LA MONTHLY NEWSLETTER NOVEMBER 2007
What with mares delivering foals left right and centre, gearing up for the yearlings about to come inside to begin their sales preparations and Zed and Towkay serving up to three mares somedays, we've hardly had time to watch the spectacular performances by the NZ-bred horses in Melbourne.
One race we did sneak inside to watch was Pachanga's (Redoute's Choice-Foxtrot) debut at Caulfield over 1000m in the Listed Debutant's Stakes; last month we had reported on her trial win for the David Hayes camp. The LA bred filly and the top priced female at Karaka earlier this year, roared home for a close second to the Lee Freedman trained Exceed and Excel (NZ) filly Sugar Babe. Lee interviewed post-race, had this to say, "It was quite a good effort. I know David has a rap on the second one. I know it's one of his best two-year-olds. I think the form will be valuable out of it".
The Class of 2006
Hundreds of well-bred yearlings are reared and sold in New Zealand each year. Some manage to have an athletic physique and correct confirmation to match their pedigrees. Fewer, also have the personality and bomb-proof temperament to cope with high pressure racing. If you're lucky to come by a horse with all of these attributes, you might be luckier still and find he or she has real ability. And then once in a while, you might find a horse who has the whole package but also has the most important ingredient of their whole make-up and that's courage. Rios (Hussonet-Gussy Godiva) is that type of horse. His Wellington Guineas win last month at 1500m was manufactured with acceleration to take a forward position, acceleration at the business end of the race off a good pace, then courage and a radar for the finishing line. Connections have always maintained that it would be at distances of a mile and further that the son of Hussonet would be at his most potent, with the Mercedes New Zealand Derby in March the principal target. The entrée continues when the colt heads to Riccarton in a fortnight for the Group One Two Thousand Guineas at a mile. We are proud to have sold the colt on behalf of Arthur and Mick Ormond at Karaka last year.
On behalf of Arthur and Mick, LA will present Rios's yearling half brother by Volksraad at Karaka Premier in January. A strong workman like colt with his half brothers lovely balance, Sam also notes how similar the brothers are in temperament. Just the other day he had the Gussy Godiva colt in a paddock next to mares and he was far more interested in eating and sleeping!
NZ Racing/Aus/Hong Kong Racing
Locally, Yelracm (Towkay - Our Secret) kicked off a new campaign with a R80 win at Otaki. He's been entered and scratched in open class races since, so connections obviously have some time for the four-year-old. Kay's Awake (Towkay-Wake Up Suzie) registered her 5th placing in a stakes race when second in the Listed WFA Lion Red Plate over 1200m at Rotorua.
It takes a good horse to win ten or more races in New Zealand these days and Delbrae (Thunder Gulch-We Leica) achieved the milestone with another stakes win at Riccarton early last month. Up to Trentham for the Group One Captain Cook Stakes at 1600m, Delbrae, 5th, closed off the race as well as winner Dorrabella. The LA owned We Leica delivered a filly by Gold Coast Magic Millions Two-Year-Old winner Bradbury's Luck in the Hunter Valley last month. The filly will head home to the Wairarapa later this year to be prepared for Karaka 2009.
The first two-days of the Melbourne Cup Carnival haven't passed without a fair bit of success relevant to the farm. Zarita, who won the Group Two Wakeful Stakes on Saturday, is from the family of Foxtrot - dam of Pachanga. Fornae's a Masterclass half sister to Misskap the dam of Derby Winner Kibbutz, recently foaled a Towkay filly for Kibbutz's breeder Lawrence Redshaw. Bruce Perry from Bruce Perry Bloodstock is smiling too, owning the yearling full sister.
Auxerre, a broodmare owned by our client Brian Collins hails from the same family as Saturday's Group Two winner Swick. Earlier this year in conjunction with Brian, LA sold Auxerre's first foal a Towkay colt at the Karaka Yearling Sales. The same colt goes through the Ready To Run Sales on 21 November as Lot 403.
The race at Flemington before the Melbourne Cup produced one of the more impressive performances of the Carnival to date when Belcentra (Bel Esprit-Centra Rainbeam) won the 1200m Listed Lexus Stakes by four and a half lengths pulling up. The young LA owned broodmare Ashley Downs, a half sister to Centra Rainbeam has a magnificent Towkay yearling colt going to Karaka Select next year. Sam's particularly taken with this fellow and reckons he's the closest resemblance to dad he's seen. Ashley Downs is due to foal to O Reilly. Interestingly, Selliera the dam of Centra Rainbeam and Ashley Down's is a half sister to Sneetch the dam of Gussy Godiva (Rios's mum) and Black Mamba (Group placed in the USA twice this season).
Heureka (Yamanin Vital-Dalgety Bay), a mare we bought off the racetrack late last year, is from a half sister to the dam of Red Lord, who took out The Lavazza Long Black
2800m at Flemington on Tuesday. Twice a listed winner and with Melbourne form from the Freedman stable, Heureka has been served this season by Towkay.
Up in Hong Kong, Prime Target (Towkay-Lady of the Lake) continues to add to his impressive record with a fast finishing second on Tuesday night. Special Days (Keeper-Eva's Belle) a horse we bred and sold through the Karaka ring, fetching $110,000, scored at Sha Tin last Saturday night over 1600m, breaking 1.35. He's another of the Keeper stock starting to come into his own as he gets a bit older. Unfortunately we lost the mare Eva's Belle after leaving just three foals, all colts. Special Days was part of a Wairarapa quinella earlier last month, when second to the Te Parae bred King Acrylic (Danasinga-Frisco Ann).
Efficient's Melbourne Cup victory wasn't lost on us either, particularly some of the post race comments from Nick Williams, racing manager for the Zabeel gelding's principal owner Lloyd Williams. Nick mentioned how they saw Zabeels sire sons Reset and Savabeel assuming the mantle of their illustrious father as he winds down his career. This season we launched the stallion career of Zed (Zabeel-Emerald Dream) and with 53 mares already confirmed in foal, there are going to be plenty of opportunities for another Zabeel son to leave his mark in a couple of seasons time.
Charlie
All of our 36 Karaka bound yearlings came indoors this week to get re-rugged. They then have one more week in the paddocks before coming into the stables to begin their preparations for Karaka next year.
Charlie's dad No Excuse Needed sired his second two-year-old stakeswinner with the unbeaten Vincent Mangano landing the Listed Wellesley Stakes at Wellington last month. Once the tracks dry out, expect to see a number of his three-year-olds debut.
