Magic Millions calling as tenacious Miss Hellfire gets Hellbent on the board
Snowdens to be double-handed in $2 million feature after Newgate-bred filly’s Aquis Gold Pearl victory
Hellbent (I Am Invincible) chalked up his first winner yesterday and the filly who provided the Yarraman Park-based stallion with his maiden victory, Miss Hellfire, will be aiming to hand the young sire immediate stakes success when she backs up in next weekend’s Magic Millions 2YO Classic (RL, 1200m).
Co-trainer Paul Snowden immediately outlined the plan for the talented Miss Hellfire after she won the Aquis Gold Pearl (1100m) almost one second faster than Mishani Spartan (Husson) ran in the previous race to take out the Gold Nugget (1100m) and also clinch a start in Saturday’s $2 million juvenile feature.
The Hellbent filly, who was runner-up in the Magic Millions Wyong 2YO Classic (RL, 1100m) last month, is the second stakes-performed two-year-old by the Yarraman Park-based first season sire with the Annabel Neasham-trained Bohemian Daisy the first after she ran third in the Ottawa Stakes (Gr 3, 1000m) at Flemington in November.
Miss Hellfire will now join her unbeaten stablemate Russian Conquest (Russian Revolution), a dominant winner at Randwick on Boxing Day, in the Magic Millions 2YO Classic on the Gold Coast next Saturday.
“The favourite (Coolangatta) is certainly beatable and it will also come down to barrier draws as well and the makeup of the race,” Paul Snowden said.
“We have now got two really nice fillies qualified for the race. Miss Hellfire has got the attitude, the toughness and the way she travelled up she was a little bit above herself.
“So there are some good signs for me telling me that she is going to back up well next week and that’s why we targeted this race today.
“Russian Conquest has got a bit of class whereas this filly (Miss Hellfire) is improving very quickly. The 1200 (metres) next week will be no dramas for Miss Hellfire and wet or dry there will be no dramas.
“I’m really keen to back her up next week, she has got more left in the tank, that is for sure.”
The Triple Crown Syndications-owned Miss Hellfire ($4.80), who was ridden by Ben Thompson, had three quarters of a length to spare over Perfect Mission (The Mission) ($4.60) with Stroll (Snitzel) ($5.50) another one and three-quarter lengths away in third.
She stopped the clock at 1:05 seconds flat for the 1100 metres on a Soft 7 track, 0.99 seconds faster than Mishani Spartan ran in the previous race.
Yarraman Park’s Harry Mitchell was delighted that Miss Hellfire had delivered a first victory for 2018 William Reid Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Hellbent at a time when the major domestic and international thoroughbred industry players’ focus turns to the Gold Coast.
“We have heard good talk about the Hellbents from numerous trainers in the last few months. We’ve had six or seven trial winners and a couple of horses are stakes-placed, but you always want to get the monkey off your back with a winner and I think that filly ran real guts and determination and she ran a very good time,” Mitchell said.
“She was bred by Newgate and I appreciate their support as a shareholder (in Hellbent) and so I am really excited by the win.”
Miss Hellfire is the latest example of what is proving to be Newgate Farm’s potent investment in American mares to be brought to Australia to be bred to either their own or outside colonial stallions.
The Snowden-trained filly, bred by Newgate Farm partner S F Bloodstock, was bought for $60,000 by Triple Crown Syndications at last year’s Magic Millions sale and from her two starts so far has already won almost $110,000 with the prospect of more to come, possibly as soon as Saturday.
“It is a great result for Triple Crown, who buy a lot of horses every year, and it’s a great result for the Snowdens who also have another Newgate graduate in Russian Conquest short in the betting for Saturday’s Magic Millions race,” Newgate Farm stud manager Jim Carey said yesterday.
“I think she is our eighth two-year-old winner off the farm this season already and it carries on from obviously last year with Stay Inside and all the other good horses we bred on the farm, so it ensures we’ve got momentum going into the Magic Millions sale.”
Miss Hellfire’s value had already increased post last year’s auction with her half-sister Xtremetime (Extreme Choice), a winner of the ATC Woodlands Stakes (Listed, 1100m), emerging at two for owners Prime Thoroughbreds. Tragically, the talented filly was killed in a bad race fall in the Silver Shadow Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) last August.
Their dam Peace Time (War Front), herself a daughter of US Grade 2 winner Santa Catarina (Unbridled), was one of S F Bloodstock’s Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale purchases to end up Down Under at Newgate Farm. S F Bloodstock paid US$260,000 for Peace Time at the 2016 sale.
She has a More Than Ready (Southern Halo) yearling filly who will be offered at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale in April.
“Miss Hellfire carries on from the great result we had with the Capitalist filly who won in Melbourne last week, (the Ciaron Maher and David Eustace-trained) Latizia, who is out of a good Scat Daddy mare who is another beautiful mare we brought out from America who has done the goods,” Newgate’s Carey said.
“We have had a lot of success by buying good speed mares and crossing them with our stallions out here and it seems to work. The Newgate model is to raise racehorses, whether they’re $20,000 or $300,000, on the farm and Miss Hellfire is a prime example of that.”
Twenty second crop yearlings by Hellbent will be offered at this week’s Magic Millions sale.
“Hellbent won his Group 1 as a five-year-old, but he raced in top company from three onwards,” Mitchell said.
“He only had one run at two, which he won, but they are coming out earlier than him. You have got to have a couple of two-year-olds in this country to get you going and to have a couple of black type horses and a nice chance in a Magic Millions and numerous triallers is exciting.
“The more expensive ones haven’t run yet and they’re in very good stables and they seem to really like them.”