Written Tycoon: Auspicious Start

About this time last year at Little Avondale Stud in Masterton a couple of friends and I watched half a dozen yearlings career around a large paddock. One yearling stood out; while the Written Tycoon filly was often slow to get underway, it didn't take her long to get into her long floating stride and run past her paddock mates with deceptive ease.

The first two-year-old trials of the new season in Australia were held this week and the
stallion on every ones lips is Written Tycoon with trial winners at Randwick and Cranbourne on Monday and another at Newcastle on Wednesday. Buoyed by this and with three of his progeny breezing up under the 11 second mark at the Gold Coast earlier this week in readiness for the upcoming Ready To Run Sale, Magic Millions took the unusual step for a stallion without a runner to the races, in naming Written Tycoon as their Stallion of the Week.

Written Tycoon is a rare thoroughbred. He ran up to his looks. As attractive a horse as you could wish to see, he moved like an athlete, effortlessly, with a lovely fluid action.

Described by trainer John O Shea as the fastest horse he had trained to that point, the highlights of Written Tycoon's career came in his first preparation culminating in victory in the Group Two Todman Slipper Trial with Domesday (now a promising sire) second. Interestingly the Slipper Trial is proving to be a very good pointer to stallion potential with it's winners including Luskin Star, Maruding, Octagonal, General Nediym and Exceed and Excel.

While not possessing a "fashionable" pedigree, Written Tycoon's bloodlines are proven in Australian conditions: by a successful homebred speed stallion (Iglesia) from the prolific Last Tycoon sireline, from a daughter of leading broodmare stallion Kenmare and containing male and female lines of Star Kingdom and Vain respectively. And with only one line of Northern Dancer (through Last Tycoon), he offers options for owners of Northern Dancer/Danehill mares.

Iglesia was a significant loss to the Queensland breeding industry when he died prematurely in 2006 after just five seasons at stud. The one time Australian record holder for 1200m still became a prolific sire of winners whose stock are re known for their speed and durability. Nova Star who won the Group One Winter Stakes in Brisbane has been his best performer to date.

Last Tycoon's influence down-under needs little extrapolation. While in these parts it s been as a broodmare sire that his impact has been most pro nounced, his male-line influence, despite the premature deaths of Iglesia and Just Awesome, looks set to prosper for some considerable time thanks to O'Reilly and to a lesser degree Towkay.

The filly described in the introduction to this piece was eventually sold at this years Karaka Select Yearling sale to Timothy Kemp Bloodstock for $56,000 - the highest price Written Tycoon filly yet sold at auction. A decent sized filly with a fair bit of leg she is currently spelling after being broken in by Joe Yorke. Ironically there is still a small share available in the filly - Tim can be contacted on 021 243 3045.

While about the only thing that can be read into this start is that Written Tycoon's progeny have an early aptitude and natural speed, it s still a promising beginning by a stallion, many of whose progeny showed enough physical scope at the sales to suggest they would be far from just early season flashes in the pan. Time will tell.

Zennista: Oaks Fit

I'm finding that the fillies and mares events are providing more and more of our best racing. With so many of our better colts and geldings exported now and the well bred colts that stay home more sparingly raced with stud careers in mind, it s a man drought - at least in the quality department.

Take a look at the recent record of four-year-old mares in the Hawkes Bay Triple Crown. Five years ago the young girls weren't getting a look in - how times have changed.

The three-year-old Filly of the Year events are the nursery for this change, full of mouth watering pedigrees and physiques to match. A front-row birdcage posse is essential viewing.

Despite the freakish late winter and spring weather hindering so many preparations, a quality field lined up in yesterdays Gold Trail Stakes at Hastings.

While all honours were with the winner - the seasoned Rememba Howe - the runner-up Zennista struck me as a filly to follow.

From the first NZ crop of former Japan Cup winner Zenno Rob Roy (ZRR), the Lisa Latta trained charge is a gorgeous moving type who relaxes well in her races, factors that will stand her in good stead when stepped up over more ground.

It s very early days for ZRR in NZ but he's made an encouraging start to his stallion career in Japan siring first and third in the Japanese Oaks back in May. With the stallions Sir Tristram and Touching Wood featuring in Zennista's female pedigree she has the staying bloodlines to support a racing style which suggest a race like the New Zealand Oaks in March would suit.

Lisa Latta has been steadily compiling a good record from her Awapuni base and one feature race she s shown an uncanny knack in targeting with success has been the NZ Oaks. From six starters she's had the 2004 winner Wharite Princess: the 2009 runner-up Can't Keeperdown; a third with Lady Annaliesse in 2003; the fourth place-getter Princess Annaliese and the desperately unlucky Fiaba - sixth in 2002 and still looking for a gap.

Zennista still has to prove herself on-top of the ground but if she can, she looks an ideal type to give Lisa Latta her second NZ Oaks.

Paydirt for Breeder

Hawkes Bay's Alan Jackson fashioned a successful business career from backing his hunches, so when he went on last year's Manawatu Stallion Parade and liked what he saw in a stable box at John O'Brien's Newmarket Lodge property, he didn't muck around.

Jackson had taken an instant fancy to a weanling colt by Mr Nancho from the Anziyan mare Cashcade. A keen follower of the races again since selling up his business interests about 12 months previous, he had been impressed with the potential of the filly Ekstreme whose resume at that stage included a win the Group Three Lowland Stakes win and a group two placing from a just concluded Brisbane winter campaign.

Recognising that Cashcade was the dam of Ekstreme, and after establishing that Newmarket Lodge in fact owned Cashcade, Jackson negotiated a package to acquire the mare and her weanling colt. Once Jackson had the seal of approval on confirmation from his bloodstock advisor Cambridge agent Michael Wallace, the deal was done and the fun started.

About the time Ekstreme returned to the racetrack for her new season campaign, Jackson was getting wind that Opaki trainer Andrew Campbell had quite an opinion of unraced two-year-old colt in his stable. The link for Jackson was that the colt happened to be Cashcade's second foal, by Mr Nancho and a full brother to the younger brother he had acquired a few months earlier.

By this stage Jackson was keen to track down the whereabouts of Cashcade's second foal - an unraced year younger full sister to Ekstreme - and his hunt resulted in a call to Matamata trainer Paul Jenkins who had the Ekraar filly and a pretty fair opinion of her too. Lining up for her racecourse debut in mid November last year at Rotorua, the well backed filly, by then named De Colletage, unfortunately injured herself in the running and wasn't a factor in the race, however Jackson's disappointment was quickly tempered when just a few weeks later Ekstreme confirmed the potential he had seen in her all along and then some, by taking the Group One Captain Cook Stakes at Trentham.

Boarding his mares at Masterton's Little Avondale Stud, Jackson gets down regularly to see his flock so started making a point of stopping in at the Opaki track to keep up with the progress of the Andrew Campbell charge. After a number of growing pains the colt -by then named Maradona - finally debuted in a two-year-old race at Foxton in July this year and despite the wet track, which he detested according to jockey Jonathan Riddell, battled on very gamely for second.

The three-year-old open event on the first day of this years Hawkes Bay Spring Carnival was Maradona's next start and despite another wet track, connections persevered with a start knowing that any chance of making the Hawkes Bay Guineas rested on a good performance. Producing one of the better efforts of the day, from a wide draw Maradona had to do a fair bit of work to get a position on the outer, challenged the leader wide on the home turn before surrendering second late in the race.

Meanwhile De Colletage was back in training after her long injury induced layoff and a trials win at Cambridge in July preceded a very much under wraps second place finish at the Te Teko trials on 12 August. De Colletage is down to make her second career start at Counties this Sunday in a maiden 1300m and while she doesn't have the same wet track inclination as her full sister her class should still have her in the finish.

So what s happened to Maradona's full brother that Jackson bought in the package deal? Recently turned two and still unnamed, he s just about to commence a second preparation with Hastings trainer Patrick Campbell and has done everything asked of him to date although it s too early to say if he s inherited the family genes.

Two weeks ago the jewel in the crown Cashcade delivered her owner the Pentire filly shown in the top photo of this blog and the mare is currently at Darley Stud in Victoria where she ll be served by Domesday anyday. With her genes the Pentire filly is one very valuable girl but one imagines her insurable value and that of her mum, can only get bigger and it may start that climb as soon as this weekend.

Taupo: Talent Unearthed

It maybe not quite Tattenham Corner but the home-turn at Taupo has bought many an inexperienced horse undone; it falls away into quite a dip on the point of the turn before an abrupt rise, leaving only about 150m for a horse to get balanced and find the line.

Therefore there was a lot to like about the wins on debut of He's Remarkable (Pentire-Axiom)and Rockandready (More Than Ready-Bumps) at the lakeside circuit last week, coming as they both did from well off the pace and wide on the home-turn.

It seems almost impossible to fathom now but only four or five years ago John Thompson was seriously considering not continuing to bring Pentire down on his southern hemisphere shuttle so significant a shun was he receiving from local breeders. Serving less than 100 mares between the seasons 2002-2004 and leaving only 44 live foals, the former high-class European stayer was being heavily penalised for a slow start to his breeding career.

Pentire's standing with local breeders changed significantly after the 2004/2005 racing season during which the career of the near champion Xcellent commenced with group one victories in the NZ Derby and Zabeel Classic and his Australian trained daughter Recurring took the Group One Railway Handicap after earlier placing second in the Group One Sallinger Stakes at Flemington. The floodgates had suddenly opened for Pentire - he had gone from a stallion acknowledged by breeders as capable of leaving slower maturing middle distance-staying types to one who could throw serious WFA and sprinting horses.

Using the expression career defining to describe the next couple of seasons for Pentire's progeny would be putting unwarranted expectations on a stallion who has already reached heights most studmasters can only dream about, but it will be fascinating to monitor their progress, coming as they do from far and away his biggest and best books of mares.

Unraced due to an eye injury, Axiom is a Zabeel daughter of the dual Australian group two winning Centaine mare Arletty, a leading three-year-old filly of her year in NZ before transferring to become an inaugural member of the O'Sullivan stables short-lived Sydney operation from where she tasted further group race success as a four and five-year-old. Arletty's best performer to date from her nine foals is the three win Zabeel gelding Maythehorsebemagic.

Arletty is a half sister to the 2007 NZ Broodmare Of The Year winner River Century the dam of group one winners Legs and Guyno while she's a three-quarter sister to group one winner Sixty Seconds and group three winner Spottswoode. Adding further credence to a most prolific family is Arlettys full sister Rivertaine, the dam of three individual winners in Hong Kong including multiple group placed performer Regency Horse and the five times winning O'Reilly Rally.

Axiom's first foal is the promising Melbourne trained mare Fashion Black, a winner twice including a city victory, and two placings from just five starts. Her next foal was the $360,000 Karaka Premier Yearling Sale graduate He's Remarkable, followed by a full brother who sold to Fashion Black's trainer Danny O'Brien for $160,000 at this years Karaka Sale. She is due to foal again to Pentire this spring after failing to get back in foal to him the previous season.

Another stallion on an ever increasing upward surge in popularity over recent seasons has been the Australian based More Than Ready who just a matter of days after his daughters Taupo success registered his 73rd stakeswinner worldwide when a two-year-old son won a group three event in North America. Like Pentire, most of More Than Ready's sire success has been generated off his down-under shuttle service where he demands a service fee of $121,000 Aus (down from last years pre recession $148,500), a jump from $40,000 in 2007 largely courtesy of consecutive Champion Australian Two-Year -Old Premierships in 2007/2008 and 2008/2009, and a significantly higher fee than the $30,000 US he currently commands Stateside.

Rockandready is bred on a very similar cross to More Than Ready's second Golden Slipper winner Phelan Ready whose dam is a daughter of the Scenic stallion Blevic.

Bumps an unraced daughter of Scenic from the Christmas Tree mare Final Claus has fashioned a most respectable record at stud with Rockandready her sixth individual winner from the eight of her nine foals to make it to the racetrack. Two of her earlier progeny - both by Rory's Jester - were stakesplaced while her 2006 son by Fastnet Rock named Therock already has a fourth to his credit in a listed event after only 6 lifetime starts.

Final Claus's hails from an imported family which has crossed successfully with Australian speed influences. Her dam the imported Northfields mare Life At Last left a VRC St Leger winner in Full At Last and a daughter Imposing Life is the grand dam of Group One Blue Diamond Stakes winner Reward For Effort while Betty Box, a full sister to Life At Last, is the dam of Aynda who in turn is the grand dam of Waikato Stud stallion Fast N Famous.

Rockandready was sold as a yearling at the 2009 Karaka Premier Sale to Grant Searle for $190,000 before being re sold in the yearling section of the 2009 National Weanling, Broodmare and Mixed Sale for $75,000 and again in the two-year-old section of the same sale this year for what could well turn out to be a bargain price of $90,000. While the financial plight of her co-breeders is likely to have had something to do with the unusual ownership changes the filly doesn't seem to have taken the passing around personally judging by her Taupo win.

Conclusions:

He's Remarkable - from a stable not reknown for having their charges wound up to win first time out, the colt looks just the type to make up in a Derby horse in the autumn and further enhance the reputation of his sire for leaving middle-distance Classic performers.

Rockandready - big long legged type who never looked suited to debut venue at any stage but overcame that with raw natural ability to win easily and while the 1000 Guineas may come around a little too soon for her, she may just be good enough to give the race a huge shake.