I find buying weanlings far less challenging than yearlings. Unfortunately, it isn’t possible to fill our portfolio each year by only purchasing weanlings. It would be nice if we could as they generally represent excellent value, but the breeders keep most of their better youngsters back for the lucrative yearling sales.

Breeders are more likely to offer some of their better weanlings by the new sires in an effort to get them out there and the buying bench discussing their merits or faults. I love purchasing weanlings and yearlings by the first season sires. About 30% of our best mares go to these sires. Our current outstanding fillies Rubisaki, Fituese and Miss Divine Em were out of the first crops of their respective sires.

Other good horses I have been associated with by first or second season sires include Under Command, Unchain My Heart, Horrocks, Bedi, Rose Of Scotland and Too Many Reds. These were outstanding horses. In any year I will normally purchase three or four yearlings by the new sires.

At the 2018 National Sale I purchased three yearlings.

These three weanlings were grown out at Ascot Farm near Pitt Town in NSW and have done a great job. They have raced nine times for five wins. Mr Cashman and Miss Divine Em are Melbourne Saturday metropolitan winners with Gaga’s Belle an impressive winner at only her second start. Collectively, these three nice horses cost $130,000 and have returned $184,863 already.

This Russian Revolution filly really grabbed my attention. I rated her a 7 which is about as good a rating as I give a weanling. She is a beautifully well balanced, filly with a keen eye and attractive head. It may be a small thing but I have rarely come across a good racehorse that has an unattractive head.

The filly is a beautiful mover. She walks freely and has a nice swagger as she gets along. This is very important. We are looking at buying athletes, not cart horses. She is a nice sized filly with a good length of reign and deep girth. This is where the engine is and she has plenty of scope to further develop though her girth and into her chest.

The filly was reared at Sledmere Stud which is located adjacent to Scone Racecourse. This is a premier breeding farm with a history dating back to 1920. The famous STA brand is well known and highly regarded in our industry. The Raymond family bred the super stars Rimfire, Tranquil Star, Red Fury and more recently outstanding horses Gold Brose, Pane In The Glass, Lyrics, Star Alight and Dyslexia.

Today the farm is run by Catrina and Royston Murphy. Catrina is a member of the famous Raymond family and Royston a highly regarded thoroughbred breeder having run Segenhoe Stud, one of our best. It is hard not to be impressed with the job they have done bringing this farm on, modern improvements balanced with the wonderful history of the farm is certain to be a winning formula.

The filly is by the duel Group one winning son of Champion sire Snitzel in Russian Revolution. He was a fast horse, a very fast horse winning twice at the elite level. The ATC Galaxy Handicap and MRC Oakleigh Plate are two of our very best races. Only good horses win them. He also won the Roman Consul Stakes and the Vain Stakes amongst his seven wins.

Snitzel is one of our great sires winning four Australian Champion Sire’s titles. He is by Redoute’s Choice whose remarkable record at stud is amongst the very best of the modern era. Only his sire Danehill has a better record in Australia in the past 25 years.

It should be noted that Redoute’s Choice’s best two sons at stud were the fast horses Snitzel and Not A Single Doubt. Speed and more speed works in this family.

Russian Revolution is out of a mare by the son of the great sire Nureyev in Stravinsky. Again, we see speed on speed. This is a formula that works here.

Two of the very best horses of the modern era in Lankan Rupee and Mosheen are by Danehill line sires out of Stravinsky mares. Stravinsky’s daughters have produced a remarkable 147 stakes performers including 14 Group 1 winners.

The King’s Widow is by All Too Hard, a ½ brother to Champion mare Black Caviar. All Too Hard is yet to have a runner out of one of his daughters but his sire Casino Prince has had a remarkable start to his career as a broodmare sire with a Group One winner and three other stakes horses from just 16 winners. This is extraordinary but Casino Prince had an unbelievable pedigree.

The King’s Widow’s dam is the outstanding Group 1 performing mare Dowager Queen by the son of Zabeel in Savabeel. Dowager Queen was an outstanding filly winning twice at two and being placed at Group 1 level in the VRC Oaks, ATC Flight Stakes, Manawatu Sires Produce Stakes and was 4th in the Queensland Oaks. There are some excellent gallopers through the pedigree. This is a strong pointer to this filly being a successful racehorse.

I place a lot of weight on the opinion of Bill and James Mitchell and our vet Dr Tim Roberts. Bill and James do a great job for me eliminating the chaff at the sales. This allows me to spend more time inspecting and investigating the horses that have passed their strict criteria.

During the past decade Tim Roberts has been doing most of our vet work at the sales. I’m certain his input has been a big factor to us getting almost 100% of the yearlings and weanlings we purchase to the races. This is so important. Tim is also a good judge of a horse and I value his input.

I regard our selection processes as being as good as there is and when you consider I only purchase about 15 youngsters from each crop our results are outstanding.

In conclusion, where is the downside with this filly? As I see it, we have ticks across the board from her sire, dam to the farm she was reared. I could not recommend a better filly to you. Good luck with her. She is a ripper.