Sebring Adds To His Record With Group One Double
In Adelaide on Saturday his three-year-old daughter Egg Tart staged a dramatic late charge to capture the Australasian Oaks (Gr 1, 2010m) to become Sebring’s 29th stakes winner and third Group One winner after Criterion and Dissident, both now standing at Newgate Farm in NSW.
On the following day in Hong Kong Sebring’s five-year-old gelding Lucky Bubbles provided the sire with a fourth Group One winner when he finished powerfully to take out the Chairman’s Sprint Prize (Gr 1, 1200m). A world class sprinter, Lucky Bubbles had been narrowly defeated in this race 12 months earlier when Chautauqua (Encosta De Lago) came with a whirlwind finish to head him on the line.
Details of the breeding background and racing record of Lucky Bubbles will be found in the accompanying catalogue pedigree so here we will concentrate on Egg Tart who is now likely to next contest the Queensland Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m) at the Brisbane Winter Carnival.
There was much merit in Egg Tart’s victory last Saturday as she not only came from a seemingly hopeless position to win but also defeated a quality filly, Kenedna (Not A Single Doubt), into second place by a head with third placed Ana Royale (Anacheeva) a further half length back. Time for the 2010 metre journey was 2:04.32.
Egg Tart was bred in Queensland by Mrs Julie Brown who, with husband Tony, conducts Jorson Farm at Wondai, also home to a piggery operation.
The fourth foal of her unraced dam Mrs Windsor (King’s Best), Egg Tart was a late foal (born 22 November, 2013) which may in part explain why this smallish but well related filly made only $40,000 when purchased by Anton Koolman Bloodstock / Hermitage Thoroughbreds at the 2015 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.
Julie and Tony Brown bought Egg Tart’s dam carrying the Australasian Oaks winner for just $21,000 at the 2013 Inglis Australian Easter Broodmare Sale when consigned by Corumbene Stud, also breeder of Sebring.
Mrs Windsor has a 2015 colt by Shamus Award (Snitzel), was served without success by the Browns’ own stallion Able Kane (Rory’s Jester) in 2015 and appears not to have been covered in 2016.
Egg Tart’s Oaks win last Saturday, her first at stakes level, was her fifth in succession following victories at Canterbury (1550m), Newcastle (1300m), Warwick Farm (1400m) and Flemington (1600m). She has clearly inherited some of the class and stamina possessed by her second dam, New Zealand-bred Born To Be Queen (In The Purple), a very strong stayer whose most important win came in the 1986 Metropolitan Handicap (Gr 1, 2600m) beating Indian Raj (Century) and Rising Fear (Unaware) on a bog track.
Born To Be Queen won two other stakes races and further showed her class when second to Tristram’s Belle (Sir Tristram) in the 1985 VRC Oaks (Gr 1, 2500m) after five days earlier placing third to Handy Proverb (Twig Moss) in the Victoria Derby (Gr 1, 2500m).
Unlike some other good staying mares, Born To Be Queen became a very good producer at stud, her seven winners headed by Metropolitan Handicap winner Heart Ruler (Marscay) and dual Group One winner Coronation Day (Bletchingly), an outstanding three-year-old who disappointed at stud in Australia before export to Korea.
Egg Tart within five generations carries three crosses of Mr Prospector (Raise A Native) and more remotely three lines of Northern Dancer (Nearctic).
Returning to Egg Tart’s sire Sebring, this dual Group One-winning champion two-year-old is proving a very important sire in Australia due to his versatility in terms of the distance capabilities of his stock.
Equinome Speed Tests have given Sebring a fairly rare C:T rating which suggests, mated to the right mares, a stallion which can get sprinters, middle distance performers and perhaps even the odd stayer. Racing records to date of Sebring’s best runners support this, something of a surprise to some breeders given Sebring’s early brilliance as a Breeders’ Plate (Listed, 1100m) and Golden Slipper Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner.
Certainly Sebring’s pedigree looks to be that of a sprinter and none of his five wins was beyond 1400 metres (when he won the AJC Sires Produce Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m)) but it should be remembered he was only narrowly beaten in the AJC Champagne Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m), the longest race he attempted. Given his size, scope and strength, Sebring may well have stayed at least 2000 metres had he raced on at three years and not been retired early due to injury.