Seabrook triumphs in the ATC Champagne Stakes
In the first leg, the Golden Slipper Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m), fillies filled all three placings while in the second leg, the ATC Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m), the first two home were fillies with the winner, El Dorado Dreaming (Ilovethiscity), finishing third to Seabrook in the Champagne.
Well ridden by Damien Oliver from a wide barrier, Seabrook came from well back before making her winning run in the straight to defeat the colt Bondi (Snitzel) by a half-length with the strong finishing El Dorado Dreaming another three quarters of a length away in third place in race record time of 1:34.47.
Trained in Melbourne by Mick Price, Seabrook made her Sydney debut with victory in the Sweet Embrace Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) then came from the rear to finish fifth in the Golden Slipper but she failed in the Sires’ Produce when ninth, never recovering after blundering at the start.
As with many major winners, there is a rags-to-riches tale behind the breeding of Seabrook whose dam Midnight Revels (Don Eduardo) was sold for just $300 at the Inglis Scone Thoroughbred Sale in 2014, just months before conceiving the Champagne Stakes winner.
Prominent breeder Stuart Ramsey’s Ramsey Pastoral Co. Pty. Ltd bred the unraced Midnight Revels in 2008, retaining her as a broodmare to go to his own stallion Zizou (Fusaichi Pegasus) in her first season.That mating produced the placegetter Loveable Rogue and a return mating with the stallion resulted in another placegetter, Tennessee Icestorm.
In her third season Midnight Revels was upgraded to go to Commands (Danehill) but missed then in her fourth season she slipped to Excites (Danewin) after which Stuart Ramsey decided to cull her, selling the mare at the Scone auction where she was bought cheaply by Scone veterinarian Dr. Richard McClenahan. He got her in foal to Hinchinbrook (Fastnet Rock) before listing her for sale on the Randwick Bloodstock website and she was subsequently sold to New Zealander Warwick Jeffries and sent across the Tasman.
Midnight Revels’ subsequent filly, now known as Seabrook, was sent to Australia to be prepared for sale by Maluka Thoroughbreds to be offered at the 2017 Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale, changing hands for $85,000 to the bid of Blueblood Thoroughbreds which formed a large syndicate to race the filly.
Since her arrival in New Zealand, Midnight Revels has produced colts by Proisir (Choisir) in 2016 and 2017.
Yarraman Park Stud stallion Hinchinbrook, a Group Three-winning half-brother to champion sire Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice), now has two Group One winners to his credit, Seabrook and Vinery Stud’s young stallion Press Statement, a member of Hinchinbrook’s first crop born in 2012.
Press Statement’s juvenile performances helped Hinchinbrook to become Australia’s leading first season sire of 2014-15 but since then he has supplied a constant flow of black type winners, among them Whispering Brook, Derryn, Diamond Tathagata, Salsonic, Samara Dancer, Spright, Flippant, Manaya and The Virginian, reasons why Hinchinbrook’s yearlings have averaged $134,149 at major sales in 2018.
Speed certainly dominates the top half of Seabrook’s pedigree but having AJC Australian Derby (Gr 1, 2400m) winner, the royally-related Don Eduardo (Zabeel), as her maternal grandsire gives some encouragement that Seabrook will stay beyond 1600 metres in the spring even though her second dam Midnight Rock (Rory’s Jester) brings a further injection of speed into her breeding background.
Seabrook’s mother Midnight Revels is a half-sister to Group Two winner My Emotion (Savabeel) who, like her, also carries the blood of Zabeel (Sir Tristram).
Midnight Rock, Seabrook’s second dam, failed to place in her racing career but her half-sister Aloha (Encosta De Lago) was an outstanding performer, winning eight races, her highlight victory coming in the 2011 Coolmore Classic (registered as TAD Kennedy Stakes) (Gr 1, 1500m).
Seabrook’s third dam Tennessee Midnight (Danehill), a half-sister to dual Group One winner Malaguerra (Magnus), was a brilliant, stakes-winning early two-year-old star in Melbourne as was her dam Tennessee Morn (Bletchingly).
Carrying a 3m x 4f double of Danehill (Danzig), Seabrook has no fewer than seven lines of Northern Dancer (Nearctic), two of Sir Tristram (Sir Ivor) and a notable nine crosses of Northern Dancer’s dam Natalma (Native Dancer).