Jeu De Cartes: Double Blow

Jeu De Cartes(Stravinsky-Prized Gem by Prized)looks set to join the exodus of our better racemares to a foreign based breeding career, with news this week that her sale is close to being finalised to an undisclosed off shore buyer.

A certain stallion called Danehill helped, and it was probably inevitable with global economics, but our Australian neighbours really got a jump on us when they started picking off our better racemares in the late 1980's. The trend has continued with the likes of Coolmore, Jim Fleming, Paul Makin and co picking the eyes out of our best fillies and mares in more recent times.

Just shy of top class Jeu De Cartes is nonetheless an athletic mare who has proven herself a consistent and versatile performer at open handicap and Pattern level over three seasons of racing. Her best win came in the 2012 Group 2 Counties Cup over 2100m.

Jeu De Cartes is half sister to dual group 1 winning stallion Nom Du Jeu from the Group 1 Kelt Stakes winner Prized Gem. The roots of the family lie in the deep south and it's the kind of tough, staying family that has underpinned our industry for so long and that needs to be nurtured if the industry wants to continue to be taken seriously as a breeder of high class staying horses .

Hopefully the connections of Rudd Awakening, Bounding, Recite, Fix, Xanadu, Final Touch and co can be convinced in the future of the local breeding industry. I hope so.

Karla Brunei: Another One For The Ugly Ducklings

It was difficult going trying to drum up interest in Saturday's Group 3 Winter Cup winner Karla Brunei (Pins-Cantante by Centaine) as a yearling. Part of the Little Avondale Stud draft at the 2009 Karaka Select Yearling Sale, she was on the small side and didn't have the most fluid of walks.

Passed in at $35,000, the filly returned to LA for a deserved break. LA's affable studmaster Sam Williams has some well honed salesmanship skills and a few months later they were used to good effect - helped no doubt by a glass or two of local Martinborough pinot noir - to convince his luncheon guest, trainer Roydon Bergerson, to take the little filly home to Awapuni and put a syndicate together to lease her from William's and local breeder Lorraine Jameson.

Anyone struggling with a successful yearling buying strategy could be well advised to wait until the Karaka Sales are complete and inspect the lots passed in by LA. In a unique set of circumstances, Karla Brunei joins Group 2 Brisbane Cup winner Tullamore (Savabeel - Trocair by Flying Spur), N.Z Oaks runner-up Can't Keeper Down (Keeper - Ashley Downs by Grosvenor) and last season's Listed winner Kekova (Elusive City - Racing Waters by Racing Is Fun) in a growing list of stakesperformers taken home by the Masterton nursery from Karaka in recent years.

LA were set to offer a Savabeel half brother to Karla Brunei in their Select draft at Karaka this year but he was withdrawn on sale eve with an injury. He was a physical standout, confidentially predicted to top LA's Select draft and well and truly exceed the best previous price for Cantante's offspring at Karaka, the $57,500 received for her Pentire colt at the 2005 Select Sale.

The colt has since been retained by Lorriane Jameson to race and recently began his first training preparation with Roydon Bergerson.

Co incidentally, the colt may need all of his physical prowess and more to overcome the extremely poor record his damsire Centaine has with his daughters bred to Savabeel. Given plenty of opportunity via Waikato Stud's enviable band of Centaine broodmares, the cross has only produced one of Savabeel's 20 plus stakeswinners, Group 3 winner Floria.

It remains to be seen what her good looking half brother may get up too but Karla Brunei is yet another reminder of the unpredictability associated with buying thoroughbreds. Often we curse it, but without it our wonderful pastime would not be the "box of chocolates" that delivers it's richness.