Glentree hoping to strike with promising Night Express in Adelaide
Listed test awaits for lightly raced three-quarter sister to Group 1 winner Sea Siren
Victorian breeder Bruce Wilson’s patience with valuable filly and future Glentree Thoroughbreds broodmare Night Express (Fastnet Rock) could be about to pay off with the lightly raced three-year-old set for her maiden test at stakes level in Adelaide tomorrow.
The Henry Dwyer-trained filly, a dominant four-length winner at Morphettville earlier this month, returns to South Australia for a title at the H C Nitschke Stakes (Listed, 1400m) in a bid to enhance her already considerable appeal as a breeding prospect.
A win at Swan Hill in northern Victoria last October on her first start arguably did not do Night Express’ ability justice, but Glentree Pastoral manager Luke Simpson says the victory backed up the stable’s high opinion of the homebred filly.
The fact Night Express has made it to a stakes race five starts later underlines her talent.
“She is a very well bred filly and she is a three-quarter sister to Sea Siren, so any black type is highly valuable to us,” Simpson told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“Due to timing with her last prep, it always stacked up that if she came up this prep then Adelaide was always going to be a likely target.
“Pretty much from day one there was always something a little bit special about her. She was quite a standout filly in the paddock and from early doors she won quite a strong maiden beating another good filly (It’s Kind Of Magic), so from that it gave us confidence that she was up to a good level of ability and hopefully we will find out more on Saturday.”
Promising apprentice Lachie Neindorf retains the ride in the $100,000 race from barrier one.
“Henry has been very pleased with her post her last win. Everything is on track. She’s been eating up and working well since, so everything bodes well heading into Saturday,” Simpson said.
“She showed a lot of natural speed, particularly in Adelaide, so she will at least be up there somewhere. If something wanted to go crazy, we wouldn’t be too afraid to take a sit but you would imagine that she will be right up there in the race.”
Her performance will also determine whether the bar is raised again for Night Express.
He said: “It is a matter of getting through Saturday and then we will assess where she is at. If she is up to that grade, I am sure Henry will have bigger things in mind but if not, then we will reevaluate where we head this prep.”
Glentree Pastoral, owned by Wilson whose father Alan founded Reece Plumbing, purchased Night Express’ dam Express Street (Street Sense) privately after she was passed in at the 2014 Magic Millions Gold Coast National Broodmare Sale.
Wilson and Simpson then elected to mate her with Coolmore’s champion sire Fastnet Rock (Danehill), resulting in Night Express becoming a three-quarter sister to three-time Group 1-winning mare Sea Siren.
Express Street is one of about 20 broodmares owned under the Glentree Pastoral banner.
“She was a private purchase for us, the mare herself, and then we bred her to Fastnet Rock to get that three-quarter relation to Sea Siren. Because she was a nice individual we decided to keep her and race her ourselves,” he said.
“She has got a nice Snitzel yearling filly that we will retain as well and Henry will train her for us.”
Express Street is due to foal to Arrowfield Stud’s first season sire The Autumn Sun (Redoute’s Choice) in August and continues Glentree’s large investment in high-quality breeding stock which also includes Dee Nine Elle (Duporth), a stakes-placed half-sister to this season’s The Everest (1200m) winner Yes Yes Yes (Rubick).
“We like to give them every opportunity possible. By doing that it helps getting results not only in the sales ring but on the track as well,” he said.
“We have also been keeping a handful of fillies and putting them through our racing system with the view of putting them into our broodmare band down the track, so it’s been quite exciting.”