Extra Brut a stylish winner of the Victoria Derby
Coming from well back early in the race, Extra Brut sprinted to the lead about 200 metres from home and was then able to hold off the strong finish of Stars Of Carrum (Fiorente) to score by a length with Chapada (Bullet Train) two lengths away in third place. Big disappointment of the race was heavily favoured Thinkin’ Big (High Chaparral) who seemed poised to challenge at the top of the straight only to fade into 12th place.
The 2018 Victoria Derby was a true staying test, one of the fastest in some years, as it was run in 2:34.31 with the final 600 metres in 36.06.
Previously a Listed winner at Flemington over 1800 metres, Extra Brut may contest the Australian Derby (Gr 1, 2400m) in the autumn and it is hoped the late developing Stars Of Carrum will again give him some worthy competition.
Extra Brut was bought as a yearling for syndication by Brad Spicer and his large group of owners were joined recently by a new managing partner, the Fung family’s Aquis Farm, which was seeking a well-bred son of Domesday (Red Ransom) to follow his father on the Aquis stallion roster.
Leviathan trainer Darren Weir has done a great job with the good looking colt who was bred in Victoria by Andrew McDonald who sold him as a weanling for $52,000 in the Stonehouse Thoroughbreds draft at the Inglis Great Southern Sale in Melbourne in the winter of 2016. He proved a profitable purchase for Gary Mudgway and Grange Thoroughbreds when they re-sold him for $100,000 at the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale in Sydney some seven months later.
Dom Perion (Redoute’s Choice), Extra Brut’s dam, was a metropolitan winner in Melbourne bred by media form guru Ron Dufficy and his brother Rod and she produced the Derby winner as her third foal and second winner following the mare Fill The Flute (Statue Of Liberty), a useful performer in both Melbourne and Adelaide. After slipping twice, Dom Perion foaled a brother to Extra Brut about six weeks ago.
Extra Brut’s maternal grandsire Redoute’s Choice (Danehill) looks likely to capture his first Australian broodmare sires’ title this season as in addition to Extra Brut his daughters have been represented by a string of other major winners in recent months, among them D’Argento (So You Think), Amphitrite (Sebring) and Kementari (Lonhro) to follow on from such other stars as boom sire Zoustar (Northern Meteor), Ace High (High Chaparral), Levendi (Pierro), Inference (So You Think), Sacred Falls (O’Reilly), now at stud in New Zealand, Stay With Me (Street Cry), new sire The Mission (Choisir) and Pasadena Girl (Savabeel), each a Group 1 winner.
It is interesting to note that Domesday has now been responsible for three Derby winners, others being Ruthven (2017 BRC Queensland Derby, Gr 1, 2200m) and Arcadia Dream (2016 Western Australian Derby, Gr 2, 2400m), a filly bred on the same cross as Extra Brut as her dam Arcadia is also a daughter of Redoute’s Choice.
Domesday, currently standing for the value fee of $9,900 (inc GST) at Aquis Farm in Queensland, like Redoute’s Choice, descends from renowned American mare Best In Show (Traffic Judge) so Extra Brut is linebred to her via her daughters, full sisters Monroe (Sir Ivor) and Dancing Show (Sir Ivor).
As a speedy, stakes winning two-year-old who did not win beyond 1100 metres, Domesday’s prospects of siring Derby winners would surely have been doubted at the start of his stud career but in this respect he has followed in the hoofprints of his esteemed late sire Red Ransom (Roberto).
Red Ransom, a non-stakes winner, was equally brilliant on the track, winning over five furlongs and six furlongs in three starts in the United States. While most of his Australian progeny were sprinters his Group 1-winning stock in the Northern Hemisphere included Casual Look (The Oaks, Gr 1, 1m4f), Dubai World Cup (Gr 1, 2000m) winner Electrocutionist and Ekraar, a Gran Premio del Jockey Club (Gr 1, 2400m) winner who later stood with some success in New Zealand.
Returning to Extra Brut’s female line, his third dam Charlotte Amalie (Gay Mecene) was a Listed winner in France who produced nine winners, notably stakes winners Esteemed Friend (Gulch), Badouizm (Sheikh Albadou) and Red Monsoon (Miswaki) and descends from one of France’s most distinguished female lines.
Senones (Prince Bio), sixth dam of Extra Brut, is found in pedigrees as the dam of stakes winning sires Snob (Mourne) and Sigebert (Alizier) and she is a sister to champion racehorse and influential sire Sicambre (Prince Bio).
Extra Brut carries five remote crosses of Northern Dancer (Nearctic) and other significant duplications and he could in time become a valuable sire for Aquis Farm.