Red Aces
Nick Ryan appears to have been rewarded for his bold outlay in buying Red Aces (Dundeel) – an early fancy for the VRC Derby (Gr 1, 2500m) – and he may have rival trainer Anthony Freedman to thank.
Ryan set a personal high in going to $380,000 to secure the colt at the Inglis Premier Yearling Sale last year. That judgement appeared vindicated on Saturday when Red Aces followed a debut third in a 1300-metre maiden at Seymour by rising sharply in class and trip to take Saturday’s annual two-year-old distance test, the Byerley Handicap (1800m) at Flemington.
In so doing he secured entry to, and shortened into $11 for, the $2 million Derby on November 2.
And while Ryan is understandably excited about a colt who could become his first Group 1 winner, the slight irony is Red Aces might not exist but for the trainer’s Flemington neighbour Freedman.
The thread leading to his conception began when Freedman paid $135,000 at Karaka 2017 for a colt by Declaration of War (War Front) out of Cardiac (Encosta De Lago).
Long-term associate David Kobritz of Musk Creed Farm – a part-owner of the Freedman brothers’ 1992 Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) winner Subzero (Kala Dancer) – and partner Teresa Poon, bought a share.
Named Decarationofheart, the colt showed ability from the get go, winning at Geelong on debut in January 2018, and – after a spell – in his second start at Sandown that August.
In a career limited to 11 starts, Declarationofheart would also win Morphettville’s Chairman’s Stakes (Gr 3, 2032m) the following year, as an odds-on pop in a 15-horse field, and ridden by Clayton Douglas before he switched to training and met his Everest (1200m) winner Giga Kick (Scissor Kick).
Declarationofheart had also run a narrow second in Moonee Valley’s Alister Clark Stakes (Gr 2, 2040m), and wasn’t disgraced when sixth in Mystic Journey’s (Needs Further) Australian Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m).
But before he’d even raced, Freedman had urged Kobritz and Poon that the gelding’s dam Cardiac would make a useful addition to the boutique broodmare band at their Mornington Peninsula stud.
“Anthony said to David, ‘You need to locate this mare’,” Musk Creek’s manager Scott Williamson told It’s In The Blood.
“The drums had been beating since before he raced, when he won a trial pretty nicely. He debuted in a small, select race at Geelong, where a few trainers thought they had nice two-year-olds, and he won comfortably.”
Bred by James Chapman at the Waikato’s Jamieson Park, Cardiac had sold for $200,000 at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale of 2012. Trained by another Mornington peninsula figure in Jason Warren, she hit no highs on the track, winning at Echuca and Ballarat from nine starts. But she was from a rich family – which was about to become richer.
Cardiac was a half-sister – out of stakes-placed French mare Happy Heart (Exit To Nowhere) – to Arapaho Miss (Danehill Dancer), winner of the 2007 VRC Oaks (Gr 1, 2500m).
Kobritz put Boomer Bloodstock’s Craig Rounsefell onto the case to bring him Cardiac. He tracked her down in New Zealand, and brokered a private sale to Kobritz around the same time Declarationofheart was taking his first racetrack steps.
Cardiac crossed the Tasman in-foal to New Zealand-based sire Reliable Man (Dalakhani), and bore Musk Creek a colt in September, 2018. Bought at the Inglis Premier sale by trainer Danny O’Brien for $200,000, Man Of Heart is now in his second stable and has won three in the bush from 27 starts.
However, another O’Brien purchase would soon provide a major piece of vindication for Kobritz’s purchase of Cardiac. In 2019, a filly out of Arapaho Miss – bought by O’Brien at Karaka for NZ$120,000 and named Miami Bound (Reliable Man) – would emulate her dam by winning the VRC Oaks, a triumph that would sit beside her two Group 2 victories.
Arapaho Miss had also thrown useful Listed-winning stayer De Little Engine (Encosta De Lago), whom O’Brien also trained to win eight races including the Andrew Ramsden Stakes (Listed, 3200m) of 2017.
With ample staying ability in Cardiac’s family, the Musk Creek team decided to send her to Dundeel (High Chaparral) in 2019.
The first go worked unspectacularly, with a filly bought by Kevin Corstens at Premier for $150,000 turning out to be Affairoftheheart (Dundeel). She’s yet to place in seven starts (but has at least kept the heart theme beating by being transferred to Tasmanian trainer Angela Brakey).
Convinced the mating should work, Musk Creek tried again with Dundeel, and this time Cardiac bore them a colt: Red Aces.
These siblings would seem to fit a pattern for Dundeel.
His ever-growing renown – after a season that’s brought him another outstanding dual Group 1 winner in Celestial Legend, and another top-tier win from Militarize – means he’ll stand his 11th season at Arrowfield this year at a slightly increased $88,000 (inc GST), up from $82,500 (inc GST) last year.
Dundeel broke into the top ten on the general sires’ table with a sixth-placed finish last season, and sits seventh for the current term.
But the rising 15-year-old’s gender split remains rather stark. His males have won 23 stakes races to just seven for his females, and his eight Group 1 victors have all been boys. Hope In Your Heart – springing coincidentally from a completely different ventricle to our previous cardio cluster – is Dundeel’s best-performed female, with a second and two fourths at the top level.
For winners-to-runners, Dundeel’s males number 217 from 328 at 66.16 per cent, his females 147 from 247 at 59.76 per cent.
And it was a strapping Dundeel colt who presented at Premier last year, franking Musk Creek’s choice of stallion and spurring Ryan to go further than he’d been for a yearling before.
“He’s from a nice, middle distance and staying sort of family, and being by Dundeel, he’s bred to be that sort of horse,” Williamson said.
“We’d always been big fans of Dundeel, and have been supporting him every year and on type, Cardiac was the right mare to send to him. She was a big mare, who threw a strong type, and put a lot of substance into her foals. Dundeel is on the slightly smaller side, so we thought he’d complement her well.
“If you’ve got a mare with a bit more size, who might need some more athleticism thrown into her offspring, and maybe fine them up a bit, Dundeel makes them more attractive and athletic.
“We’ve noticed they can be a little bit fiery at times, but they seem to love the work. You give them that education and that grounding, and once they settle into a routine they’re really good.”
Red Aces fitted that mould – as it seems he still does.
“He was a lovely horse from day one, a really nice shape and build; not too small, not too big, and very athletic,” Williamson said.
“He was always a good doing horse. You never had to worry about him condition wise, and it was good to hear Nick say that about him after his win on Saturday, since he’s still that way.
“He always handled his work well, and was a very professional sort of horse. It’s exciting to see what he’s doing now, because you’d think as a three-year-old he’ll only improve.”
While type was the first barometer of this mating, pedigree-wise there were several nicks and crosses to back it up.
Red Aces has what all Dundeel-over-Encostas have – the ultra successful 3m x 3m combination of Northern Dancer-Fairy Bridge full brothers Sadler’s Wells, sire of Dundeel’s sire High Chaparral, and Fairy King, father of Cardiac’s sire Encosta De Lago.
This of course brings a duplication of the great mare Special (Forli), Fairy Bridge’s dam. Special then makes a third (male) appearance in Red Aces’ pedigree (5f, 6m x 5f) since she’s also close up in the female side of Dundeel’s damsire, Zabeel, through her son Nureyev (Northern Dancer).
The influential Almahmoud (Mahmoud) appears seven times in the first nine columns. Eight come through the blue hen no pedigree can have too much of – Natalma (Native Dancer) – while one comes via another daughter in Cosmah (Cosmic Bomb), dam of Halo (Hail To Reason) in Cardiac’s half.
Sadly, Cardiac was lost while foaling in 2022, along with her foal by Farnan (Not A Single Doubt). But her legacy looks set to be continued by her last and highest-priced offspring, Red Aces, as he also seeks to build the reputation of the boutique farm that produced him.
“It’s pretty hard for small farms at the moment,” says Williamson, who manages around 20 mares, an optimum number to avoid over-taxing the land on the 140-acre Musk Creek.
“So it’s really nice to see what Red Aces is doing. We do put a lot of thought and time into our matings, so it was very exciting and rewarding to see him win last weekend. Hopefully he’s got a big future.”