Royal Symphony Stakes Claim For Spring Stardom
The Tony McEvoy-trained two-year-old, now unbeaten in three starts, looks set for more important wins next season with the Caulfield Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) a major target.
Saturday’s race, registered as the Gibson Carmichael Stakes, has in the past unearthed some high quality horses.The manner of Royal Symphony’s victory was impressive as he was well back early after a slow start, dashed to the lead 200 metres out then drew clear under his top weight of 59 kilograms to win by four and three-quarter lengths from the filly Anchor Bid (High Chaparral) with Evil Cry (Street Cry) another three-quarters of a length away in third place. On a good track race time was 1:35.58.
Royal Symphony was bred in Victoria by Wingrove Park Pty Ltd, was not offered at the sales and is raced by a syndicate of owners.
Unusually, he is the 16th and last foal of his non-winning dam Naturalist (Palace Music), produced when the mare was 22 years old, but he must now rank as the best of her eight winners, an honour previously held by stakes placed Hoodlum (Zeditave).
Naturalist’s name was clearly inspired by her close relationship with Naturalism (Palace Music), a near champion whose 12 wins from 1200 metres to 2400 metres included the Australian Derby (Gr 1, 2400m), Rosehill Guineas (Gr 1, 2000m) and Caulfield Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m). Also second in six Group One events, one in the Japan Cup (2400m), Naturalism earned more than $3,300,000 on the track but later had limited success as a sire.
Not only sharing the same sire, Naturalist and Naturalism are also closely linked through their respective, stakes winning dams, Tessuti (Sackford) and Zephyr Souba (Zephyr Bay) who are half-sisters. Zephyr Souba was an exceptional producer as among her other foals are Queensland Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m) winner Crystal Palace (Palace Music), dam of multiple stakes winner Palacio de Cristal (Encosta de Lago), and Impressionism (Vice Regal), winner of black type races in Singapore and Malaysia.
Royal Symphony’s third dam Souba (Taine) was imported to New Zealand in the 1970s after racing in France where she failed to win but had sufficient ability to finish fourth in the Prix Penelope (Gr 3, 2100m). By a French sire, she was out of the non-winner Serge de Nimes (Arctic Prince) whose American dam Blue Denim (Blue Larkspur) is renowned as a blue hen producer, leaving six stakes winners, most notable of them the sire Blue Prince (Princequillo), although her most enduring contribution to breeding and racing came via two of her daughters, Ampola (Pavot) and Lighter (Coastal Traffic).
Ampola established her own famous family in France, among its members champion two-year-old and champion sire Grey Dawn (Herbager), the only horse to defeat Sea Bird, his dam Polamia (Mahmoud), Sly Pola (Spy Song), Takawalk (Native Dancer), Right Away (Right Royal), Mia Pola (Relko) and a host of other major winners.
The emergence of Royal Symphony is a significant boost to the stud career of his sire Domesday (Red Ransom), providing him with his 16th black type winner, after recently being represented by the decisive 2017 Queensland Derby (Gr 1, 2400m) winner Ruthven (Domesday), set to do his future racing in Hong Kong.
Domesday is to stand the 2017 stud season at Aquis Farm in Queensland at the attractive fee of $8,800 (inc GST).
Earlier Group One winners Pressday (Domesday) and Doctor Doom (Domesday) gave the well bred Roberto-line sire a successful profile but he seemed to drift out of fashion in the last few years after first entering stud in NSW in 2006 before moving to Darley’s farm in Victoria.
Raced by the Ingham brothers under the Woodlands Stud banner, Domesday had a brief track career but was among the leading two-year-olds in Australia in the 2004/05 season, taking the Silver Slipper Stakes (Gr 2, 1100m) and finishing second in the Todman Slipper Trial Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m).
Domesday’s sire Red Ransom (Roberto) has 110 stakes winners around the world while his imported dam In The Past (Zafonic) is a three-quarter sister to Group One winner and sire Xaar (Zafonic) and comes from Monroe’s (Sir Ivor) branch of the sire producing Best in Show family of which Redoute’s Choice (Danehill) is the most prominent member.
Royal Symphony is linebred to dual Derby winner The Minstrel (Northern Dancer), a three-quarter brother to champion Nijinsky (Northern Dancer), and to Hail To Reason (Turn-To) with a third line of Northern Dancer (Nearctic) coming through Storm Bird (Northern Dancer) whose dam South Ocean (New Providence) also has genetic links with The Minstrel’s dam Fleur (Victoria Park).