A growing trend
There’s a trend taking place. If you want to win either of the New Zealand juvenile Group 1 races, Australia is the source. Six of the last ten Sistema Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winners were sired there. The same statistic applies to the Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m).
Showing a similar trend is the New Zealand 1,000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m), won by Captured By Love (Written Tycoon). Four of the last ten winners were sired in Australia. Underlining this trend is that three of the first four home this year were sired and foaled in Australia.
Prolific syndicator David Ellis has set the benchmark for landing many of the rich races for youngsters. His record in the Karaka Millions 2YO (Listed, 1200m) is nothing short of outstanding. Te Akau’s record in the two Group 1s for the juveniles is also impressive.
That domination is extending to the early classics for the three-year-olds which are front and centre of Te Akau’s goals and Captured By Love marks their third NZ 1,000 Guineas winner from the last five runnings. This century, seven fillies trained by Te Akau’s trainers have captured the race. That number is identical regarding the NZ 2,000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m).
A soft track faced a quality field for this year’s 1,000 Guineas and all credit must go to Josh Parr’s patient ride aboard the winner. The filly had plenty to do when the field straightened for the run home but Parr switched to the inner to make his run then waited until the 200 before asking his mount to stretch out. It was only at the 100 metres when they levelled up to the favourite Alabama Lass (Alabama Express) that Parr pushed the boost button to surge by a brave Alabama Lass who did all the work out in front.
Unbeaten in her first four starts at two, including three stakes contests, Captured By Love had to settle for thirds in the two Group 1s. This season she has been a model of consistency with three further Group placings in as many starts prior to Saturday’s classic victory. Two were behind New Zealand 2,000 Guineas winner Savaglee (Savabeel). Her fine record stands at five wins (four stakes) and five placings (all stakes) in ten career starts. She is as honest as the day is long and, including Saturday’s rich prize, has surpassed the NZ$700,000 mark in earnings, fully justifying the AU$525,000 outlayed for her by Ellis at the 2023 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
Early maturation and precocious speed is available by the gallon in Australia and New Zealanders are increasingly heading west to find the same. That same trend can be found in the New Zealand yearling catalogues and especially among the pinhooking of Australian-sired-and-bred two-year-olds for the Ready to Run Sale.
Captured By Love, is the latest to fit the above. Not only is she by Written Tycoon (Iglesia), she is also bred on the same Written Tycoon/Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) cross as last season’s champion juvenile Velocious. Luna Rossa, winner of the 2016 Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes, is another by Written Tycoon and whose grandam is by Snitzel’s sire Redoute’s Choice (Danehill), thus bred on a similar pattern.
And talking of Danehill (Danzig), he appears twice on Captured By Love’s dam’s side of her bloodlines via her dam’s sire Snitzel (a grandson) and again as the sire of her fourth dam, not something we see often but which will increase dramatically with time. Danehill’s grandsire Northern Dancer (Nearctic) appears just once in Written Tycoon’s bloodlines but seven more times on Captured By Love’s dam’s side.
Captured By Love is a first foal. Her dam Moldova (Snitzel) won at Flemington as a two-year-old. Her great grandam, Generous Nature (Carnegie), while Australian-bred, spent a good few years at Little Avondale Stud in the Wairarapa region of the lower North Island. Generous Nature’s 2016 colt is million dollar earner Savvy Nature (Savabeel). Savabeel (Zabeel) features again in the next generation as 2017 NZ 1,000 Guineas winner Hasahalo (Savabeel) is from a half-sister to Generous Nature.
Going places
Lightly raced five-year-old Mystic Park (Ocean Park) was expected to be competitive in his first attempt at stakes class in Saturday’s Stewards’ Handicap (Listed, 1200m) and so it proved. Starting as favourite despite the step up to black-type he was allotted top weight of 59 kilograms for the time-honoured race, but neither stopped him from extending his fine record to seven wins in just 12 starts.
Mystic Park did not appear until late in the 2022-23 season as a three-year-old and from three starts won once and placed twice. At four he scored fresh–up at the same New Zealand Cup meeting a year ago plus a further three wins before a spell. This season at five he again won fresh–up over 1000 metres in a scorching 56.29 secs – the last 600 metres in 31.32 secs. His fresh–up record is superb and his connections used that to their advantage again as his previous win was at the end of August, some 11 weeks ago.
As per Forest Gump and his “life is like a box of chocolates” quote, with Ocean Park (Thorn Park) one is never quite sure what one is going to get. His four Group 1 winners, namely Tofane, Kolding, Kovalica and Ocean Billy have won Group 1s at 1400 metres, 1600 metres, 2400 metres and 3200 metres respectively. One might not know but you can’t knock his versatility as a sire. Mystic Park is stakes winner number 22 for the Waikato Stud stallion.
Had Mystic Park not got up he would have been considered unlucky as he was crowded for room at the 150 metres but all credit to the horse, he kept finding to overhaul the speedy Illicit Dreams (Vancouver), to whom he was conceding six kilograms, over the last few strides. On the soft track the winning time was 1:10.11, quite a bit slower than is usual for the Canterbury Jockey Club’s feature sprint.
What will be interesting now is what his connections decide next. In the North Island on January 4 is the Telegraph Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) at weight-for-age. That is seven weeks away and there is another three weeks until the repositioned Railway Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m), a set weights plus penalties race. Which race will they wait for given his fresh–up record?
Mystic Park has proved he can carry weight and the firmer summer tracks he is likely to encounter will not be an issue. It will be good for racing to have him vying for sprint honours against the best in the north.
He is one of four winners from the unraced Dubawi (Dubai Millennium) mare Spirit Of Karlu, while his grandam is a three-quarter sister to the wonderful producer Mannington (Danehill) and half-sister to Group 1 Australian Stakes (1200m) winner Stella Cadente (Centaine), grandam of Grail Seeker (Iffraaj), recent winner of the Tarzino Trophy (Gr 1, 1400m). His third dam is a half-sister to million dollar earners Filante (Star Way) and Bint Marscay (Marscay). This is a top family.
Excelling over ground
With a similar record to Ocean Park regarding versatility is Cambridge Stud’s Almanzor (Wootton Bassett) who also has 22 individual stakes winners to his name. Most of his stock show a propensity towards staying races but this year he has sired a juvenile Group 3 winner in France and a juvenile Listed winner in New Zealand, not forgetting that in his first crop he got the Karaka Million 2YO winner Dynastic.
They would appear to be the exceptions however, and in Saturday’s New Zealand Cup (Gr 3, 3200m) he sired his second 3200–metre winner, Mehzebeen. His first was 2024 Sydney Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) winner Circle Of Fire. Notably, Athabascan, also by Almanzor, was second to Circle Of Fire.
Five-year-old mare Mehzebeen has come into her own this season yet showed two seasons back that distance races might be her preference, as indicated by her second in the 2023 New Zealand Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m) behind dual Oaks winner Pennyweka (Satono Aladdin).
Mehzebeen also signalled her readiness to land a big prize with her all-the-way victory in the Metropolitan Trophy (Listed, 2600m) only seven days earlier. Clearly, she was very fit and, although she didn’t lead throughout, she was always handy and halfway down the straight she took control and ran away to score by three lengths over much the same field, carrying the same 53 kilograms.
Of course she can stay. Her dam Salkantay is by Zabeel (Sir Tristram) yet is also a half-sister to two juvenile stakes winners. In 19 starts Mehzebeen has logged five wins and banked $474,010, a nice return on the $50,000 outlaid for her at the 2021 NZB Karaka Yearling Sale (Book 1).
Timely purchase
The fourth stakes race in New Zealand was the Tauranga Stakes (Gr 2, 1600m) which was raced on an upgraded Soft 6 surface and won impressively by Bella Waters (Sacred Falls).
We last discussed Bella Waters after her Rotorua Cup (Listed, 2200m) win back in May. The five-year-old mare was spelled following that maiden stakes win and fresh–up over 1300 metres on November 2 she was in all sorts of trouble when finishing seventh.
Her Tauranga Stakes win was full of merit. Last into the straight, when she moved out for a run she almost collided with Pearl Of Alsace (Tavistock), the runner in front of her, and was virtually stopped in her tracks. Warren Kennedy got her going again and when she balanced she rattled home to score narrowly but convincingly, her fourth win in 11 starts, taking her earnings to $176,270.
Since Cambridge Stud’s Brendan and Jo Lindsay took over the ownership of Bella Waters’ dam But Beautiful (Pivotal) she has produced two stakes winners, the other being Caulfield Autumn Classic (Gr 2, 1800m) winner Immediacy (Tarzino). That was timely investing indeed.