Ekstreme: Latest Win a Turning Point

Taranaki trained four-year-old mare Ekstreme had already displayed rare ability to transition from three-year-old filly to WFA racing with wins earlier this season in the Group Two Cal Isuzu Stakes and Group One Captain Cook stakes, both at 1600m, but last Saturday weeks facile win in the Group Two Travis Stakes at 2000m could well turn out to be a more significant success as far as the rest of this season and beyond is concerned.

While I wasn't as confident as trainer Bryce Revell who answered äfter 200m" when asked post race at what stage did he feel she had Saturday's feature won, I can't recall the last time I saw a horse travelling so well in a major race.

Wet track form even in stakes races can often be dubious but despite her long odds there was a rare ease about Ekstreme's win in last seasons Lowland Stakes at 2100m on a heavy track that showed her to be well above average and certainly most adept on wet ground.

While her subsequent form has been a little patchy she has never struck the same race conditions until her latest Te Rapa performance. One though must be careful not to define her as a wet tracker, in fact nothing could be more inappropriate for she has also shown rare ability on top of the ground and at distances arguably short of her optimum trip, winning the Captain Cook and the Travis at Te Rapa breaking 1.34 for 1600m.

Stepping up to somewhere near her best trip and striking a decent wet track saw her start a very warm favourite for the Travis Stakes but for the initiated there were still question marks about her ability to relax in the slower tempo of distance racing, a trait that had raised itself in last years Queensland Oaks and was again noticeable in the Zabeel Classic this season. Apparently a notorious puller in trackwork, Ekstreme had a habit that needed breaking if she was to be competitive with the very best at 2000m plus and while she needs to be able to demonstrate this consistently her latest Te Rapa performance is clearly encouraging.

Judging by the noise on course each time Ekstreme wins her owners The Waimea Racing Syndicate sound like they are getting an immense thrill out of racing the high class mare but another very interested party is Hawkes Bay breeder Alan Jackson who purchased Ekstreme's yearling half brother by Mr Nancho and their dam Cashcade privately just before last year's Captain Cook Stakes; Jackson's astute transaction has potential to be even more sweeter if the private reputation of Ekstreme's yet unraced two-year-old half brother Maradona can come to fruition - owned by the same syndicate which raced Tavistock, his trainer Andrew Campbell makes no secret how highly he rates the Mr Nancho colt.

I saw Maradona's yearling full brother (Cashcades third foal) and the second part of Alan Jackson's package purchase at Greg and Jo Griffin's operation on the old Okawa Stud property just before Xmas and while a little plain in appearance -not unlike his half sister - there s a rawboned masculinity about the tough natured gelding who Hastings trainer Patrick Campbell will be entrusted to fine tune when he enters his stable shortly.

As her Captain Cook victory showed Ekstreme is one of the country's leading milers however she indicates from the glimpses we have had of her on a wet track and in the right frame of mind that she is capable of taking an even more significant prize at 2000m with conditions to suit.

Volksraad: Fine Season Continues

Last Sunday's Goodwood Handicap win by Velocitea gave the stallion Volksraad the unique record of having sired group one winners in Australia at 1100, 1200 and 1400m. Dantelah from Volksraad's first crop took the Oakleigh Plate in 1999 and Orange County the Sir Rupert Stakes in 2008.

Volksraad has been taken for granted a little throughout most of his career. At last count he had 54 individual stakewinners and Sunday's success was his 13th individual group one winner.

On track for his eighth NZ Sires Premiership there's a school of opinion that Volksraad's inferior record in Australia stops him from being ranked with the great NZ stallions of his generation but how inferior is that record when you consider it alongside his contemporaries most of whom sire middle distance performers. Volksraad's bread and butter are his sprinter/milers and to compete against their Australian counterparts means taking on arguably the best speed horses in the world in their own backyard.

Granted all three group ones are handicaps but it's still a significant achievement in it's own right and I imagine one would have to go back to the days of Sovereign Edition or possibly even Pakistan 11 to find it's equal.

Pentire: Success as a Broodmare Sire

Both two-year-old events at the two Saturday meetings in NZ were taken out by horses from Pentire mares.

The Bachelor Duke colt Gamble who took the race at Te Rapa is the second foal of the two win mare Penny Hill while the Trentham winner L'Armour is a Towkay filly from the one win mare Penthouse Blue- that mares first foal.

Penny Hill's whose two wins were at 1600m and 2175m ran in the Warstep and Wellington Stakes of her three-year-old season. Penthouse Blue's only success in her 16 start career came over 2100m at Otaki.

The dam of Penthouse Blue is the Shirley Heights mare Juliette Heights - represented by a cracking Don Eduardo colt at Karaka earlier this year - giving L'Armour 3 strains of Mill Reef. I've noticed increasing numbers of Mill Reef duplications in local pedigrees of late.

Pentire's only representation at this weeks National Broodmare Sale at Karaka looks sure to be of interest to pedigree buffs. Placed at 3 this season in Australia the filly Stars is from the famed Mrs Moss family and has a duplication of Mill Reef with her dam by Shirley Heights son Darshaan.

Te Aroha: Possibly Not The Usual From Guide

Breeders Stakes Day at Te Aroha is one of the best days on the calendar and this year's edition was no exception although it would pay to be wary of form particularly out of the supporting card as many of the fields lacked their usual depth and a track bias towards the inside rail played into the hands of on pace runners.

Despite it's long straight Te Aroha has always had a propensity to favour horses racing handy but Saturday was even more pronounced.

Nancho Bella despite laying in, made ground stylishly for third in the juvenile race - she had beaten Macavity in a trial. The few Mr Nancho stock that I've seen all look like they'll be better at three and this filly strikes me as no exception. Of the remainder, Murray Baker debuted a tall weakish son of Australian shuttle stallion Rakti in Arakti who may have some potential if he furnishes while Chris Wood's Scardee Cat filly Party Cat is a nice enough type, with more length and rein than a lot of her sires progeny.

Sam's Town has never been a horse I've particularly warmed too. Apparently he's a bit of a clown and often it shows on race day with performances in the birdcage that would make Fred Astaire proud. He was up to his usual tricks on Saturday but his winning performance showed a touch of class and a fair bit of heart, overcoming a significant check in the home straight yet still powering home to win the R90 sprint despite racing well out of his grade. Rarely without a top class sprinter the Otto stable may have found a capable replacement for the aging Atapi although I'm inclined to think Attackum, who co incidentally won the corresponding race last season, is that heir apparent.

Surely it's only a matter of time before we have another fillies and mares race elevated to group one status. The Breeders is currently our only such race yet year in year out it's depth makes for an exciting contest and a great betting race, which is in stark contrast to some of our group one WFA races. Australia has steadily increased such events and races such as the Coolmore Classic and the Mile on Derby Day a Flemington are always ultra competitive contests drawing the best of the fairer sex.

Keeper is having a great season spearheaded by Keep The Peace and in My Keepsake he looks to have another promising type, joining a burgeoning club that includes Finderskeepers, Tanalised, St Germaine and last weeks Ellerslie debutant Macavity. My Keepsake was the only horse all afternoon to make significant ground in the home straight greater than three horse widths off the inside rail and what was especially pleasing was that her run never faltered, sustained as it was from before the turn, right to the post. You could be in clover if you have a nice Keeper yearling come Karaka Sale time next year should Keep The Peace come up at four and some of his promising progeny take the next step.

Racing is littered with good two and three -year-old's who never recapture that form and many, myself included, were probably consigning Juice to that category before Saturdays performance. Expertly placed by John Wheeler, the daughter of Bertolini arrived at the start line fighting fit from three middle distance lead up runs and aided by a nice draw and a typically heady ride by Hayden Tinsley, she was too good for a very brave Culminate.

The runs of the three-year-olds Obsession and Lady Chaparral were excellent lending more weight that this seasons filly crop are the best for some time.

I won't be getting too carried away with the wins by Tinseltown and The Hombre. The former beat very little and ran three seconds slower than the corresponding event last season while The Hombre - given he was more impressive - still didn't look physically as well as he did last spring and there must still be some doubt about him settling well enough to run the distances of the Rough Habit and the Queensland Derby.

Oriental Lad and Better On Top should be in for lucrative autumn campaigns judging by their encouraging fresh up runs on ground firmer than they refer.

If you've yet to visit the track under the mountain I can thoroughly recommend an excursion for the Breeders and take your togs for a dip at the near by hot pools afterwards.

Ellerslie Prospecting

They may have run a second and a half slower than the other two-year-old race at Ellerslie today but don't be surprised if the race won by The Diamond Duke turns out to be a significantly better guide to three-year-old form next season.

As a race the Legends Fellowship for maiden juveniles was an ordinary affair with the last 600m time of 34.86 hardly noteworthy given the hack tempo of the first half of the contest but one got the impression that the first two horses across the line were far from wound up for their debuts and both certainly possess the breeding and physical makeup to develop into nice prospects for next season.

While Sean Ritchie has deservedly received good press for his emergence as a trainer of real quality this season, his exceptional eye for a yearling has been underplayed slightly by the media with The Diamond Duke another example of this skill. As a $90,000 Karaka Premier yearling, today's winner was considerably more expensive than Military Move, Keep The Peace and My Scotsgrey who all came from the Select Catalogue, but given Ritchie's success it's not hard to predict him having a significantly larger budget when he shops at Karaka next summer.

It's not difficult to understand why The Diamond Duke fetched the equal top price for progeny of his sire Bachelor Duke at last year's Karaka Sales. He's imposing to say the least with a good deal of his dam sire Seattle Slew about him,; probably already 16.1 hands going on 16.2, but well put together and balanced like so many of the good Bachelor Dukes.

As a type he's a typical Ritchie purchase, good sized but athletic with plenty of rein.

The gelding has plenty going for him on pedigree too with his dam the unraced Volksraad mare Doneze Girl a half sister to the highly talented but injury plagued Diamond Deck, who in turn is a three quarter sister to the champion racehorse and now emerging sire Lohnro.

Macavity, the runner-up to The Diamond Duke is also a most striking individual. She's a very well built filly particularly through the neck , shoulder and hindquarter, physical traits more in common with her maternal grand sire than her sire Keeper.

Cat Shmea the dam of Macavity looks an exciting broodmare prospect. Her first foal Velocitea by Volksraad has really found form as a four-year-old mare in Melbourne this season winning twice at group 3 level before a last start second in group one company in Adelaide.

A daughter of the disappointing Storm Cat stallion Felix the Cat, Cat Shmea was a handy three-year-old filly in the South Island winning three times and running third on a wet track in a listed Filly of the Year event at Wingatui. While Cat Shmea's female family would be considered only Festival Sale quality it is a nice blend of stamina and soundness through the presence of successive dam sires Beaufort Sea, Super Gray and Bellborough; the later a particularly underrated presence, featuring as he does in the pedigrees of the likes of Starcraft, Zeditave, Jet Spur and Taras Bulba.

From stables not known for producing two-year-old's and as types certain to improve at three in line with their sires typical get, The Diamond Duke and Macavity are two interesting prospects for next season.

Castelli: Rosehill Guineas win spotlights cheap sire

The phone of Levin studmaster Paul Hobbs deserves to ring more frequently this breeding season. Paul stands Rosehill Guineas winner Zabrasive's lightly raced half brother Castelli and last season the son of Galileo served just 13 mares, most belonging to the stallions majority owner, Hawkes Bay's Lawrence Redshaw.

For those of you with good memories the Murray Baker trained Castelli created enough of an impression in three starts here in the early spring of 2006 to at one stage hold a single figure quote for that seasons VRC Derby.

Unfortunately the colt never made it the Derby after chips in a knee were discovered following a second placing to Old Belvedere over 1600m at Hastings on Mudgeway Stakes day. Ultimately the injury saw the stallion never return to the racetrack, going to stud in 2008 after failing to stand two further training preparations.

Retiring with a sole maiden win (at 1400m) on a slow track from three starts and being a son of Galileo is not a recipe for attracting mares, particularly in this part of the world after Galileo's very disappointing shuttle service to Australia, but the stallion looks good value at his $1,000 service fee.

Castelli is the first foal of his Danehill stakeswinning and group one placed dam Danasia - Zabrasive is the mares fourth foal. As a son of Galileo and with staying influences further back in his female family such as Persian Bold, Exbury (Zammazan's sire), and the former Fairdale stallion Kings Island, Castelli won't sire Karaka Million runners however he showed enough tactical speed in his short racing career to that suggest that with the right type of mare getting an early three-year-old to the races won't be out of the question.

The odds of Castelli making it as a stallion are extremely slim but with his pedigree, the glimpse we got of his ability on the racetrack and a reinvigorated market for staying types, he's a better gamble than a number of his colleagues out there pitched in a similar price bracket.

I gather Windsor Park may agist some Castelli weanlings for a client; if that is the case I shall make a point of dropping in when I'm next down in Cambridge. Even at $1,000 you need to do your homework thoroughly and I recall seeing a couple of Castelli's immediate family as yearlings and they were not impressive types. For instance Zabrasive at Karaka was quite light and a poor walker.

Karaka: After The Gold Rush

What an extraordinary week. Even Tony Robbins or Telecom's PR department would have struggled to predict what took place.

There's been a lot written about why there was so much moolah around at Karaka and I don't disagree that any of it failed to contribute in some shape or form; from our group race performances in Oz last season to the strength of the Ozzie dollar and the catalogues depth, it all played it's part.

I thought a couple of under rated influences were the group one win in Hong Kong by Winning Fellowship the night before the Sale commenced and the release of Bart Cummings book. The later, publicity not even America's Cup syndicates could buy, would have had an immeasurable impact on the demand for staying types.

Some observations:

It's hardly a new trend but just how important a totally clean set of x rays are. I know of a couple of outstanding types that had very minor x ray issues and were crucified in the ring.

I would liked to have seen a bit more leg under the Fast N Famous yearlings. The best of his in this department, the Oh Blue Angel colt in Select, fetched his top price.

I thought the Perfectly Ready's would sell a bit better than they did. They walked well, were on the whole athletic and looked o have good temperaments. I thought they may have been a bit heavier bu I didn't mind that. A comment I heard second hand pre Sale from an Ozzie agent may well have summed up his appeal over the ditch; words to the effect that he was only an eastern state group 3 sprinter and they had many more options in young sires at the next level. Hard to dispute that but I thought they were good buying.

The lack of genuine staying types. Sure what was available sold well but as types I thought buyers were limited to a few Golans, the odd Jungle Pocket and Don Eduardo. I didn't see too many Master O Reillys or Gallopins amongst the plethora of O'Reillys and Pins. Imagine the sale results if High Chaparral had stood the 2007 season here.

It's getting off the subject slightly but I imagine Rich Hill will be feeling quite good about Sir Percy and so will some other studs with newish staying orientated stallions who could do with greater patronage. St Reims and Metre En Jeu come to mind.

The week s results should give breeders the encouragement to invest in stallions after quite some hiatus. I predict the Nom Du Jeu announcement will be the first of a number especially of those with some sort of staying resume. There should be any number of nice staying options on the market. I would love to be a bloodstock agent sourcing them.

How buyers deserted Savabeel. Someone mentioned to me just the other day that his record compares more than favourably with O'Reilly and Pins at the same stage of heir careers. I haven't had the time to check this out. There s still enough trainers saying good words about progeny of his they have but buyers have dropped him quicker than a used match.

If you like sires who leave a line then the Darci's would obviously have featured on your shopping list. They are like peas to a pod, lovely heads, deep girths, medium sized and athletic. I was taken with Michael Wallace's purchase in the Premier Sale, the colt from First of May and Little Avondale had a sweet filly from Tycoon Lover.

I saw some quality types from Pentire mares and he's going to be a significant broodmare influence with the right type of mare.

I know Elusive City had a good run in Hong Kong in the weeks leading up to Karaka but I still though his colts exceeded expectations even allowing for some quality types. His record to date is good without been outstanding but it's his fillies who lead the way in terms of stakes performers so I can only conclude that he has some very promising un raced colts out there.

The Lucky Unicorns are going to take time. I didn't mind some of his types although I can't see too many getting nominated for the Karaka Million.

A lot of pinhookers got hurt. Esker bucked the trend, their overall return helped by the Montjeu colt but their median was strong. Goodwood did well with their two also. Holy Roman Emperor was out of favour at the Magic Millions and the trend continued at Karaka. Sadly a number of pin hookers invested in his weanlings who looked good the handful I saw last year, but came unstuck. His yearlings disappointed me on the whole and maybe they just don't develop. Savabeel left some outstanding foals many of whom didn't quite go the right way through to yearlings. The pinhookers results just go to show how hard it is to get right even in a good market.

I only got to see a couple of hundred horses this year and then only in the outside rings and the auditorium but here s a handful I singled out for their X factor.

Lot 79 - Zabeel- Oh So Precious colt. Wonderfully balanced sort, athletic and not too heavy - a great blend of his sire and Sadlers Wells.

Lot 441 - Fastnet Rock - Haibah colt. More attractive around the head and eye than a lot of his sire s progeny; this mare has left another fine type.

Lot 528 - Volksraad - Mardi Gras colt. In the vein of his best colts Orange County, Vinaka and this colts three quarter brother Military Move, a sweet walking strong bodied handsome individual.

So a number of breeders have cash in their pockets again. Will this encourage a buy up at the Australian weanling sales. It will be fascinating to see the catalogue for our weanling sale. Will breeders hang on or still divest here in May. Good decisions to mull over I guess.