Snazzy Lass: Promising Start

If you have done your homework there is always a bargain or two to be had at the National Broodmare Sale. Just ask Newmarket Lodge proprietor John O'Brien; he purchased Cashacde, the subsequent dam of Ekstreme, Maradona and Pellegrini at the 2007 Sale for just $1,000, or Angela Williams; these days running the horse side of the historic Te Parae property just outside of Masteron; she bought Maggie O'Reilly, who has since left No Excuse Maggie and Showing Off, for $7,000 in 2009.

At $70,000, Snazzy Lass was more in the Smith and Caughey section of the Sale than the Warehouse end, but she could still prove to be a bargain, particularly if the ability that her first foal Flower Bomb showed on her raceday debut at Thames last week is any guide. Debuting over 1000m, the three-year-old daughter of One Cool Cat, favourite on the back of two unbeaten efforts at the trials, had all her rivals covered as she led to the turn, before suddenly running off. Considering the short length of the Thames straight her effort to regain her compass and get up and win by a length and a half was extraordinary.

Masteron Bloodstock agent Bruce Perry purchased the unraced Snazzy Lass from the draft of Bob Émery's Belvedere Farm at the 2009 National Broodmare Sale for his longtime client, Palmerston North breeder Roy Potter. With a K1 pedigree and in foal to One Cool Cat,  who at that stage was still very popular, she was the type of mare who would have fetched close to $200,000 in headier times but this was a gloomy wet Auckland winters afternoon and the Global Financial Crisis was in full swing.

One of the more savy domestic bloodstock agents, Perry's ability is varied but he seems to have a particular eye for broodmare talent. In 1999 he purchased a package of fillies for Roy Potter with an emphasis on their breeding potential. They included subsequent group one producers River Century and Jacqwin, as well as Cenphic, Igauazu (the granddam of Sacred Falls) and Rationable, who has since left Vincent Mangano and Vigor.

As a sidelight but showcasing Perry's versatility; he shopped well at the 2009 Sale, for besides Snazzy Lass, and a cheap mare for Little Avondale, his only other purchases were two weanlings; Good Towkay(Towkay), who cost $20,000 and has won over $100,000 in Singapore, and the very promising domestic sprinter Jubilate (Falkirk), who cost just $10,000.

Viscount the sire of Snazzy Lass was a high class racehorse best remembered for his unlucky and rather controversial third placing to Northerly and Sunline in the 2001 Cox Plate. His career in the breeding shed never quite attained the same heights although he did leave Champion Singapore sprinter Rocket Man. As a son of Champion broodmare stallion Quest For Fame from a stakeswinning Sir Tristram daughter of Diamond Lover, Viscount has the pedigree to be a stronger influence as a broodmare stallion.

A strongly made mare, particularly through the shoulder and hindquarter, Snazzy Lass has a blueprint broodmare pedigree. She is a daughter of Shirley Heights, who like his sire Mill Reef, has been such pronounced broodmare influence in all the major breeding jurisdictions, while her third dam is one of Juddmonte Farms foundation mares, something that would not have been lost on Perry, who has a good understanding of European bloodlines. It is the stallion producing family of Scenic, Rainbow Quest, Warning, Commander in Chief and the young Australian based sire Old Deuteronomy.

Flower Bomb has a two-year-old O'Reilly half sister, also retained by her breeder,and also in training with Peter and Dawn Williams. Snazzy Lass does not have a yearling but she recently foaled a Savabeel colt. She is due to be served by Little Avondale's new stallion Nadeem later this week.

The best efforts by a lot of the One Cool Cat stock tend to be early in their preparations and not many have the make-up to improve with racing so it would pay to not get too carried away with the potential of Flower Bomb, however the Thames effort showed she has some ability, indicating a promising start for her dam.

Fillies With The X Factor

It is early in the season but do not be surprised if the outcome of the clash between unbeaten two-year-olds Ruud Awakening and Bounding at Pukekohe this Saturday reflects divisional honours come August next year.

While they may only have had an accumulative three raceday starts, both fillies have displayed a rare ability to work at both ends of a race and still hit the line strongly.

Ruud Awakening won easily on debut at Avondale, leading all the way. She was equally as impressive at her next start in the Listed Wellesley Stakes at Trentham, taking a sit before accelerating away at the 200m to beat the well regarded fillies Dancers Tale and Princess Sophie . That form has been franked with Almanza, beaten over six lengths at Avondale, coming out and winning his next start at Te Rapa, while Dancers Tale won the Listed Welcome Stakes at Riccarton last Saturday.

A $90,000 purchase from the 2012 Karaka Premier Sale by syndicator Albert Boersma for his Go Racing partnerships, Rudd Awakening is a natural two-year-old type, not big and only lightly framed but well balanced and athletic. Her sire, the shuttler Bernardini, has had an exceptional start to his stallion career in the NH and while his impact downunder has been considerably more subdued, he has some promising types, particularly the Snowden pair of Meidung and Solemn.

The distaff of Ruud Awakening, American in origin but with recent roots in Australia, has a distinct affiliation with speed. Dawn Almighty, the dam of Ruud Awakening, is a Danehill full sister to the dam of the dual group winning sprinter Ruud Vann Slaats- she recently delivered her first foal, a colt by Rip Van Winkle.

Bounding debuted at Ellerslie on 27 October in a race that should shape as a very strong form reference. The 880m event featured the debut of the much hyped Catalonia, and it says a lot for the reputation and trackwork of the Ken Kelso trained filly that she closed a $3.60 second favourite to the even money quote for the Te Akau runner.

The Lohnro filly crossed quickly from her wide draw to sit outside the pacemaking Catalonia before popping the question to the Commands colt at the 300m. She drew clear of the favourite, beating him easing up by two lengths, with, significantly, three and a quarter lengths to third.. While the field contained mostly debutantes, it's strength should not be underestimated with seven of the nine starters having won at the trials.

It is not hard to see why owner Gary Harding had to part with AUS $425,000 for Bounding at the Sydney Easter Yearling Sale. Pierro, by Lohnro had won the Golden Slipper two days before the Sale started and she was the first foal of a juvenile stakeswinning Exceed And Excel mare who in turn is from an American family rich in black-type. As a type she is not too dissimilar to her arch rival on Saturday, possibly just a trifle taller and with a deeper girth.

The female family of Bounding is on the move. Kuroshio, a full brother to Bounding's dam Believe N Succeed, won the Listed Maribynong Trial Stakes at Caulfield last month.

The Danny Green versus Shane Cameron boxing fight has dominated the sporting headlines this week, but unlike that stoush, do not expect these fillies to lie all over each other and only come alive in the closing stages. Saturday's Murdoch Newell Stakes will be a great contest, and while it maynot be a knockout victory, the split points victory to Bounding I'm predicting will be better value than $39.95.

Cup Goes to Best Sprinter

Although the Cup continues to build momentum largely around a growing international audience, it has been slightly tared as a competitive contest in recent years by a brush of rather lenient handicapping, poorly thought out qualification races and some suspect track irrigation practices.

Therefore when one of the strongest fields in Cup history faced the starter this year, hopes were high for a contest befitting some of the classic staying contests seen in the races iconic 152 year history. Sadly a farcical race tempo rather spoiled this years event as a contest, although many Australians at least will have been buoyed that the winner Green Moon was locally trained.

Green Moon won this year's Cup in 3.20.45, well outside the race record of 3.16.30 set by Kingston Rose in 1990 on a similarly fast track - this year's track which started the day a Dead 4 but was upgraded after race 2, saw a number of fast times recorded in the supporting races.

From seventh on the turn the Cup winner ran home in 33.6/22.6 and 11.66 with his last 1000 in 57.94.

Little wonder that those back of mid-field failed to play any part in the finish. The efforts of Jakkalberry and Mt Athos were outstanding. Jakkalberry closed off in 59.58, while Mt Athos, who received a check at the top of the straight and had a slightly more interrupted passage than the third place-getter, ran home in sectionals of 57.96/33.55 and 11.46.

If you ever doubted how difficult a race the Cup is to win then spare a thought for the English trainer Luca Cumani. His charge Purple Moon runs second to one of the best Cup winners in recent memory in Efficient; two years later in 2009 his next runner Bauer is beaten a nose, then he does a wonderful job of getting Mt Athos into this years contest with a winnable weight, only to strike interference during the running and a race pattern best suited to Lightning Stakes performers.

In all 21 of the 24 starters broke 1 minute for their last 1000m so any horse that made ground over the closing stages did very well.

Sure the Cup eve Yarra Valley wine tour played it's part in the authors demise but no amount of study would have unearthed this years Cup result.

Pussiance De Lune: Justified Hype

In a week littered with beaten short priced favourites and where the media focus had drifted to the sordid underbelly of the sport, it took until the second last race of the Carnival and a washy grey with little real physical presence and lead-in form of a win and a second placing in the country -the placing coming at the sleepy Victorian coastal hamlet of Warnambool - to ignite the 2012 Melbourne Cup Carnival.

Whichever way you look at it, Pussiance De Lune's win in the Group 3 2600m Queen Elizabeth Stakes was impressive.

Jockey Glen Boss must be seeing a cranial osteopath this week so prounced where the twists of his neck as he looked back on at least three separate occasions at the opposition over the last 300m. And while Boss can be prone to hyperbole, his statement that he felt like he was riding a Newmarket Handicap winner has validity when you consider PDL's sectionals; despite being eased up appreciably by Boss over the closing stages the four-year-old stallion ran his last 600m in 34.17 and his last 400m in 22.14.

Amidst all the media hype from the win, one journalist, arguably only doing his job properly, questioned PDL's form, including the strength of Saturday's field. He raised these points he said simply because he felt the level of improvement in PDL from his French form and since his arrival in Australia was too difficult to comprehend. Methinks it was more scare mungering in light of the current publicity around illegal performance enhancing practices in Australian racing.

A closer look at PDL's background reveals some insight into his improvement. Purchased for 100,000 guineas from a tried racehorse sale in France by Australian bloodstock agent Robert Roulston, who also bought Americain for PDL's owner Gerry Ryan, the story goes that despite a promising enough record - a win and a second from just three starts - his connections were less than enthusiastic about his young Mike Tyson like personality, so decided to quit him.

He was only a three-year-old when sold, so physically and mentally he was open to considerable improvement. Darren Weir his new trainer, has a very good reputation as a horseman, especially with stayers, and it is conceivable that Weir's satellite stable base at Warnambool, with its ready access to the beach has done wonders to help PDL's attitude towards life.

Almaraad, Kingston Rose, Jeune and more latterly Manighar are just some examples of stallions relocated to Australia from the northern hemisphere whose race performances improved out of sight under local conditions.

On paper the Queen Elizabeth form this year was strong. While it has been won by Might and Power and the incomparable Maykbe Diva - the year before her first Cup win - it tends to draw the second tier stayers as the Cup itself is run four days prior.

But most of the best second tier stayers lined up on Saturday. Last years winner the consistent Ironstein was back to defend his crown, while Folding Gear, Vatuvei and Shahwardi were all coming off stakes wining performances at the Spring Carnival, with the later considered unlucky by many good judges to have missed a start in the Cup.

On reflection it is conceivable that Shahwardi and Folding Gear did not run to their best form on Saturday but there is no hiding from PDL's sectionals. The days of Kotare Chief running hard from the jump seem a thing of the past. The key attributes for winning the big Cups now are an ability to relax on the speed and reel off Oakleigh Plate sectionals.

The way Glen Boss carried on post race gave one the feeling that PDL only has to turn-up to win next years Cup. Boss maybe racings equivalent of Graham Norton but as his assessment of Ocean Park proved, he knows the feel of a good horse.

Following last Tuesday's result Qantas were going to have to charter extra flights to Great Britain and France for all the Australian owners wanting to check out potential Cup contenders. PDL's performance on Saturday may mean they will have to build airports near Newmarket and Chantilly as well. What impact will this have on our sales at Karaka? A lot will depend on how greedy the British and French are I suspect.

Maggie Made a First Class Fool Out of Me

It's a pretty good achievement for a broodmare to supply two Saturday winners but that was record of the O'Reilly mare Maggie O'Reilly on Saturday 18 August. Showing Off (Savabeel) beat a strong Rating 75 field over 1400m at Te Rapa, then less than half an hour later, last seasons Listed Matamata Cup winner No Excuse Maggie (No Excuse Needed) took an Open 1600m contest at Otaki.

Unfortunately it's not an event with a silver lining for the owners of Maggie O'Reilly, Masterton's famous thoroughbred nursery Te Parae Stud. You see, since purchasing Maggie O'Reilly for $5,000 at the 2009 National Broodmare Sale at Karaka the owners have netted proceeds of just $2,800, but more significantly they are fighting to keep the debilitating hoof disease laminitis from claiming the fourteen-year-old O'Reilly mare.

Despite the trials and tribulations since contracting the disease back in May she is still carrying her 2011 service to No Excuse Needed, which makes the in utero foal a valuable full sibling to No Excuse Maggie.

Maggie O'Reilly was just another mare when I inspected her for her current owners at the 2009 Broodmare Sale. My Sale notes read " rangy, rather plain mare, nice girth but lacking strength behind saddle". Just as well Te Parae overlooked my analysis and relied on the better judgement of Sam Williams, studmaster at Little Avondale Stud and cousin of Te Parae principal Tom William's daughter Angela, who now runs the old Wairarapa breeding institution with her husband, Masterton police sargent Simon Irving.

Purchased in foal to No Excuse Needed, Te Parae offered the resulting colt at the 2010 Karaka Weanling Sale where he was bought by Canterbury nursery Berkley Stud who then reoffered the grey gelding at the 2011 South Island Two-Year-old Sale where he was snapped up by the astute Lisa Latta for $41,000. Maggie O'Reilly missed to Rios in 2010 before she held a service at her third attempt to No Excuse Needed.

If she is to overcome laminitis and even if she is able to deliver a healthy foal this year, Maggie O'Reilly will more than likely be rested this season as the weight of a pregnancy would be too restrictive to her full rehabilitation. Hopefully Te Parae will have a fit and healthy Maggie O'Reilly for a truly commercial mating in 2013.

Footnote: Maggie O'Reilly delivered a healthy grey filly early on 30 September. The value of this foal has increased further with Showing Off winning impressively over the Hastings Spring Carnival and No Excuse Maggie winning the Group 3 Windsor Park Stud Taranaki Breeders Stakes on 13 October. Showing the same courage as her offspring Maggie O'Reilly is continuing to fight the lamanitis.



 

Volksraad: A Dying Breed

The passing of Windsor Park stalwart Volksraad last week may have closed a chapter in New Zealand thoroughbred breeding. Prior to the arrival here of the unheralded son of Green Desert in 1993, our studmasters still had something of a reputation in the breeding world for their ability to find highly successful stallions from humble backgrounds, but in more recent times the art seems to have been lost, or just not pursued, as the realities of the modern world seem to have woven their way into thoroughbred breeding.

It was a balmy windy Waikato day in late August 1993 when I first laid eyes on Volksraad. He was been paraded at his new home at Mapperley Stud as part of a stallion tour organised by the local branch of the NZTBA. Although it was his first public parade - he had only been in the country a month I recall -most of the seventy or so breeders in attendance seemed far more interested in Stylish Century, who was about to embark on his second breeding season.

Ignoring the wind which had clearly unsettled his three barn-mates, and showing no real interest in the crowd of breeders, the strongly made bay walked with a looseness and a sense of purpose and confidence that almost bordered on arrogance. My admiration for the stallion increased even further when the Mapperley studmaster, Irishman Patrick Connell, who was compering his quartet, explained to us how through an association he had with the horses Newmarket stable, he was aware how highly the yard rated the horse before he succumbed to the leg injury which bought about his sale at auction.

The Timeform Racehorses of 1992 annual had this to say about Volksraad:

Stocky, powerful colt: type to carry condition: very good mover: half-brother to

1m winner In Unison (by Bellypha): dam 10.6f winner out of Welsh Garden, top
2-y-o filly in Ireland in 1975: operated on for knee injury in spring 1991: odds
on, won minor event at Ascot in September later that year in workmanlike fashion by 1½ lengths
from Fairy Flax, leading over 2f out: second favourite, 3½ lengths third of 7 to
Mystiko in Challenge Stakes at Newmarket 3 weeks later, soon under pressure but
keeping on really well: should be better suited by 1m: sold 23,000 gns
Newmarket December (1992) Sales.

Armed with some inside knowledge and more than a little bit of Irish gumption one imagines, Connell and his new employers purchased Volksraad, however despite the relatively cheap price, a budget is always a budget and there were a few anxious moments at the auction, as Windsor Park's Steve Till recounted to me last year. As the story goes, the auction took place in the middle of the night our time and Connell, who was ringside and bidding, rang Till, who sleepily sat on the end of the phone as the bidding crept up in 500 guinea increments almost from the start. Apparently on at least one occasion the anglo Irish/New Zealand partnership thought they had missed out on the young entire, only for fresh bidders to disappear as quickly as they had entered the bidding.

And so spawned from humble beginnings, a wonderful stallion career that has delivered to date, eight New Zealand Stallion Premierships and 14 individual group one winners, including two in Australia at 1200 and 1400m - a rare achievement for a New Zealand stallion. While he never truly commanded the same commercial appeal as the likes of Zabeel, O'Reilly, Pins, Montjeu, or even Pentire and Stravinsky, he became a favourite cohort for the fledgling mares of a lot of astute breeders, who recognised the stallion's ability to consistently sire winners and stakes performers - often at an early age - a great fillip for the profile of a young broodmare.

Standing the likes of a Volksraad at stud these days in New Zealand where the stallion is going to get a level and type of mare that at least gives him a starters chance is getting more and more difficult. The larger commercial operations focus is rightly or wrongly on the sale ring, where the competition is intense and the marketing budgets of some are equivalent to a small pacific nations GDP. Yes a truly prepotent stallion should be able to make it next to anywhere, but the significantly reducing number of opportunities domestically will mean that almost all of the potential heir apparent's to the likes of Volksraad, Sir Tristram, Noble Bijou, War Hawk II, Pakistan II and many famous names before them will sadly never be in a position to contribute to our breeding industry.

Footnotes: 1.Shares in Volksraad were offered for sale at the stallion parade, for $10,000 if I recall correctly, and I spent most of my trip back to Auckland later that day trying to work out how I could coerce my father into "investing" in a share. Alas it was not to be as our broodmare pool numbered exactly zilch and after dads only previous dabble into thoroughbred breeding had concluded in less than salubrious circumstances at a Claudelands winter Sale post the sharemarket crash, it was an argument I was never destined to win.

2. In an irony many participants in the thoroughbred industry will be accustomed, Stylish Century's stud career and life ended courtesy of a spider bite suffered at Queensland's Valentine Park in 2002, the black stallions fourth home since departing Mapperley Stud in 1997. Stylish Century left just four stakeswinners in his ten seasons at stud.

Summer Six

Three-year-old's feature in this years Summer Six. Our three-year-old male and female ranks look to have genuine depth this season and any number could have made the cut. Once again the focus is not necessarily on the established pattern horses but rather on those who have signalled they can take the step to better company. Here is the select field and for those of you who like your ante post betting, many of these selections are currently at attractive odds for some of the cups and classics.

Green Supreme: Looks to have recaptured the form he showed here in the spring of his three-year-old year when he ran a fast finishing third to Eileen Dubh in the Group One Levin Classic. In fact he was well in the Derby market but departed for Hong Kong where he failed to show any form in two light campaigns. Yet to race further than 1600m but his fast finishing style looks suited to at least 2000m and the son of Oasis Dream is a genuine lightweight chance for the big cups if he can run the trip. For a out and out sprinter himself and being a son of Green Desert, Oasis Dream has been something of a revelation with the number of high class middle distance performers he has left. With Rainbow Quest as his dam sire, Green Supreme's pedigree is unlikely to stop him running a strong middle distance.

Nashville: Another promising type from the first crop of Darci Brahma. Backed up a win on debut at Riccarton during Cup week with a second to the promising Jerico at Trentham on Captain Cook Stakes Day. His Trentham run was full of merit: he got back and pulled due to the lack of early pace, then mounted a wide run from the 600m and despite running greenly in the home straight, was still finding the line strongly at the end of the 1400m event. Stable has a good record of producing quality runners from limited representation and they have knocked back big overseas offers for Nashville to chase races like the Derby.

Lady Kipling: Always a good looking type and more strongly made than many of the stock of her sire, she has come back at four looking even more robust and raced accordingly. To her credit she looked extremely talented last season but often spoilt her chances by being very tardy from the gates. Stable has obviously worked hard to rectify that problem and this season she is getting away on terms. The field she beat to win the Cal Isuzu was of genuine group two standard and the form from it should hold-up strongly over the summer. Had genuine excuses for three failures at 2000m last season and with her style of racing and maturity, looks well capable of playing a leading role in the weight for age 2000m races throughout the summer months.

Ocean Park: Boxing Day's Group Two Great Northern Guineas looks set to be a cracking contest, featuring many of the pretenders to the mantle of our leading three-year male, and while the lightly raced Ocean Park will give away experience to many of his fellow runners, don't be surprised to see the son of Thorn Park extremely competitive against the likes of Burgandy and co. Connections have indicated he may leave for Hong Kong before the Derby but the odds of 21 to 1 are still tempting.

Pero: Well related four-year-old son of Storming Home whose patient handling is starting to pay dividends. 1.35 is rarely broken for 1600m at New Plymouth yet Pero did it easily earlier this month at his first start since a successful Christchurch trip for the Cup Carnival. Although he has won well in good times at 1400 and 1600m, he has always raced as if staying would be his forte, galloping with a real stayers stride and a low head carriage. From a stable that trained the high class stayers Mr Brooker and Aerosmith, Pero has the right credentials to make into a very exciting staying prospect.

Silent Achiever: Has a similar profile to another O'Reilly filly Annie Higgins, who last season only started racing just prior to Xmas in rating races but who became highly competitive in stakes company by Xmas with her strong finishing style. Silent Achiever hinted she was well above average, when she stormed home to run second on debut at Te Aroha. That performance saw her start a very warm favourite for her latest start, a 1600m maiden contest at Ellerslie last week which she won on her ear. Just a medium sized filly, typical of many of the better O'Reilly females, Silent Achiever's ability to really sprint when asked will hold her in good stead for her step to age group racing.

Best of luck.