rich Hill Mile (Gr 2, 1600m) winner Ruud Not Too (Bernadini) who has since produced Brisbane Listed winner Cottee (Merchant Navy). Too Many Diamonds’ half-sister is Royal Asscher (Stravinsky), a Group 3 and dual Listed winner in Melbourne and whose granddaughter, Still A Star (Toronado), landed ten wins including the Rose of Kingston Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m) and six further stakes.
Not popular
Further to last week’s piece regarding tracks, this week the Riccarton meeting was impacted by local heavy rains and subsequent flooding nearby. Clearly, the Riccarton track was a quagmire and the club transferred the meeting to the synthetic track.
The numbers surrounding the transfer do not make great reading. The entire premise of synthetic tracks is supposed to preserve racing yet the trainers and owners of the 124 acceptors for the ten race card pulled out in droves. Allowing for the fact that race 3 drew 22 acceptors and thus five emergencies, there were 67 starters which means that 57 were scratched. Six of the ten races drew seven or fewer starters and the $80,000 Easter Cup (1600m) ended up with just four starters. Punters also likely stayed away in droves.
Perhaps it is time for a survey. The writer, even without the benefit of a poll among trainers and owners, confidently predicts that synthetic tracks are not popular, especially for race days.
As a medium for training, getting horses fit without having to splash through mud, synthetic tracks undoubtedly have their place. Other than that, trainers have made it clear. They don’t like synthetic for the serious stuff.
Kiwis at Caulfield
The New Zealand Stud Book provided four of the nine winners at Caulfield and of them Sunshineinmypocket (Proisir) is putting together a very promising resume. In eight starts he has recorded five wins, his latest, at Benchmark 84 level which involved a very determined finish from well back in the field.
The now four-year-old began his career at Karaka as a weanling, changing hands for a modest $6,000. He next appeared at the covid-19-delayed NZB Karaka Yearling Sale in March 2022 (Book 2) but did not reach his reserve of $35,000.
From Kurtis Pertab’s stable the two-year-old won a trial and was sold privately, finding his way to Ciaron Maher’s stable where he broke his maiden at Ballarat then made it three from three after wins at Sandown-Hillside and Sandown-Lakeside. Spelled for nine months after a sixth in the Bendigo Guineas (Listed, 1400m), Sunshineinmypocket returned to Sandown-Lakeside this past January for win four.
His only real blemish was a lacklustre performance on a Soft 7 track at Flemington but he bounced back to run second at Bendigo, the start before Saturday’s impressive effort.
Sunshineinmypocket’s granddam is Thorndon Mile (Gr 1, 1600m) winner A Touch Of Ruby (Pins), herself a half-sister to New Zealand 1,000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) winner Loire (Redoute’s Choice), who Trelawney Stud lost the latter due to a paddock accident late last month.
The race prior, the Anniversary Vase (Listed, 1600m), was won by $10 million earner Pride Of Jenni (Pride Of Dubai) whose granddam, Queensland Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m) winner Vouvray (Zabeel), is a half-sister to Syrah (Traditionally), the latter being Sunshineinmypocket’s third dam..
Spreading the knowledge
This past week the writer was in contact with bloodstock agent Bruce Perry. Perry established his agency in 1987, has been deeply involved in the industry and has developed a healthy respect among his peers.
Experience and knowledge about how our bloodstock industry works are rare commodities. Realising that the industry not only needs new investors, Perry also recognises that new and existing investors, including international and domestic investors, do not always have the time to examine every aspect of what is now a complex business, especially when hundreds of thousands of dollars are involved. So, he is branching out beyond his agency and making his experience and knowledge available via the Bruce Perry Consultancy.
Drawing upon his experience, Perry’s new venture offers a wide range of services and inside advice, helping to ensure that clients make well-informed, strategic decisions that will serve their very best interests. He can be contacted at: www.bpbloodstock.co.nz