‘She’s been the real deal from the get-go’
Super Smink chasing sentimental win for connections in Saturday’s Northerly Stakes
Given that his father Neville bred and raced the late champion Northerly (Serheed), there was only one Group 1 Ben Duncan wanted to win when he decided to follow in his old man’s footsteps.
Saturday’s Northerly Stakes (Gr 1, 1800m) therefore shapes as a potentially momentous occasion for Duncan and his wife Jo, who combine their part-time breeding interests at Forest View Farm in Western Australia with their full-time business of running Australia’s largest equine fence supply company.
But any fencing inquiries will be put on hold on Saturday afternoon when the Duncan family sit down on the farm to watch Forest View graduate Super Smink (Super One) line up in the feature race at Ascot, where she bids to build on an electric effort on her first outing in Group 1 company two weeks earlier.
Having drawn barrier 15 in the Railway Stakes (Gr. 1, 1600m), Chris Parnham had no option but to take Super Smink back and ride the mare for luck; but to launch from last place at the 400-metre mark and finish just 0.9 lengths behind the winner Port Lockroy (Better Than Ready) was nothing short of audacious.
“I was there for the entire Northerly journey, so the race named after him is the one I’d love to win,” said Duncan, who cites Northerly’s defeat of Sunline (Desert Sun) in the 2001 Feehan Stakes (Gr 2, 1600m) as his personal highlight from the career of the ‘Fighting Tiger’.
I was there for the entire Northerly journey, so the race named after him is the one I’d love to win
“I’ve got some amazing memories of Northerly, so to have bred a runner competing in this race 20 years after he retired is pretty special. It’s going to be a very exciting moment for all the family on Saturday, it would mean a lot to us all. Super Smink ran so well in her first Group 1 in the Railway, so hopefully she can do us proud again and we’ll certainly be keeping everything crossed.”
Given her closing sectionals that day, the extra 200 metres of Saturday’s $1.5 million contest should hold no fears for Super Smink according to her trainer Dan Morton, who first shot to prominence through the exploits of globetrotting sprinting sensation Scenic Blast (Scenic).
Super Smink, who blazed a trail through her juvenile season with three stakes wins and two minor placings from five starts, should also get a much kinder run in transit from barrier six as she seeks to take Morton’s tally of elite–level victories to eight.
“She’d drawn out wide in three of her last four races, including barrier 15 in the Railway, so we’ve been hanging out for a good gate for her,” Morton told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“The Northerly has been her target race this prep, so we’ve been slowly getting her out in distance. After the way she finished off in the Railway, you would think that the 1800-metre trip won’t be a concern.
“She’s now a lovely mature mare who relaxes well and she’s had a seamless prep so far, so hopefully she can be peaking on the big day because we haven’t won a Group 1 for a few years now. Scenic Blast was a while ago now and our last Group 1 was Elite Street’s Winterbottom win back in 2020, so it would be nice to get another one on the board on Saturday.
“It looks a very open edition to my eye, three-year-olds have got a good record in the race so you’d have to be wary of the favourite [Storyville], who brings some exceptional form into the race. The eastern horses are always tough to beat so it won’t be easy, but our mare’s recent form and her rating would suggest she’s in there with a big chance.”
The eastern horses are always tough to beat so it won’t be easy, but our mare’s recent form and her rating would suggest she’s in there with a big chance
Morton paid $45,000 at the 2022 Magic Millions Perth Yearling Sale for Super Smink, whose dam Sminky Shorts (Snitzel) was – like Northerly – born on the fertile pastures of Oakland Park Stud, the farm operated by Neville Duncan for the past three decades.
Back in 2017, Sminky Shorts had been en route from Jindong (Western Australia) to the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, where she was expected to fetch in the region of $400,000 before suffering an injury on the float.
The filly was subsequently passed onto Duncan Jnr, and after extensive rehabilitation she eventually made it to the track at Bunbury in February 2019 – only for her injury curse to strike again and force a premature end to her racing career after just that solitary start.
Her time in the breeding barn has not been without incident either, as she lost her foal – and almost her life – the year after giving birth to Super Smink.
“Sminky Shorts has got a cracking pedigree but her mum didn’t race due to an injury, so there’s been a history of bad luck with the family,” Duncan told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“But our luck certainly changed when we sent her to Super One, which was on the advice of my dad’s stud manager. Super Smink’s two-year-old career was absolutely exceptional, and we have a nice yearling in the paddock which we’ll be taking to the sales next year, so the dam is definitely stamping herself now and hopefully it’s onwards and upwards from here.”
Super Smink’s early success came as no surprise to Morton, who was taken by the filly at the sales and even more so when he first welcomed her into his Ascot stables.
“I just absolutely loved her,” he said.
“She had a lovely walk and a beautiful temperament about her, which are the attributes I look for. She wasn’t a big filly by any means but she’s so well put together. From her first proper gallop she showed promise and she carried that into her juvenile season.
“She’s the only two-year-old in history to win the Magic Millions WA 2YO Classic, the Karrakatta and the WA Sires. So she’s been the real deal from the get-go, and we’re all just hoping she can add a Group 1 to her CV on Saturday.”
