See You In Heaven defends her Behemoth title
Adelaide mare See You In Heaven (Divine Prophet) may be one of only two stakes winners for her now New Zealand-based sire, but she’s certainly prolific at it.
The Richard and Chantelle Jolly-trained five-year-old claimed her sixth win from 16 starts – in taking her second straight Behemoth Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) at Morphettville on Saturday.
Jumping from gate ten of 12 under Jake Toeroek, See You In Heaven found a sweet spot in running one off the fence in midfield, was brought four wide around the bend and stormed home powerfully to streak away to score by 1.6 lengths for her fifth Group win.
The impressive success – first-up after a ten-month break – will have been cheered not only by punters who backed the mare strongly into $3.30 favouritism, but also by New Zealand’s Highview Stud. Divine Prophet (Choisir) will stand his second season there this spring, at $9,000 (plus GST), having been relocated from Queensland’s Aquis Stud last year.
Bred by Aquis and G1 Racing and Breeding, See You In Heaven was a $90,000 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale buy for her trainers from the draft of Alexia Fraser Bloodstock.
She now has five Group wins earned over four seasons, starting with Flemington’s Ottawa Stakes (Gr 3, 1000m) on debut at two, and headed by the MRC Sandown Guineas (Gr 2, 1600m) a year later.
The mare is now likely to start in the Leon MacDonald Stakes (Listed, 1400m) at Morphettville on August 24, before a possible tilt at Group 1 glory in the mares’ Empire Rose Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) during the Melbourne Cup Carnival.
“I’d really want to go to the Leon MacDonald in two weeks. It’s in our backyard and then she’s got two runs at home under her belt,” Richard Jolly said.
“Then we’ll look to the spring – there’s a lot of races to choose from. In Melbourne we can stick to the mare’s races. The Empire Rose Stakes on Derby Day would probably be the aim, I would say.”
Jolly said he was greatly encouraged by the style of See You In Heaven’s victory, after having only one lead-up barrier trial at Morphettville on August 1, in which she ran second.
“It was great to see her win like that; I really thought she was underdone,” he said.
“To see her do that, when my thinking is that she was nowhere near ready, is really exciting.
“She never trials brilliantly, and she’s a bit of a dud worker really, but she did work quite well for her on Tuesday.
“And once I saw her playing up in the mounting yard, on two feet, I thought, ‘she’s really switched on’.”
Listed-winning gelding My Khalifa (Pride Of Dubai) earned his first Group placing by taking second, while South Australian Derby (Gr 1, 2500m) third placegetter Air Assault (Justify) impressed with third place over the unsuitable 1200 metres in his first run for the preparation.
See You In Heaven (5 m Divine Prophet – Shine on Anna by Anabaa) is the seventh foal and best performer of dual Melbourne city winner Shine On Anna (Anabaa), whose stock also include metro winners Annaman (Mossman) and Alaskan Sun (Hinchinbrook).
Shine On Anna’s latest foal, a colt by Toronado (High Chaparral), fetched $120,000 at Inglis Easter this year, sold by Longwood Thoroughbred Farm to Dream Thoroughbreds, Bluegrass Bloodstock and Anthony Freedman.
After not being served in 2022, she was covered by So You Think (High Chaparral) last November.
Divine Prophet now has 125 winners from 251 runners, with his pair of stakes winners also including Group 2 victor Promitto.