August is invariably busy on the farm but this year it seems to have been a little madder than usual; Sam made a fleeting visit to the U.K to look at horses, we had the Wairapathon last weekend, NZ Bloodstock came down to look at yearling selection for the sales, and of course foaling has commenced with 9 foals to date.
Racing Team
Our email inbox has been busy lately with trainers reporting on the progress of members of our diverse racing team as they prepare for spring campaigns locally and in Australia. Here's an update on a few:
Bellabachi: (Zabeel-Sound Lover) The Danny O'Brien trained mare surprised the stable when third in a 1200m jumpout at Geelong last week. A big rangy mare, we had always thought her best campaign would be this season at five. She'll probably resume in the city over 1400-1600m in the next fortnight.
Aspinal: (Pins-Clermont Rose) (pictured left) Trainer Tony Pike was very pleased with her work last week. Last season's Hawkes Bay Guineas place-getter ran a good 4th yesterday at Taupo and she will now head to the last day of the Hawkes Bay Carnival.
Sunbrease:(Towkay-Reasonable Lady) Trainers Brian and Shane Anderton had hoped to trial the filly last week but a lack of numbers caused the trials to be cancelled. Owned in partnership with friends including co-breeder Brian Hutchinson, and clients of the stable, she's loking to make her debut at the South Canterbury meeting on 12 September.
Towkay and Zed
The LA bred Electronic Million (Towkay-Gaysutina) took his prize money earnings to over a quarter of a million dollars with his win over 2000m at Morphettville in Adelaide on 14 August.
Another off shore winner for Towkay during August came in the form of the interestingly named Bulkkatcheoreom (Towkay-Ball Road) who won over 1000m in Korea on 21 August while the former Lisa Latta trained Xpectation (Towkay-Wooden Doll) almost made it a notable 24 hour foreign double for her sire when just beaten the following day in an 1100m Allowance purse at Arlington Park in Washington, USA.
The LA bred Towcutter (Towkay-Eva's Belle) collected his fifth career victory when a winner over 1000m in Victoria on Sunday.
Towkay had a winner at the feature N.Z flat meeting on Saturday with Itsabuzz (Towkay-Te Awahou) recording a fine performance after sitting three wide for the entire 1340m journey.
Last season's Group Two Eight Carat place-getter Blonde Bombshell (Towkay-Millie Munroe) looks ready for a bold fresh-up performance given her win in an Open Catchweight trial at Te Teko last week.
Other News
The LA bred Excellent Beauty (No Excuse Needed-Chatto Creek) won her second race in Singapore last week taking a 1400m contest.
The Jim Barlow bred Silveron Wings (Black Minnaloushe-Cruz Control) who won over 1200m in Singapore last week was sold from our 2009 Karaka Select Sale draft.
Sam made little secret of his favourite yearling in our 2009 Karaka Yearling Sale draft and that wrap may prove to be not too far off the mark if Harry the Fox (Pins-Foxtrot) can back-up his impressive debut run for second at Newcastle on 28 August. The three-year-old colt (pictured right) was a $120,000 purchase by Anthony Cummings at Karaka.
Another descendant of LA mare Sellou looks to set to make her mark on the NZ breeding industry with the Mike Breslin trained Klose (Thorn Park-Thunderchine) winning two of his first three starts including a Premier success at Hawkes Bay last month. Klose's dam is a daughter of the group one winning mare Fleur De Chine who is a half sister to Sneetch (Grosvenor-Sellou) the dam of group one American winner Black Mamba and Gussy Godiva, the dam of Roman Emperor and Rios.
LA clients JML Bloodstock and Max Brown, breeders of last season's listed winning Sydney two-year-old Kudakulari (Savabeel-Oenotria) have an exciting spring ahead judging by the horses strong finishing run in the 1400m Group One Golden Rose last week. Sold from our 2009 Karaka Premier draft, the Bart Cummings trained colt is been set for the Group One Caulfield Guineas and VRC Derby. Oenotria is due to foal a full sibling to Kudakulari at LA this spring.
Another LA client with €˜spring' in his step is Hawkes Bay's Alan Jackson, owner of broodmare Cashcade €“ whose first foal is last season's group one and two winner Ekstreme. The mare - who recently foaled a Pentire filly in Victoria on the way to a date with Domesday - is also the dam of Maradona who produced one of the more impressive performances on the first day of the Hawkes Bay Spring Carnival and has entries for the Hawkes Bay and New Zealand 2000 Guineas.
The LA team of Catriona, Buzz, Penny Barnett and Sam, Georgie Vincent and Lou Griffith excelled at the Wairarpathon last Saturday with some even finding the energy to bike 26kms the following morning €“ no sign of Buzz though! The Wairapathon raised approximately $35,000 for the CatWalk Trust so a big thank you to all those who worked so hard to make the event such a big success.
Wellfield Stud and the Road To Rock syndicate have kicked in with a tremendous contribution to CatWalk too, donating a Road To Rock (pictured left) service fee to the cause.
Beautifully bred and exceptionally well performed, Road To Rock (Encosta de Lago €“ Trewornan) is the newest addition to Wellfield Stud's ranks and is "...poised to become a real star.". A 16.2hh dual Group One and dual Listed Race winner, he is the highest-rated, best-performed son of Encosta de Lago to go to stud to date and normally stands at $12,500 + GST.
Broodmare owners can support the CatWalk SCI Trust by submitting a confidential bid to
The LA bred stakeswinner Marquardt (Shamardal-Centrefold Angel) who resumes in Sydney this Saturday after a long break for owner Patinack Farm, had a cracking half sister by O'Reilly born on the farm last week. Mother Centrefold Angel is due to be served by Zabeel this week.
Our thoughts are with all Cantabrians at this difficult time particularly the many friends and clients we have from the region.
