Oaks victory a Personal moment for next chapter of Lindsay Park
Coolmore-owned Fastnet Rock filly relishes fast tempo to take out fillies classic
Lindsay Park has used Flemington to make a bold statement that the Hayes family racing empire will remain a force after Personal (Fastnet Rock) delivered a knockout blow in the VRC Oaks (Gr 1, 2500m), the stable’s fourth victory of the country’s premier carnival so far.
David Hayes, who invested heavily in a state-of-the-art training centre at Euroa in Victoria a decade ago to build on the legacy started by his father Colin, returned to Hong Kong in time for the start of the current season, leaving his nephew Tom Dabernig and eldest son Ben to take the reins after working in partnership for almost four years.
Dabernig and Hayes also trained a double on Tuesday, with juvenile Finance Tycoon (Written Tycoon) winning the Darley Maribyrnong Plate (Gr 3, 1000m) and veteran stayer Sin To Win (Sir Percy) breaking a two-and-a-half year drought.
It followed on from the pair preparing the quinella of the Carbine Club Stakes (Gr 3, 1600m) on Derby Day, a meeting dominated in the past by David Hayes.
Yesterday’s breakthrough Group 1 win for the duo came with highly valuable filly Personal ($6), who finished strongly in a fast-run Oaks to defeat Salto Angel (Sacred Falls) ($21) by one and a quarter lengths.
Favourite Montefilia (Kermadec) ($1.80 favourite), who won the Spring Champion Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) at her previous start, was another length and a quarter away in third in a race which saw hug margins from first to last due to the tempo testing the stamina of the three-year-olds.
Dabernig is confident that the Oaks would not be Personal’s only big-race win by the time the Wakeful Stakes (Gr 2, 2000m) runner-up is retired to stud.
“That was a massive thrill and a big thanks to all of our team at home,” Dabernig said.
“She’s a very good filly. She can sprint and she can stay, she has some magnificent attributes.
“We haven’t seen the best of her either, there is still much more to come.”
Hayes backed up Dabernig’s comments about the significance of the Oaks victory.
“It’s a huge thrill and I know Dad back in Hong Kong will be very excited,” Hayes said.
“We’ve been close with seconds in the Thousand Guineas and Caulfield Guineas, so this is a terrific result.
“It really means a lot to us at Lindsay Park and to train our first one is a big thrill.
“They (Coolmore) have always been great supporters of us and it’s great to be able to do it in our first year. I am pinching myself still.
“She is an amazing horse. She was competitive over 1200 – she’s a bit like Miss Finland.”
Personal’s jockey Damien Oliver said it was the “majors” which kept the champion rider wanting to compete at the highest level.
“It’s what keeps me going,” he said. “I love competing at the highest level. While it’s been a little bit sad not having the crowd here, it’s been a wonderful event.
“It’s great to win for Ben and Tom and be part of their first Group 1. I’ve won a few over the years for the old man (David) and I am sure this is the first of many for them.”
Personal (3 f Fastnet Rock – Personify by Galileo), who was third in the Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) and runner-up in the Thousand Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) last month, has earned almost $1.1 million in prize-money in nine career starts.
The filly, who was purchased by Coolmore’s Tom Magnier and BBA Ireland, cost $440,000 at last year’s Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale from the Cressfield draft. Bred by Bruce Neill, she is raced by a syndicate that includes Coolmore, Paul Shanahan, Lindsey Maxsted and Adrian Nicoll.
“She was very popular at the Inglis Easter Sale, very popular, she was the star filly of that sale,’’ Neill said.
“And she’s well and truly showing that in her performances on the track now as well.
“To place in a Blue Diamond and a Thousand Guineas and then to win an Oaks – all in only a handful of starts really – only the classy ones can do that but she’s got a lot of class this filly.’’
Magnier was emotional after the Group 1 win, which came just two days after the global outfit lost Anthony Van Dyck (Galileo) in the Melbourne Cup.
“We are just overwhelmed,” Magnier said. “The week that it has been, to pick up the Kennedy Oaks is a dream and to do it with the Hayes team, with which we have a long association with – now with Ben and Tom at the helm – and are very close with, makes it very special.
“Damien Oliver, what a ride he gave her. He is just the king of Flemington, that guy.
“We race horses all over the world but to win this race on this day is beyond words. It’s one of life’s dreams.
“He’s a very special stallion (Fastnet Rock) and he’s out of a Galileo mare. It’s what dreams are made of. It’s been a tough week but this is a very big high today.”
A daughter of two-year-old stakes winner Personify, Personal is a half-sister to the Group 2-placed Trope (More Than Ready) and fellow stakes-placed horses Selectify (Redoute’s Choice) and Laser Flash (Redoute’s Choice).
Personify is a half-sister to champion South African female sprinter Laisserfaire (Danehill), Group 3 winner A Time For Julia (Redoute’s Choice), Time Thief (Redoute’s Choice) and Foreplay (Danehill).
Personal’s champion sire Fastnet Rock (Danehill) stands for $165,000 (inc GST) this year.
Orbis and Hawkes smelling the Roses with talented Written Tycoon filly
Written Beauty (Written Tycoon), who brought up her fourth straight win and third this campaign in the Red Roses Stakes (Gr 3, 1100m), already has the size and strength to reach the top level but co-trainer Wayne Hawkes says the filly has more mental development to come.
The lightly raced three-year-old was given her first opportunity at stakes level down the Flemington straight yesterday with jockey Willie Pike managing to lift the powerfully built sprinter to score by a half-neck over Marboosha (Dream Ahead). Celestine (Nicconi) was a further half-length away in third.
Jockey Willie Pike, who is returning to Perth to undertake his 14-day quarantine period, could not find cover on Written Beauty down the grandstand side of the straight but she still managed to rally late.
“You could see Willie was trying to get in behind them. But he could not get her to come back for cover, mind you the second filly was in the same sought of rut facing the breeze,” Hawkes said.
“She’s got a lot of upside but has come to the end of her tether. She has a massive upside, and she will be some filly when she matures.
“It is more about mentally than physically because she is a brute of a horse. Orbis has had a great spring with the likes of Doubtland (and North Pacific).”
Pike has enjoyed a successful stint riding in Victoria during the spring, primarily for leading Western Australian owner Bob Peters, but he also linked with the father and son Hawkes training team including guiding Ole Kirk (Written Tycoon) to victory in the Caulfield Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m).
“‘He’s been a great asset to us this spring,” Hawkes said.
“We knew we were coming in with some very good horses and when Dwayne Dunn was injured in the barriers, it was like losing your centre half-forward but Willie happened to be Johnny on the spot and thanks so much to Willie for his efforts.”
The homebred Written Beauty (3 f Written Tycoon – Beauty World by Danehill Dancer), who started her racing career in Queensland with Gold Coast trainers Bryan and Daniel Guy where she won her maiden in June by six lengths, took her record to five starts for four victories. She has earned $247,900.
She resumed in early October at Canterbury with a restricted race victory when leading before again impressiving at Moonee Valley nearly three weeks later when Pike settled her in behind the speed.
Yesterday’s Group 3 win dramatically enhances her value as a broodmare and she is sure to be highly sought after if she is offered to the market by Orbis.
Beauty World was bought at the 2012 Inglis Easter Broodmare Sale for $50,000 for Western Australian breeders Oakland Park Stud. The dam of nine winners, Beauty World has produced Written Beauty, Group 3 winner Lite’n In My Veins (Henrythenavigator), Hi World (High Chaparral), Listed winner Loveyamadly (Bel Esprit), herself the dam of this season’s H D F McNeil Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) winner Immortal Love (Snitzel), as well as Ducimus (Snitzel).
The stakes-winning sire Ducimus was raced by Orbis Bloodstock who went on to secure Written Beauty’s dam Beauty World privately in a deal brokered by Belmont Bloodstock’s Damon Gabbedy and Justin Bahen.
She has a yearling half-sister by I Am Invincible who has already been named Ravisher but was not covered in 2019. She was served by Deep Field (Northern Meteor) on September 7 this year.
By Arrowfield Stud’s Written Tycoon (Iglesia), who stands in the Hunter Valley in conjunction with Woodside Park Stud, Written Beauty is her sire’s 40th individual stakes winner. He has already sired Thousand Guineas winner Odeum, dual Group 1-winning colt Ole Kirk and Group 2-winning sprinter Dirty Work, among others, in a stellar spring for the stallion.
Ottawa just the start for Rich Enuff filly Dosh
Trainer Grahame Begg believes wayward Ottawa Stakes (Gr 3, 1000m) winner Dosh has a bright future and is capable of going some way to living up to her pedigree and also boost the appeal of her young Victorian sire Rich Enuff (Written Tycoon).
Dosh ($5.50 equal fav) appeared almost certain to win the Ottawa Stakes before she veered out late but managed to nose out Nice For What (Shalaa) ($7.50). The Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained Butter Blonde (Choisir) ($8), who is raced by Rosemont Stud, was a length away in third.
Begg had witnessed Dosh’s talent, but also her lack of racecraft previously when he took her to Moonee Valley for a course proper gallop earlier in her preparation.
“She’s shown us very natural ability from the first day we started to do some work with her,” Begg said.
“She’s been very professional the way that she’s done everything. She hasn’t a long time off from the time we broke her in, came back into the stable and through the preparation.
“She only had a couple of weeks off, she’ll go out, she’s done a massive job but she’s a massive ‘doer’ in the stable.”
Dosh’s jockey Jordan Childs said the erratic nature of the filly’s victory underlined her talent.
“She ran out and really shortened stride. I just wanted to keep her balanced and hit the line the best I can,” he said.
“It just goes to show that she’s got a lot there, is still learning, so all things going well she should be in for a good prep next time.
“She’s still immature and spots things and is a typical young horse and doesn’t quite know how to go straight.”
A $155,000 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale graduate purchased by Begg from the Glenlogan Park draft, Dosh is the second winner form as many foals to race out of the Brisbane two-year-old winner Raise Up (Shovhog), herself a half-sister to the stakes-placed Raise A King (Unbridled’s Song).
Her third dam is Game Dame (Bold Aussie), who is in turn the mother of dual Group 2-winning mare Bold Promise (Luskin Star). Golden Slipper Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Merlene (Danehill) is out of Bold Promise, while it is also the same family as VRC Oaks (Gr 1, 2500m) winner Dear Demi (Dehere).
“She’s out of a great family (that) goes back to Bold Promise, Dear Demi and Capitalist, they’re all the same family, and Merlene, it’s a great fillies family,” Begg said.
“I’m sure that she’s going to be a very valuable filly in the future.”
Dosh, the second stakes winner for Woodside Park Stud-based stallion Rich Enuff (Written Tycoon), has a sister who was born on September 21 this year.
Rich Enuff, who is also the sire of the Glenlogan Park-raced Listed-winning two-year-old filly Plutocrat, stands for a fee of $8,800 (inc GST).