LA June 2011 Newsletter
First and foremost we'd like to extend our thoughts to our friends in Christchurch. None of us can truly understand what you are going through but please know that we are thinking of you.
LA's has been lucky enough to have had a continued run of success in Hong Kong with multiple winners - including a Towkay two-year-old on debut and a horse we sold at the Ready to Run Sale, whose latest win makes it 5 from 6.
Success in an Epsom meeting classic has further reinforced the commercial appeal of our new stallion Per Incanto €“ watch his documentary .
See below for all the news concerning many more LA connected winners, 9 in the last 9 days, throughout Australasia and Asia, including the Brisbane Cup and a debut win by a two-year-old in Victoria last Friday that has all the scribes talking.
2YO Croesus (Towkay) on debut in HK
Collar (O'Reilly) on debut in Aus
Rosies Revenge (O'Reilly) 2nd start NZ
3YO Albion (Pins) in Aus
Cheville (Pins) in Aus
Lucky We Leica (Bradburys Luck) in NZ
4YO+ National Treasure (Pins) in HK
Just Fantastic (No Excuse Needed) in HK
High Return (Dubai Destination) in HK
Tullamore (Savabeel) Brisbane Cup, Aus
Towkay, Per Incanto and Zed
The level of enquiry for bookings to Towkay has picked-up significantly in recent weeks as breeders take heed of his Hong Kong results. The debut win by the John Size trained two-year old Croesus (Towkay-Sonia Blade) on Saturday is another example of the wonderful trading opportunities his stock present. The first foal of a mare Sam purchased at a very reasonable price after she finished racing. He was bought by Keith Hawtin from our 2010 Karaka Select Draft for $38,000 before being re offered at last year's Ready to Run Sale where he was a $150,000 purchase by John Foote Bloodstock.
The LA, Don Gordon and Brian Hutchinson bred Super Bobo (Towkay-Reasonable) won over 1600m in Hong Kong on 29 May and Jowka (Towkay-Jovita by Sovereign Dynasty) won the feature race at Trentham on Saturday.
The response from breeders to Per Incanto has been fantastic! The commercial appeal of his pedigree goes from strength to strength €“ his damsire Indian Ridge sired the mother of the winner of last week's English Oaks and Street Cry's Group winning son, Carlton House, has been right to the fore for his owner Her Majesty the Queen.
Street Cry sired his 48th stakeswinner on Saturday when the Mark Cavanagh trained Liveandletdie took out the LISTED 1200m Creswick Stakes.
On paper an eighth place finish may not sound that encouraging but we were stoked with Shezazed's (Zed-Shezabomb by Desert Sun) run in the Listed 1200m Castletown Stakes. Clearly last away from the barriers, the filly then circled the field five and six wide and was entitled to drop right away from the point of the turn but she still ran on nicely in the closing stages to onlyjust miss out on the spoils. A tall, leggy type, one could confidently expect her to improve significantly next season as a three-year-old.
Other News
The Christopher Grace bred Tullamore (Savabeel-Trocair) who capped a meteoric rise when taking the Group Two Brisbane Cup on Saturday was passed in for $55,000 when part of our 2008 Karaka Select Sale draft. As a rule we do not like to bring yearlings home from Karaka but we also have regard for their real value and Tullamore joins a list that includes recent winner seven and a half length maiden winner Carla Bruni (passed for $36,000) and New Zealand Oaks runner-up Can't Keeperdown (passed for $13,000) €“ all hardly significant sums.
The LA/ J Duncan bred National Treasure (Pins-Trigon Lass) and the LA/Don Gordon bred Just Fantastic (No Excuse Needed-Soneri) were registering their fifth and fourth wins respectively for the season when scoring at the Sha Tin meeting on 5 June. Also winning up in Hong Kong last week was High Return (Dubai Destination €“ Rivertaine) who has a Savabeel half-brother heading to the 2011 Ready To Run Sales
Talking of the Ready to Run Sale, the pedigree of another one of our likely entries received a boost with Albion's (Pins-Rites of Spring) win over 1200m in South Australia last week. Albion joins his half brother the promising Patinack Farm owned Bare Bear as recent winners for their mother - a Stravinsky mare - who also has a Darci Brahma colt we are targeting at the Ready to Run Sale.
Sam has decided to give Bellabaci (Zabeel-Sound Lover) one more preparation and currently she is in pre training with Leon Corstens for a spring campaign, prior to which she will be served by Starspangledbanner €“ one of two mares we will be sending to the son of Choisir this season.
We have enjoyed a fruitful relationship with the Kilmore racing syndicate highlighted by the lease they have had of the New Zealand Oaks runner-up Can't Keeperdown. The mainly Palmerston North based syndicate look to have leased another more than handy L.Aproduct in the form of the three-year-old filly Lucky We Leica (Bradbury's Luck-We Leica) who registered her second win with her latest success over 1340m at Wanganui last Saturday.
Wairarapa breeder and long standing LA client Lorraine Jameson has had cause for an extra tipple or two of late. Carla Bruni (Pins-Cantante) whom she bred and has leased out to a group which includes trainer Roydon Bergerson and jockey Oppie Bosson, won most convincingly at Awapuni last month and then on Queens Birthday Monday. Another filly she bred, Rosies Revenge (O'Reilly-Timamou by Deputy Gosvenor) €“ sold from our 2010 Karaka Select draft €“ won the juvenile event at Ellerslie, at just her second start.
Unfortunately we were never going to get rich because half of Melbourne seemed to know about his ability, but nevertheless we were delighted with the 3 length debut win of the Team Williams owned Collar (O'Reilly-Laebeel) in a $30,000 two-year-old race in Victoria on Friday. Bred by LA and sold from our 2010 Sydney Easter Sale draft for $160,000, the gelding is a half brother to the half million dollar earner Larry's Never Late and a Pins colt we are planning to take to this year's Ready to Run Sale.
Keep warm everyone, especially our Christchurch friends.We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at our annual stallion parade and weanling walk on Sunday 17 July, commencing at 10.00am.
