Blueblood Willowy provides welcome Oaks boost for Darley’s Kermadec
Breeding and racing operation’s bold stallion switch rewarded with yet another spring carnival Group 1 success
Earlier this year, Godolphin made the bold call to switch stallion Street Boss (Street Cry) to Darley’s Hunter Valley base from Victoria and send Kermadec (Teofilo) south to Northwood Park, moves which had the potential to upset some of the operation’s breeder clients.
However, as the spring carnival reaches its zenith, Godolphin’s racing operation has lived up to its end of the bargain by preparing Street Boss’s three-year-old son Anamoe to win the Caulfield Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) while Kermadec’s progressive three-year-old daughter Willowy yesterday landed a hard-fought VRC Oaks (Gr 1, 2500m) at Flemington.
She is Kermadec’s second Group 1 winner in a feature staying event this season after Montefilia won The Metropolitan (Gr 1, 2400m) at Randwick last month, the first-crop four-year-old’s third at the elite level.
A November 25-born filly, Willowy has thrived on racing, progressing from a Newcastle maiden win on October 12 at her fourth start to completing the Wakeful Stakes (Gr 2, 2000m)-VRC Oaks double at Flemington at her past two starts, vindicating Cummings and the Godolphin team’s decision to send her to Melbourne.
“She just kept improving all the way and enough for us to have a crack at the Wakeful,” Cummings said.
“She’s been able to come down here, get herself together, and it takes a filly with a great temperament and a great constitution to do what she’s done in the last week, and she’s been able to deliver.”
Champion jockey Damien Oliver lifted $3.70 favourite Willowy over the line to score by a long-neck over the Patrick Payne-trained Douceur (No Nay Never) ($21) with Biscayne Bay (Sebring) ($4.20) two lengths away in third.
Willowy was Oliver’s seventh VRC Oaks and third in succession, having guided Personal (Fastnet Rock) last year and Miami Bound (Reliable Man) in 2019.
His Oaks victory also saw him join Australian Racing Hall of Fame legend George Moore on 126 Group 1 race wins.
“That’s my first sit on her but what a dream to ride,” Oliver said.
“She dropped the bridle and went to sleep for me with the slow pace and when I asked her for an effort, she quickened up well, but crept to the second horse.
“I thought it had me done inside the 200 (metre mark). Then I really asked her for the supreme effort over the last 50 metres and I couldn’t have asked the horse to respond better for me.
“I can take some credit, but James and the Godolphin team take the credit. They presented her so well and I couldn’t ask for anymore.”
Oliver has ridden three winners for Cummings and Godolphin at the first three meetings of the carnival, including in guiding Colette (Hallowed Crown) to take out the Empire Rose Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) on Saturday.
Jye McNeil rode Willowy in the Wakeful as Oliver was committed to the Danny O’Brien-trained Kapalua Sunset (Tavistock).
Cummings says Oliver has been integral to the operation of the Melbourne stable in recent years, particularly in recent times when travel between NSW and Victoria has been impossible due to Covid.
“He’s a marvellous competitor and I think he teams up really well with us because I’m in Sydney and he can give me lots of good advice,” Cummings said.
“When I can give him one idea he says ‘James, I’ve been doing this for 30 years. I think I know my way around Melbourne, don’t worry’, and I’m grateful for it.
“He’s a really good guy to team up with. He presents well, he speaks well and he’s able to explain his thoughts in good style.”
Willowy is the last of 11 foals out of blue hen mare Dextrous (Quest For Fame), also the dam of Group 1-winning two-year-old Skilled (Commands) and Group 2 winners Sidestep (Exceed And Excel) and Ambidexter (Commands). All 11 foals out of Dextrous, who died in July last year, are winners.
Darley’s head of stallions Alastair Pulford told It’s In The Blood yesterday that Kermadec (Teofilo), who relocated to Darley’s Northwood Park in Victoria this season, was supported with proven mares early in his stud career.
“Dextrous was a good mare for us and had more than proven herself as a broodmare.
“While she’d been to speed horses, like Commands, Exceed And Excel and Sepoy – the attraction for this mating was Kermadec was a miler, Dextrous was a miler, and she was by an English Derby winner in Quest For Fame out of a mare by (dual Derby winner) Handy Proverb from the family of Emancipation,” Pulford said.
“Kermadec was a miler more than 2000-metre horse, but Teofilo was a bit the same – a horse who never raced past his two-year-old season and didn’t go past seven furlongs, but he throws plenty of stayers.
“There’s plenty of stamina in the pedigree, really. That’s obviously what we were hoping to concentrate on the mating for. We like breeding like-to-like, type-to-type, in terms of stamina.
“And there’s enough stamina in the pedigree to think Kermadec will continue to sire high-class stayers. Montefilia, obviously, from his first crop, is very talented over a distance.”
Kermadec stands at Northwood Park for a fee of $11,000 (inc GST) while Street Boss stands for a fee of $55,000 (inc GST) in 2021.
World Espiona’s oyster after stunning Desirable victory
Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt) has already had Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Stay Inside and Group-winning colts Tiger Of Malay and Extreme Warrior emerge from his first crop and the remarkable stallion could also be the sire of Australia’s best three-year-old filly.
Espiona, who has been carefully managed by trainer Chris Waller and Star Thoroughbreds, backed up her dominant three-and-a-half length maiden win in Sydney last month with an emphatic performance in the Desirable Stakes (Listed, 1400m) at Flemington yesterday.
Starting a well-supported $1.35 favourite, Espiona put six and a half lengths on her rivals in the closing stages when asked to quicken by jockey James McDonald.
Underlining the achievements of Newgate Farm’s Extreme Choice, Espiona is the sixth individual stakes winner from just 46 first crop foals. She is also one of ten individual winners of 20 races from 25 runners to date.
McDonald, who has ridden eight winners so far at the Flemington carnival headed by Verry Elleegant (Zed) in Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) and Home Affairs (I Am Invincible) in the Coolmore Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m), is convinced Espiona has greater things in store.
“I feel embarrassed taking my riding fee for that one,” McDonald said.
“She is a very, very smart filly and it will take a crowbar to get me off her. Once I got into that right spot, I was very comfortable for three furlongs and her acceleration is something to behold.
“She gives you the feel of a proper horse and it probably looked as good as it felt.
“She’s a lovely filly. She could have easily run as a two-year-old, but they’ve taken their time with her.
“She’s been very push-button. She’s been very well educated. The world is going to be her oyster. It’ll take something for a horse to beat a performance like that in Cup Week.”
Waller’s assistant trainer Charlie Duckworth, speaking at the Hawkesbury race meeting, told Sky Racing: “Just wow. She absolutely blew them away, which isn’t easy coming out of a maiden win with an interstate trip, a new venue, a new track.
“She just put them to the sword early in the straight.”
The Tony and Calvin McEvoy-trained Star Of Chaos (Zoustar) ($41) was runner-up while Star Waltz (Snitzel) ($31) and Burning Power (Sizzling) ($41) were third and fourth respectively.
Espiona, bred and sold by Torryburn Stud which is also responsible for breeding Coolmore Stud Stakes winner Home Affairs, was purchased by Star Thoroughbreds’ Denise Martin and Randwick Bloodstock’s Brett Howard for $190,000 at last year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
From a current family, the three-year-old filly is a daughter of winning mare Dahooil (O’Reilly), a sister to stakes winner Bonny O’Reilly and a three-quarter sister to Rare Insight, Escadaire and Simply You, the dam of Group 2-winning three-year-old Forgot You (Savabeel).
Bonny O’Reilly’s first foal, a colt by Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice), sold to Coolmore’s Tom Magnier at this year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale for $1.9 million.
Dahooil foaled a colt by Capitalist (Written Tycoon) on October 25 and, understandably, Torryburn Stud’s John and Brett Cornish have booked her into Kia Ora Stud’s first season Golden Slipper winner Farnan (Not A Single Doubt) this year in order to produce a three-quarter sibling to Espiona.
Extreme Choice, who has 29 second-crop two-year-olds and 32 third crop yearlings, was made available to shareholders and foal share arrangements this breeding season due to his well-known fertility issues. His fee is listed as private.
Jollys’ Divine Ottawa Stakes win with talented filly See You In Heaven
A feisty filly by second-crop sire Divine Prophet (Choisir) that was spotted at the Magic Millions on the Gold Coast by Adelaide father-and-daughter training combination Richard and Chantelle Jolly delivered connections an Oaks day windfall with a first-start victory in the Ottawa Stakes (Gr 3, 1000m).
Two-year-old filly See You In Heaven ($9) scored by one and a quarter lengths from the $5.50 favourite Satin Love (Snitzel), a three-quarter sister to San Domenico Stakes (Gr 3, 1100m) winner Anders (Not A Single Doubt), with Bohemian Daisy ($26), a first-crop daughter of Hellbent (I Am Invincible), a short-head away in third.
The value of See You In Heaven, who finished third in a Balaklava barrier trial on October 18, immediately soared well beyond her initial $90,000 price tag given the demand from breeders craving mares with early season stakes-performed juvenile form.
“She was really great and made my job easy,” said jockey Craig Williams of See You In Heaven.
“Everything that Richard told me is exactly what happened. He said that she doesn’t bounce out of the gates, she props up and she did that today, but she’s got really nice speed.
“The only thing about her characteristics is that she likes to kick other horses. That’s the only thing I had to deal with pre-race and that she didn’t injure anyone else.
“She’s very professional, has very good ability and everyone could see that today.”
The two-year-old’s Ottawa Stakes win also ended a frustrating run of outs for Williams, who had not ridden a metropolitan winner since Zaaki (Leroidesanimaux) in the Underwood Stakes (Gr 1, 1800m) in late September.
“It’s my job to ride my horses well and If they haven’t figured where they were expected to, there has generally been a reason for it, so that’s just the way racing is,” Williams said.
“I couldn’t have been more proud of my horses in the Caulfield Cup (Nonconformist, second), Cox Plate (Anamoe, second) and Melbourne Cup (Spanish Mission, third), but I didn’t win them.”
See You In Heaven, who is the fifth winner for Shine On Anna (Anabaa) and her first stakes winner, was purchased by Kestrel Thoroughbreds’ Bruce Slade and Jimmy Unwala’s Avesta Bloodstock for $27,000 at the 2020 Magic Millions National Weanling Sale before she was resold for $90,000 in the Book 2 sale on the Gold Coast in January through the Alexia Fraser Bloodstock draft.
Her second dam is the stakes-placed Shine On Me (Machiavellian) while further back is the Mapperley Stud-based dual Group 1-winning stallion Contributer (High Chaparral).
Shine On Anna was sold for just $6,000 to Auravale Farm through Inglis Digital in June 2020 when in foal to Spieth (Thorn Park). Unfortunately the resulting filly died after birth.
She had a colt by Cornwall Park Stud’s Cliff’s Edge (Canford Cliffs) on October 11.
See You In Heaven’s sire Divine Prophet stands at Aquis Farm in Queensland for a fee of $16,500 (Inc GST).