A pattern that can’t be denied
If you were given the choice between a mare bred on the Bletchingly (Biscay)-Vain (Wilkes) cross or one bred on the Metal Storm (Kenmare)-What A Guest (Be My Guest) cross, it would likely be a no-brainer. Everyone would plump for the former.
Not so fast. Bear with me because our subject has both, with the latter cross taking place more recently. It makes an interesting study to discover just how things seem to work out, given time and allowing for life’s ups and downs.
Fellow historical bloodstock bloodlines enthusiast, researcher and story-teller Trevor Marshallsea – whose weekly ANZ Bloodstock News column, ‘It’s In The Blood’, is a must-read – has the perfect description for Bob Peters: ‘breeding maven’.
Peters’ Arcadia Queen (Pierro), triumphant in the recent Mackinnon Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m), is the result of well-founded beliefs. However, Peters has been involved with this particular family only since 2001 when he purchased Arcadia Queen’s granddam Antique (Metal Storm) for the not inconsiderable sum of $130,000 at the annual Magic Millions Perth Yearling Sales.
Successful Western Australian bloodstock agent John Chalmers regularly consults with Peters but not in this case.
“Bob bought Antique himself from Lex Piper who owned a number of shares in Mungrup Stud’s stallion Metal Storm. Bob raced Antique and the rest is history,” Chalmers said.
The rest is indeed history. The family, which had good roots, was not weak at the time Peters bought in. However, it has gone on to be one of powerhouse proportions, aided greatly by another very successful cross, this time the Pierro (Lonhro)-Redoute’s Choice (Danehill) cross, perfected by the maven.
Peters obviously saw something in Antique to warrant the $130,000 outlay.
What A Guest, sire of Antique’s dam Bonny Guest, began life in Ireland. After a brief race career in France of just seven starts, all as a three-year-old – winning three stakes including a Group 2 at Saint-Cloud and a Group 3 at Longchamp – he returned to stud in Ireland.
Among his first crop was Claire Marine who, when exported to the United States, made quite a name for herself in taking out two of their best fillies and mares events when prepared by the great Charlie Whittingham in California. As a four-year-old she scored the Matriarch Stakes (Gr 1, 9f) at Hollywood Park and the Beverly Hills Stakes (Gr 1, 9f) at Del Mar. Both wins were achieved in 1989, by which time What A Guest had found a new home and was covering his third book of mares at Pelubra Park Stud in Victoria.
From What A Guest’s second Australian crop emerged All Our Mob, a wonderfully durable and versatile runner who took his sprinting prowess from 1200 metres right through to 2000 metres. In successive years he bagged Eagle Farm’s Stradbroke Handicap (Gr 1, 1400m), the Flemington straight-six Newmarket Handicap (Gr 1, 1200m), the same track’s Mackinnon Stakes and finally, as a seven-year-old, the Randwick All Aged Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) – all among 11 career wins.
These two were the standouts for the stallion who sired just six more stakes winners (only a further three in Australia) but none in the class of either Claire Marine or All Our Mob.
Was What A Guest the reason for Peters’ interest? In all likelihood, no. Neither was Bonny Guest’s racing ability as she managed just a maiden win.
Her deeper family was the linchpin and this is where things get interesting and where Peters may have spotted a successful combination of bloodlines sufficient for him to make such an investment.
Enter Metal Storm.
Bonny Guest had a total of 12 foals; her fourth, fifth, sixth and eighth were to Metal Storm, in which breeder Lex Piper owned shares.
Bred in France and winner of the Prix de la Jonchere (Gr 3, 1600m) at Chantilly plus victorious in a Listed race at Maisons-Laffitte, those comprising two of his four total wins, Metal Storm started his new life in 1995 at Mungrup Stud, Narrikup, 35 kilometres north of Albany in southern Western Australia.
Bonny Guest’s dam was Bonny Dancer, a Sydney winner and a daughter of Bletchingly. Bonny Dancer herself produced three winners, one stakes-placed. Not exactly earth-shattering stuff but better was yet to come. Blood will out, as the saying goes. She ranked as a sister or half-sister to three stakes winners including the top-class sprinter, Oakleigh Plate (Gr 1, 1100m) victor Kenvain, a son of Kenmare (Kalamoun).
Metal Storm is also a son of Kenmare.
By the time Peters purchased Antique, Metal Storm’s first crop were four-year-olds and his second crop included Antique’s two-years-older sister Kalatiara. Four successive wins in Perth to wrap up her two-year-old season, Kalatiara also added three more, making seven on the trot, in the spring/summer of her second season, culminating with the Western Australian Guineas (Gr 2, 1600m) against the boys.
Kalatiara would also dramatically add to her record. When exported to the United States, she took out the Royal Heroine Stakes (Gr 3, 1m) at Hollywood Park, had some bad luck at stud there but later returned home to Australia where she produced Perth Listed winner Kalahaar to Choisir (Danehill Dancer).
Metal Storm’s second crop of six stakes winners also included Old Fashion, who had three Listed wins on the board prior to the 2001 Perth Yearling Sale. The best rated of Metal Storm’s 23 stakes winners, he would not become a Group 1 winner – taking the Railway Stakes (Gr1, 1600m) – until the following season.
Antique had a second older sister, one-year-older Kentiara who managed a haul of 11 wins including two Listed stakes in Perth but she didn’t begin racing (winning on debut) until a month after Antique was knocked down to Peters. She has since thrown Kencella (Exceed And Excel), a Sydney Group 3 winner.
Antique may still have been considered an expensive purchase but must have shown Peters plenty. Her win in Perth as a two-year-old was such that she was given her chance in Melbourne in the spring of 2002. So, east she went, took out a nice race at Caulfield, placed in Listed company at Moonee Valley and then ran third in the VRC Oaks (Gr 1, 2500m) behind Bulla Borghese (Belong To Me), her final race at start ten.
A fourth Metal Storm filly (foaled after Antique) from Bonny Guest, Lacienne, would later produce Perth Cup (Gr 2, 2400m) victor Guest Wing (Right Wing).
There is an old American saying that is often used to describe someone who experiences bad luck. That term is “snake bit”. In the case of Metal Storm, that term became a reality when the stallion, in the prime of his success, was indeed bitten by a snake part-way through his seventh season, and he succumbed.
Mungrup Stud recently wound up their operation and owners Gray and Jan Williamson will probably see Metal Storm’s sad ending as the low point in their otherwise very successful stud’s history.
Peters’ introduction of Redoute’s Choice to the mix, when Antique was retired to stud, realised sisters Broadway Belle and Antique Belle, each Listed winners in Perth.
To Pierro, Broadway Belle has produced Regal Power to gain the Railway Stakes as well as the rich All-Star Mile (1600m) and the Western Australian Derby (Gr 2, 2400m), and his brother Action, who claimed the Derby the previous year.
A further mating between Redoute’s Choice and Antique brought about Arcadia, who like her mum, was sent to Melbourne, succeeding once there after two wins at home.
At stud Arcadia has been the most successful of all the above with four stakes winners (two by Pierro) including, of course, star mare Arcadia Queen.
With her glorious Mackinnon Stakes triumph, her third Group 1, Arcadia Queen matches close relative Mr Murphy (Danehill), whose treble included back-to-back victories in the Australian Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) and Futurity Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) during the 2001-02 season.
Mr Murphy’s granddam Verdi (Showdown) is a half-sister to Dancelot (Vain), the third dam of Antique.
Our maven’s masterstroke is the topping up with Pierro, a cross that has proved enormously successful with Antique’s daughters, not to mention Redoute’s Choice mares at large.
The following statistics, courtesy of Arion Pedigrees, are extremely significant.
Of Pierro’s 24 stakes winners, nine are out of Redoute’s Choice mares. Four – Arcadia Queen, Regal Power, Action and Arcadia Prince – are brothers or sisters in blood; all bred and raced by Peters.
The remaining five are Australian Derby (Gr 1, 2400m) winner Levendi, dual Group 2 winner Dragon Leap, Hong Kong Derby (Listed, 2000m) winner Furore and Listed winners Kentucky Breeze and Sacramento.
Of the 15 that are not out of Redoute’s Choice mares, six have been bred from mares by other sons of Danehill (Danzig). Two, dual Group 1 winner Pierata and Satin Slipper, are from mares by Flying Spur. Another two, Rock and Untamed, are from Fastnet Rock mares, dual Group 3 winner Tulip is from a Rock of Gibraltar mare while Group 3 winner Bellevue Hill is from an Exceed And Excel mare.
That makes 15 of 24 bred on an identical pattern to which can also be added VRC Oaks (Gr 1, 2500m) Pinot, whose granddam is by Danehill, as are South African Group 3 winner Roy Had Enough and Ethereal Stakes (Gr 3, 2000m) winner Gamay.
In case there is any doubt, Spring Champion Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) and Randwick Guineas (Gr 1,1600m) hero Shadow Hero’s dam Sookie is by Flying Spur’s son Casino Prince.
Want to breed a stakes winner by Pierro? It might be a good idea to ensure that there is some Danehill blood very close up in your mare’s pedigree.
Otherwise, just ask Bob Peters.