Reality rules
The last two New Zealand stakes, the Ryder Stakes (Listed, 1200m), run on Saturday, July 29 and the Winter Cup (Gr 3, 1600m), run last Saturday, have one thing in common. The sires of both winners will not be available this spring.
It’s a trend we hope does not last, but that’s one of the oddities of breeding, no one really knows what’s ahead.
Studmasters can only react to bookings and in the case of triple Group 1-winner Charm Spirit (Invincible Spirit), sire of Ryder Stakes winner Itza Charmdeel, he attracted 57 mares in his 2020 and last southern hemisphere season (compared to an average of 94 in his first five seasons). The writing was on the wall.
Charm Spirit’s stats are mixed. From 571 runners he has sired 353 winners (61%), a more than respectable strike rate. However, his 18 stakes winners/runners ratio is 3.15%, hence his export to France where he stands for a moderate €5,000 (approx. NZ$9,000).
That fee may increase next year as the stallion has recently been represented by his first Group 1 winner, Shaquille, brilliant winner of the Commonwealth Cup (Gr 1, 6f) at Royal Ascot. He followed that up with a super win in the July Cup (Gr 1, 6f). In both races he was slow away. At Royal Ascot, he almost dislodged his rider and was a long last early.
A similar tale applies to Belardo (Lope De Vega), who sired his first Group 1 winner in March; Santa Anita’s Frank E Kilroy Mile (Gr 1, 8f) winner Golden Phoenix who flew the last furlong in a top–class performance.
That was not sufficient to warrant bringing Belardo back to New Zealand for a seventh season. His stats read: 325 runners, 178 winners (54%) and nine stakes winners (2.77%), including Saturday’s Belardo Boy in the Winter Cup. Belardo’s Verona was also an impressive four-lengths winner at Rosehill on Saturday.
He averaged 97 mares in his first five seasons in New Zealand, but in 2022 that number fell to just 13. What would you do if you were the studmaster?
Looking back
The story of the season recently ended could be the outstanding run of success enjoyed by Kiwi-bred three-year-olds in Australia. Significantly, four claimed Group 1s in both countries, proving that New Zealand form holds up well against that age group in Australia.
However, in the writer’s opinion, I Wish I Win (Savabeel) deserves the title. That wonky leg as a foal – and his overcoming such a deformity to be rated among the finest sprinters in the world – is a remarkable story.
He managed two wins in nine starts in New Zealand, including Group 1 placings at two and three, the latter a third behind the outstanding filly, Imperatriz (I Am Invincible). After his transfer to the stable of Peter Moody he “grew another leg”, so to speak, when bagging the Golden Eagle (1500m), powering to the front at the 200 metres, holding on and kicking again just shy of the line.
The then four-year-old was to remain in the headlines for several days afterwards, but not for his Golden Eagle performance. Instead, the story was that the charity named by co-owner Mark Chittick prior to the race, turned down the chance to have AU$520,000 of the prize-money donated to them.
As if that wasn’t enough, regular rider, Luke Nolen made a brash statement to Moody. “Luke got off and said I’ve only ridden one that quickens better, you can guess which one that was,” said Moody. Nolen was referring to Black Caviar (Bel Esprit).
Nolen was not wrong. I Wish I Win marched away with the TJ Smith Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) at The Championships in great style, flying down the outer from last at the 600 metre mark. A strong win against a super field.
Under Moody’s guidance, I Wish I Win has added four wins and two Group One placings in seven starts. His bank balance stands at AU$7.75 million and is an inspiration to horse breeders everywhere.
Looking forward
Spring is just around the corner and the new season has the potential to be highly memorable. Last season, we were fortunate to witness two three-year-olds taking on and beating the older horses at weight-for-age.
Honours were shared between Sharp ‘N’ Smart (Redwood) and Prowess (Proisir), the former landing New Zealand’s richest weight-for-age race, the Herbie Dyke Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m). The son of Redwood (High Chaparral) had the class to win the New Zealand Derby (Gr 1, 2400m) prior to the Herbie Dyke. He had also succeeded against his own age group last spring when scoring the Spring Champion Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) and was ambushed late when running second in the Victoria Derby (Gr 1, 2500m). He is tenacious and knows exactly where the finishing line is. Trainer Graeme Rogerson is expecting big things this season and so are we.
Prowess has co-trainer, Roger James, almost lost for words, suggesting that his charge “does things that others don’t do.”
The filly’s determination when winning the weight-for-age New Zealand Stakes (Gr 1, 2050m) was the feature of that race, but prior to that she announced her class when beating the best New Zealand field of the year in the Karaka Million 3YO Classic (Listed, 1600m).
Taken to Sydney she easily accounted for best three-year-old fillies in Australia, bolting clear in the Vinery Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m), taking her record to seven wins in nine starts.
Legarto (Proisir) shares her sire with Prowess and shares a similar race record, with six wins in seven starts. Ken Kelso, her trainer, made the same comment about her as Roger James did of Prowess, that she does things others don’t do.
The New Zealand One Thousand Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) winner’s only defeat was in the Karaka Million 3YO Classic in which she never saw daylight until the 200 metres. How she ran fourth is a wonder.
How she won the Australian Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) is also a wonder. From an impossible position she was twice denied a run, then threaded between runners before flashing home in a super win. Get your tickets early to watch Prowess and Legarto clash.
Last but not least is Pennyweka (Satono Aladdin), the star staying three-year-old whose wins in the New Zealand Oaks (Gr 1, 2400) and Australian Oaks (Gr 1, 2400) were wholly dominant.
Trainer Jim Wallace was not intending to head to Sydney and only did so when her track rider said that the filly was hardly affected by the first Oaks win. Pennyweka was far too good at Randwick and we are all awaiting her return.
However, don’t expect her to line up in the Caulfield Cup (Gr 1, 2400m). Wallace is old–school and knows that the jump from same-sex three-year-old racing to open handicaps at four is a huge one. We will have to wait until the following season.
Australia the beacon
Martin Stevens of the Racing Post puts together his Good Morning Bloodstock blog five days a week. It is always a great read encompassing a variety of bloodstock subjects and well worthwhile subscribing to. An interesting development he uncovered while swanning around Germany recently, involves Australia and may be interesting to southern hemisphere readers
A group known as Liberty Racing, established three years ago by Lars-Wilhelm Baumgarten in conjunction with his wife, Nadine Siepmann, came up with a new twist (well, new to German breeding and racing) re thoroughbred syndicating.
Baumgarten is already a force in Germany and purchased champion sire Adlerflug (In The Wings) as a retired racehorse and managed his stud career. Baumgarten’s standing within the German bloodstock industry caused him to realise that new blood was needed: That to attract new blood needed something innovative.
Baumgarten explained to Stevens that the German Racing Board (Baumgarten is a member) meets regularly and a common topic is the desperate need for new owners. “The industry here is not in a good situation. We have a lot of wealthy but aging breeders and our population of horses in training and mares is on the way down.” He could be describing New Zealand.
“So finally I said I’d do my bit to try to bring in owners with a new syndicate. They’re quite unusual in Germany, especially when done at a professional level,” said Baumgarten.
“What I wanted to do was to buy horses from the great old German staying families – Allegretta, Wurftaube and so on – and by proven sires like Adlerflug, Australia, Camelot, Sea The Moon and Soldier Hollow – to aim at the big races, so that we could dream of winning the Derby. We aren’t worried about two-year-olds or sprinters. That was our vision when we started. I didn’t know whether it would succeed, but at least I could say I’d tried.”
The syndicates formed so far comprise 60% new owners and 40% existing owners, thus going a long way towards Baumgarten’s hopes of expanding overall interest.
With just their second syndicate, they struck gold when Fantastic Moon (Sea The Moon) put up a fantastic near-last to first win in last month’s Deutsches Derby (Gr 1, 2400m).
“Fantastic Moon’s victory was amazing – I’d dreamt of it ever since I was 14 and I attended the Derby at Hamburg with my parents for the first time,” said Baumgarten.
Liberty Racing’s first syndicate numbered 12 shareholders. Year two, the number jumped to 22 and by the third year, 30 members were involved. The recent success by Fantastic Moon has seen that number explode to more than 80 covering the four syndicates.
For 2023, Liberty Racing has put together three syndicates. One has been named Liberty Racing 2023 Australia, with up to half of the syndicate Australians. The long–range goal is Australia’s feature staying races; the Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) is an obvious target.
Don’t be surprised if Fantastic Moon shows up in Victoria either later this year or next. The three-year-old has been beaten twice once in six starts and in his first run against the older horses at weight-for age.was a solid runner-up in last week’s Grosser Dallmayr–Preis (Gr 1, 2000m), behind all-the-way winner, Nation’s Pride (Teofilo).
Purchased by Liberty Racing for €49,000 as a yearling, he has banked €546,000 (approx. NZ$965,000). In the meantime, he is being set for the Irish Champion Stakes (Gr 1, 10f).
“Just last week we received a big offer for Fantastic Moon, so we phoned the shareholders and told them there was the possibility of selling,” Baumgarten said, “but the decision was to keep him, so I returned to the agent and turned them down. It’s all done completely openly. We discuss everything and decisions are made democratically unless there is a split, in which case I have the casting vote.”
German-bred stayer Torquator Tasso (Adlerflug) won the 2021 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Gr 1, 2400m) and ran third in the same race in 2022. The 2014 and 2016 Melbourne Cups fell to German-breds Protectionist (Monsun) and Almandin (Monsun) respectively.
Australia is indeed the beacon of horse racing. Liberty Racing’s syndicate, specifically aimed south, is proof.