King Redoute’s Legacy lives on in Inglis Sires’
Redoute’s Choice (Danehill) may have died just over a year ago but he continues to leave his mark on the Australian racing industry, landing the quinella with King’s Legacy and Prague in yesterday’s Inglis Sires’ (Registered as ATC Sires’ Produce Stakes) (Gr 1, 1400m) at Randwick.
The Ciaron Maher and David Eustace team looked to have all but sealed another feature two-year-old win for the season as Prague (Redoute’s Choice) kicked clear in the home straight, but Peter and Paul Snowden’s King’s Legacy (Redoute’s Choice) had other plans, motoring home in the last furlong to deny Prague by half a length in the final few strides.
John Thompson’s Mamaragan (Wandjina) closed off well to finish third by another length and quarter with the well-related Ole Kirk (Written Tycoon) coming home in fourth.
The Snowdens have produced several stallions over the years, headed by Coolmore’s leading first season sire Pride Of Dubai (Street Cry), and it’s now likely that King’s Legacy, as a Group 1-winning son of a proven sire of sires, will find a place at stud at the end of his racing career.
The valuable colt also ran in the Magic Millions 2YO Classic (RL, 1200m) at the Gold Coast in January, finishing fifth, and Paul Snowden believes that experience helped to bring out the best in him.
“He only ran in the Magic Millions because he was up there but that trip toughened him up,” he said.
“We always knew he was a good one but it does so much for them to go away to the Gold Coast, particularly the colts.
“He had the pre-Christmas money in the bank, which allowed us to go straight to the Golden Slipper and you saw the benefit of that run today.
“He was always going to be a horse that was going to get better at 1400 metres.
“I think he will be even better at a mile in a couple of weeks but it is exciting to get the Group 1 with him because he is a very valuable colt now.”
Hugh Bowman, who also partnered Farnan (Not A Single Doubt) to victory in the Golden Slipper Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) two weeks ago, credited the colt’s will to win for his brilliant finish.
“They would have had a plan for this colt a long time ago and I would imagine the Champagne would be in those plans,” Bowman said
“You saw his will to win today. Prague, who is a superb colt in his own right, had the race shot to bits. I was on a horse who wanted to win and wanted to win bad and he had the ability to do it.”
Prague’s co-trainer Maher was pleased with his colt’s efforts but believes we still haven’t seen the best of him yet.
“He looked pretty good but he had to do a bit of work early and it was probably going to have an impact somewhere,” Maher said.
“He is a horse with a lot of upside. He is doing it all on raw ability at the moment.
“He’s not the furnished product yet. I think he’s got exceptional ability.”
King’s Legacy (2 c Redoute’s Choice – Breakfast in Bed by Hussonet) has now had five starts for two wins and a third, earning a total of $651,500 in prize-money.
He was purchased at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale by James Harron Bloodstock from the draft of Segenhoe Stud for $1.4 million.
King’s Legacy is the second foal out of seven-time winning and stakes-placed mare Breakfast In Bed (Hussonet) who herself is a half-sister to Group 1 winner Oohood (I Am Invincible). His third dam, Singles Bar (Rory’s Jester), is responsible for Arrowfield Stud’s recently pensioned champion sire Not A Single Doubt (Redoute’s Choice).
Segenhoe Stud will offer a sister to King’s Legacy at next week’s Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale catalogued as Lot 355.
“She’s a typical high quality Redoute’s Choice, a very scopey filly with a beautiful head who has just improved, improved, improved during the prep,’’ Segenhoe’s Peter O’Brien said.
Breakfast In Bed foaled a filly by I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) last spring and was covered by Pierro (Lonhro) in November.
King’s Legacy is the 38th Group 1 winner for Arrowfield Stud legend Redoute’s Choice, who died in March last year aged 22.
Redoute’s Choice has five yearlings on offer at the Easter sale next week.
Milestone win for Nettoyer in Doncaster
Wendy Roche and James Innes Jnr. celebrated a milestone day at the races yesterday, both landing their maiden Group 1 victories when Nettoyer (Sebring) produced an upset victory in the Doncaster Mile (Gr 1, 1600m) at Randwick.
The six-year-old mare settled second last for the journey and was still last around the final bend before rocketing home down the outside and hitting the front in the final 100 metres.
Chris Waller’s Star Of The Seas (Ocean Park) was also very good late in the piece but it was not enough to seal the victory, as Nettoyer won by half a length over the son of Ocean Park (Thorn Park) with Brandenburg (Burgundy) a nose away in third.
Jamie Richards’ champion mare Melody Belle (Commands) ran a gallant fourth after being caught wide during the run and with the equal top-weight of 57 kilograms on her back.
Nettoyer has become notorious for her quirky behaviour and moodiness, making the win all the more satisfying for Roche and her team.
“She is a handful,” Roche said.
“It takes two of us to get a saddle on her in the morning. She bites and fights us.
“On track she is easier to get the saddle on but getting her to the stalls is a nightmare.
“All week I couldn’t ride her. I just freshened her. She bit the strapper in the head and he had to get stitches.”
However, despite her long odds for Australia’s feature mile race, Roche was confident her mare was going to show up on the day.
“I’ve told everyone she would win today and she’s won,” she said.
The maiden elite-level win was both satisfying and emotional for Innes, but Roche had initially planned on Deanne Panya riding the mare. However, she had chosen to ride in a different zone when jockeys were asked to declare preferences because of Covid-19.
“Deanne couldn’t ride her because she had chosen to ride in the Kembla area,” Roche said.
However, one woman’s loss became another man’s gain and Innes secured the ride.
“It is very surreal,” he said.
“It still hasn’t sunk in and I don’t think it will for a little while.
“Full credit to Wendy and her team and also to my manager. He had to chase pretty hard to get me on.
“The fact I can ride light (51.5 kilograms) and get an opportunity like this, it is just unbelievable.”
After dealing with Nettoyer’s quirks before the race, the jockey said he became more confident in the mare the further the race went on.
“I was still trying to catch my breath getting her to the gates,” Innes said.
“She began only fair. Me and Wendy thought we would be a couple of pairs closer. She just isn’t a horse you can drive the brains out of for the entire mile so I just left her alone.
“When I straightened up, the more confident I was getting.”
John Sargent, trainer of Brandenburg, said he was proud of his three-year-old’s efforts and will now send the colt to the paddock with spring targets of the Epsom Handicap (Gr 1, 1600m) and the Golden Eagle (1500m).
“He ran super, I was very proud of him,” Sargent said.
“Glen Boss gave him a good ride. We gave it our best shot but we were beaten by two better horses on the day.”
Nettoyer (6 m Sebring – Cleanup by Dehere) has had 30 starts for six wins and seven placings and has amassed $1,614,700 in prize-money.
Bred by Greg and Jodie White, she was purchased by John Crowley out of the Riversdale Farm draft for $20,000 at the second session of the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.
The Whites, who retained a share in Nettoyer, have been involved in many a champion of the turf but they were left lost for words after the mare’s win.
“I’d have to use an expletive if I was being totally honest but I won’t do that, but I really don’t know how to explain it,’’ Greg White said.
“I was pretty emotional, I was jumping up all over the loungeroom. The first thing that came to my mind was, ‘I just bred a Doncaster winner.’
“We couldn’t be more excited. The horse had it won at the 400 metres, she changed gears and she’s got a devastating sprint which she showed today when it mattered most.’’
Riversdale’s Nick Hodges was also left speechless after the mare’s victory.
“I can’t believe it. It was such a thrill to see her go around but to win it, wow,’’ he said.
“For a farm our size, we don’t sell a high volume of yearlings, so it means a huge amount.
“We’re very grateful to be able to sell yearlings for Greg and Jodie, we’ve sold their yearlings for years so to be able to be a part of their success, we’re very lucky. We’re just the vendors, they bred the horse and have been much more involved than us.’’
Nettoyer is one of four winners out of the two-time winning mare Cleanup (Dehere) who herself is half-sister to three-time stakes winner She’s Clean (Redoute’s Choice) and the stakes-placed Floyd (Not A Single Doubt).
Further down the page is the 2010 Japanese Champion Sprinter/Miler Kinshasa No Kiseki (Fuji Kiseki) and well as Schweppes Oaks (Gr 1, 2000m) winner Abbey Marie (Redoute’s Choice), Australian Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m) winner Absolutely (Redoute’s Choice) and Geelong Cup (Gr 3, 2400m) winner Runaway (Manhattan Rain).
Cleanup has a yearling filly by I Am Invincible and will be offered at next month’s Inglis Chairman’s Sale in foal to The Autumn Sun (Redoute’s Choice).
Nettoyer is the sixth Group 1 winner for Widden Stud’s late stallion Sebring (More Than Ready) who has 21 lots catalogued at next week’s Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.
Nature Strip dominates T J Smith
There aren’t many Sydney feature races that Chris Waller hasn’t won but, up until yesterday, the prestigious T J Smith Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) had eluded him.
However, talented sprinter Nature Strip (Nicconi) put an end to that and was nothing short of brilliant when leading all the way to produce a two-length victory in the $1.25 million race against the country’s best sprinters.
Old marvels Santa Ana Lane (Lope de Vega) and Redzel (Snitzel) were as gallant as ever, finishing second and third respectively, with Greg Hickman’s Pierata (Pierro) closing off well in fourth.
James McDonald, who has partnered Nature Strip in eight of his past nine starts for five wins and three defeats when starting as favourite, said he understands the pain of punters who never know which version of the five-year-old will show up.
“It is a love-hate relationship,” McDonald said.
“I think he just likes a bit of racing. Once he gets deeper into his prep he loves stable life with the Waller camp and he’s just doing a marvellous job.
“As everyone knows, the first furlong is key to either winning or not.
“He is getting to the stage now where even if he is getting pressured, he is coming back that length until I signal for him to go.
“He is just getting better and better, and he is a gem to be a part of.
“From about the 800 metres I felt like he was airborne from there and he was high steaming from the top of the straight.”
Despite having trained some pretty special horses to some pretty special victories, Waller was left in awe of Nature Strip’s performance.
“What he does to his rivals is he makes it so hard for them to stay with him and gee, from the 600-metre mark to the 300-metre mark you can see they’re all just struggling to stay with him,” he said.
The trainer said there was the temptation to send Nature Strip to the All-Aged Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) in two weeks’ time but his main focus with the five-year-old is on The Everest (1200m) in the spring.
“We’d be very tempted but do we need to? I’d say there’d be plenty of people chasing him in the Everest and that’s a big race,” Waller said.
“So wow, what a great horse and we’ve got a lot to look forward to.”
Passed in for $90,000 (reserve $120,000) at the 2016 Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale, Nature Strip (5 g Nicconi – Strikeline by Desert Sun) took his record to 14 wins and two placings from 23 starts for prize-money of $5,144,035.
Nature Strip is one of three winners for the Group 3-winning mare Strikeline (Desert Sun), making him a half-brother to Fernhill Handicap (Listed, 1600m) winner The Barrister (Star Witness), who raced as High Volatility in Hong Kong until his retirement earlier this season.
Strikeline is herself a half-sister to fellow Group 3 winner Bashful Girl (Perugino), with the pair being out of Listed winner Strike High (Pre Emptive Strike).
Sean Buckley, who bred Nature Strip at his Golden Grove Stud, is continually amazed by the gelding’s achievements.
“He’s an outstanding sprinter, he just breaks their hearts,’’ Buckley said.
“I remember him as a yearling, he was always a big eater, very precocious early.
“We knew he was very good but we sell our colts and keep our fillies. I’m glad we bred and sold a nice horse – he’s the best sprinter in the world.’’
Nicconi stood at Widden Stud for a fee of $38,500 (inc GST) in 2019.
Another Australian Derby for Baker and Forsman
New Zealand’s Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman proved once again that they know how to prepare a Classic winner as Quick Thinker (So You Think) landed the $1 million Australian Derby (Gr 1, 2400m) at Randwick yesterday.
Backing up after taking out the Tulloch Stakes (Gr 2, 2000m) last week, the OTI Racing-owned colt settled just behind the pacemakers under countryman Opie Bosson before making his move around the home turn.
Quick Thinker went head to head with the Team Hawkes-trained Zebrowski (Savabeel) for the final 300 metres but the son of So You Think (High Chaparral) just got the better of his rival, winning by a neck.
Queensland raider Eric The Eel (Olympic Glory) ran a blinder, finishing a length and a quarter away in third with Shadow Hero (Pierro) more than five lengths back in fourth.
“Opie Bosson is a top class rider, his record proves that and I had complete faith in him,” Baker said from New Zealand.
“He’s quite a tough little customer. I thought he’d kick on a bit.”
It was Bosson’s second Australian Derby victory after winning the race aboard Mongolian Khan (Holy Roman Emperor) in 2015.
“Murray Baker is a genius getting his horses ready for this race,” Bosson said.
“He rang me yesterday morning and said the horse is rock hard fit and he’ll run a huge race.
“To be honest, he pulled my arms out the whole race. He didn’t come off the bit until we got to about the half mile.
“I thought we might have done too much in the running but then the Murray Baker fitness kicked in.”
Baker has won more Group 1s in Australia than any other New Zealand-based trainer and Quick Thinker added to his Australian Derby haul having first won the race in 2008 with Nom Du Jeu (Montjeu).
Dundeel (High Chaparral) and Mongolian Khan added to Baker’s Derby tally, while since being in partnership with Forsman, he has won with Jon Snow (Iffraaj) and now Quick Thinker.
Favourite Castelvecchio (Dundeel) never threatened and dropped out in the straight to finish 21 lengths from the winner in ninth on the heavy track.
Richard Litt told stewards the colt did not love the wet ground, had been “knocked around a little bit” and was likely to go to the paddock.
Now a four-time winner from 11 starts with prize-money earnings of $1,009,913, Quick Thinker (3 c So You Think – Acouplamas by Al Maher) was purchased for $100,000 at the Australian Inglis Easter Yearling Sale by De Burgh Equine from the draft of Coolmore Stud.
He was bred by Andrew Bowcock, who said: “I never really thought I would breed a Derby winner but this is a fantastic result.”
“I’m only a small breeder. I’m fourth generation but for the small number of mares my wife and I breed, I think to do what we have done over the years is pretty extraordinary and I’m very proud of it.
“Quick Thinker, it’s only his second prep and he’s achieved so much, especially these past few weeks. He showed what he was made of out there today.’’
Coolmore’s Tom Magnier added: “As a $100,000 yearling Quick Thinker is yet another example of the great value that can be found at the Easter Sale.
“Congratulations to Hubie de Burgh and OTI Racing who identified him as a future Derby type.
“He was always a classy individual with plenty of scope and a great mover and next week we offer a So You Think colt (Lot 139) who also looks like a Derby horse of the future.
“Congratulations must also go to his breeder Andrew Bowcock.”
He is one of four winners out of Acouplamas (Al Maher), making him a half-brother to HDF McNeil Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) runner-up The August (I Am Invincible). His second dam, Mahira (Canny Lad), is a half-sister to Kensington Gardens (Grosvenor) who produced Group 1 winner and leading Western Australian sire Blackfriars (Danehill).
Acouplamas was covered by new Widden Stud resident Trapeze Artist (Snitzel) last spring.
Bowcock will offer a close relation to Quick Thinker in next week’s Easter Yearling Sale as part of the KBL Thoroughbreds draft.
Lot 367 is the only Star Turn (Star Witness) filly in the catalogue and is out of Capable Mahira (Al Maher), who herself is a sister to Quick Thinker’s dam Acouplamas.
“She’s a cracking filly, a really special type,’’ Bowcock said.
Quick Thinker is the sixth individual Group 1 winner for Coolmore Stud’s So You Think who stood for a fee of $38,500 (inc GST) in 2019.
He has 11 yearlings on offer at next week’s Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.