Husson Eagle winning at Flemington

Great ride from Jordan Childs

I must say I was thrilled with Husson Eagle’s terrific win at Flemington on Saturday.  He is a very promising sprinter and could easily have a couple more wins to his credit.  He was beautifully turned out by Patrick Payne and Jordan Childs rode him to instructions for an impressive win in fast time.  He ran 56.86 seconds for the 1000m trip.  He will now head to the Listed AR Cresswick Stakes at Flemington on 11 July 2015.

It is easy to overlook the effort the staff at the stables put into our horses and in the case of Husson Eagle he is looked after by Emma Collins.  He wasn’t easy to handle as a colt but is now a beautifully natured horse and a really striking looking animal and Emma does a sterling job with him.  Their bond is there for all to see and we really appreciate the efforts put in by all the staff who are dedicated to our horses.

Husson Eagle after his win with Emma Collins

THE WEEK AHEAD

I am really looking forward to Saturday with Awasita and Savoureux set to run at Royal Randwick.  It is a great racecourse and holds a special place for me with many of my great moments in racing having taken place at the famous track.

Naranja steps out at Gosford tomorrow and looks to have a nice chance of breaking his maiden and Arrayanes runs at Mildura on Monday.

We are continuing to have a nice number of horses heading to the trials and our runners should continue to be strong as we head into July.  The wet weather around Sydney has caused a few disruptions to our horse’s programmes.

The increases in stakes money announced last week by RVL and the NSW State Government’s decision to drop the level of tax taken out by the State are wonderful news for our industry and will lead to increased returns to investors.

It is great to win a race anywhere but there is a special feeling when our horses win at Flemington and Randwick.  They are our premier tracks and the excitement generated in the ‘Winners Room’ at Flemington last Saturday was evident for all who were lucky enough to be there.

A special mention for my little mate, Peter Webb who was over the moon with Husson Eagle’s victory and Webby celebrated accordingly.  Well done Peter.  He has had some good horses with us but Husson Eagle is clearly the best.  I’m pleased he has decided to participate in the ‘Dry in July’ fundraiser and will be less enthusiastic on his next visit to Melbourne for the final of the Creswick Series.   

YEARLINGS OF THE WEEK

Take a close look at these two outstanding yearlings.  They are outstanding prospects. 

 Written Tycoon colt out of Miss Fascination 2013

$10,500 per 10% share (5% @ $5,250)

Darren Weir to train

The colt

He is a cracking type with a great looking head, powerful hindquarter, good depth of girth, strong forearm and great legs. I can’t ever remember getting as many compliments at a sale after purchasing a yearling.  In my opinion he was if not the best colt in the sale certainly in the top five as a type.

The colt has many things going for him including:

• He is the first foal of a well related Redoute’s Choice mare from a nice female line that has produced plenty of winners with the 2nd and 3rd dams being stakes winners.  These mares have had 18 to race for 14 winners.
• He vetted out without any issues and has good–rays.
• He has thrown very much to his grandsire Last Tycoon and the cross with this great sire’s daughters to Redoute’s Choice has produced an incredible 24 individual winners from just 29 runners with 8 stakes horses including Bonaria, Master Of Design and Drumbeats.  The latter two being sires standing in Australia. 

Written Tycoon

He is by a sire that has done a remarkable job since commencing stud duties in Australia.  Here are some important points on Written Tycoon.

• He is by Iglesia a super sprinting son of the great international sire Last Tycoon.  Iglesia still holds the track record at Flemington of 1 minute 7.16 seconds for 1200 metres.
• Written Tycoon is out of the very well-bred Marscay mare Yodells which again points to him being a sire that will get good fast horses but also nice 1600 metres types such as Rich Enuff.
• Written Tycoon is right up there with the best this season with 10 stakes wins to his credit.
• He had five individual stakes winners in February 2015, a remarkable performance.
• The breeders have continued to strongly support him with him covering his biggest book of mares last season at 177.  This is a big figure for a Victorian based sire.
• Written Tycoon crosses well with Danehill line mares.
• 15/06/15 Written Tycoon gets 100th individual winner for the season.

Miss Fascination

There isn’t much more to write about Miss Fascination.  This is the first foal of the mare and I do like purchasing first foals and particularly those out of Redoute’s Choice mares. I now have quite a few horses in our team out of Redoute’s Choice mares with Hijack Hussy being the best and only one to run at this stage and she was also a first foal.

There are a lot of myths about first foals but in my experience good breeders send their young mares to the best sires they can afford and I’m certain this is the case here.  To be successful mares need their progeny to come out running.

Only two Redoute’s Choice mares have had runners by Written Tycoon with Masthead being the best. He won $969,167 in stakes money.

Smart Missile filly out of Pride Of Pine 2013

10% shares @ $12,500 (5% @ $6,250)

Kris Lees to train

The filly

This filly is a strong well balanced athlete that will continue to go forward as she commences breaking in at about the end of June.  She has a great hindquarter and is without doubt the best credentialed filly I have ever offered for syndication. 

She is a ¾ sister to the outstanding 3year old filly Lone Rock and winner of the Group 1 SAJC Goodwood Handicap.

The filly is also a ¾ sister to Pride Rock the VRC Riverside Handicap and Lucia Bella which was trained by Kris Lees and displayed great ability before going amiss.

The filly has many upsides including:

• As the ¾ sister to a Group 1 winner she has residual value and if she were to gain black type would be an extremely valuable breeding proposition after she completed her racing career.
• She comes from a great female line that includes some of the best mares in the Australian Stud book, Procrastinate, Personify, Galapagos Girl.
• There are quite of number of well-bred fillies high up on the page that should continue to see the pedigree page continue to improve.   

Smart Missile

I was confident after starting to inspect the weanlings and then yearlings of Smart Missile that he would make it as a sire and he is my pick to be Leading First Season Sire in 2015/16 season.

He has almost every important characteristic I look for in a potential sire.  In his case these are:

• He has a great pedigree coming from a strong female line that consistently produces black type horses that compete at the highest level. 
• His dam is a ½ brother to the outstanding young sire Northern Meteor who gave us a glimpse of his great ability as a sire in the three crops that have raced.
• He had explosive speed and was an exceptional two years old.  This is very important in Australia.
• He is by Fastnet Rock and represents the most successful sire line ever seen in Australia with his grandsire being the great Danehill.
• Importantly for a son of Fastnet Rock he isn’t too big.  In fact he isn’t unlike Australia’s current leading first season sire Hinchinbrook, also by Fastnet Rock in this regard.
• He was selected to stand at Arrowfield Stud by John Messara.  Studs always don’t get it right when standing sires but Arrowfield under Messara’s stewardship haven’t made too many mistakes when standing a new horse.
• Smart Missile is Australian bred and competed at the highest level in this country in our harsh conditions.  I can never understate how important this is.  If you want to confirm just how important this characteristic is have a look at the leading sire’s tables.

Pride Of Pine

There isn’t much more to write about Pride Of Pine.  She was a fast race mare that has done a great job at stud throwing three winners from four to race including the Group 1 winner LONE ROCK.

Pride of Pine is by Lion Cavern who is quite a good broodmare sire internationally but not well represented in Australia.  His two Australian Stakes horses are by Danehill line sires which may well be the key to his success.  He also has a very good horse by Exceed and Excel named Flashman’s Papers which won 17 races two at stakes level.

Another great day at Flemington!

One for the scrapbook!