Stockman from good stock
Having registered his 30th stakes winner on Saturday, namely McKell Cup (Listed, 2000m) winner Stockman, the late Tavistock (Montjeu) still has plenty of ammunition to fire and will likely continue to remind the industry of his great loss in late 2019.
Karaka 2022 will see his last, reduced crop offered and it will be no surprise if they command some serious bidding. The three full crops of 2017, 2018 and 2019 could well see Tavistock pass the 50 stakes winners mark when the dust settles on his shortened career.
His son, Westbury Stud’s Tarzino, notched his first winner at Sandown in Melbourne recently, and having covered 400 plus mares, the Tavistock story could well have further chapters yet to tell.
Stockman, a four-year-old from Tavistock’s sixth crop, is proving a durable runner with six outings since April 25, including racing on three successive Saturdays from May 22.
Honest efforts on each occasion were finally rewarded on Saturday. His rapid improvement from the 600 metres to be right in behind the leader, to then level up inside the 400 metres, laid the foundation to take over and run strongly to the line, fending off two good challenges in the process.
Stockman, purchased for $175,000 out of Karaka Book 1 from Cambridge Stud’s 2018 draft, has recorded five wins and eight placings from 21 starts, returning $311,765. At the time of his sale, his catalog page consisted of just one dam, such was the quality of his dam Crimson (Zabeel).
A very accomplished runner in her own right, Crimson took out the Championship Stakes (Gr 2, 2100m) at Ellerslie as well as the Waikato Guineas (Gr 3, 2000m), two of her five career wins. In a top class three-year-old season she also added two Group 2 placings in the Avondale Guineas (2000m) and the Sir Tristram Fillies Classic (2000m).
At stud, Crimson visited Tavistock in 2011 but missed, returning to him in 2015. Stockman is the last of her 13 foals, which includes seven winners from eight runners.
Her dam, Bourbon Lassie (Mellay) also produced seven winners from 14 foals, while her grandam Bourbon Lass (Bourbon Prince) produced eight winners from 13 foals.
Numbers are one thing but quality counts too and Crimson has now foaled three stakes winners, Bourbon Lassie produced four and Bourbon Lass two.
Sir Patrick and Lady Hogan sent Crimson to Australia on two occasions. Her first trip in 2000, also her first covering, was to Danehill (Danzig) resulting in Celadon, twice a winner at two, including at Flemington.
Danehill’s son Redoute’s Choice was chosen for her second trip and the result was dual Group 2 winner Abidewithme, whose nine wins (four stakes) were in the emerald colours of Sir Patrick and Lady Hogan and included the Tauranga Stakes (Gr 2, 1600m) and Travis Stakes (Gr 2, 2000m).
Abidewithme added three Group 1 placings to her fine win record with a second and a third in the New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes (1600m) and a third in the Thorndon Mile (1600m).
To Stravinsky (Nureyev), Crimson foaled Miss Scarlatti, a Listed Flemington winner who also finished second in the VRC Oaks (Gr 1, 2500m).
Miss Scarlatti’s stakes-placed sister, A Fairy’s Kiss, won four races, including in Sydney and Brisbane, and at stud has produced Destiny’s Kiss (Power of Destiny), a $1.5 million earner with 19 wins (ten stakes). He also scored a McKell Cup, run over 2400 metres in 2018 and represented the same Joe Pride stable as Stockman.
Stockman’s grandam Bourbon Lassie took out a Sydney win plus six others but really excelled at stud producing four stakes winners.
Similar to her Zabeel (Sir Tristram) daughter Crimson, Sir Tristram (Sir Ivor) blood nicked well with hers, evidenced by her 1984 foal, Omnicorp, by Sir Tristram’s son Grosvenor.
Omnicorp took out the 1987 Victoria Derby (Gr 1, 2500m) and two further stakes before a disappointing stud career that produced just four stakes winners.
To Imposing (Todman), Bourbon Lassie also produced dual Group 2 winner Pharostan as well as Listed winner Bourbon Boy (Reindeer).
Stockman’s third dam Bourbon Lass was a much-travelled prolific winner of 13 races including open handicaps from Wairoa on the east coast of the North Island to Nelson at the top of the South Island.
Her daughter, Zamazaan Lass (Zamazaan), one of her two stakes winners, was a top-class two-year-old with three wins at that age including the Matamata Breeders’ Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m). She took her form to Australia with wins in two Listed races, the Grafton Cup (2200m) and the Anniversary Handicap (2400m) at Randwick.
Forty-two stakes winners descend from Stockman’s fourth dam, Kilt (Faux Tirage), the best-known being four-times Group 1 champion Sacred Falls (O’Reilly), the dual Doncaster Handicap (Gr 1, 1600m) winner. Like Tavistock, Sacred Falls was lost to the industry the same month, December 2019. His third dam is Clermont Lass, a Centaine (Century) daughter of Bourbon Lass.
The 2010 Telegraph Handicap (Gr 1, 1200m) and 2011 Captain Cook Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) victor Vonusti (Ustinov) is a grandson of Marlass (Marceau), also a daughter of Bourbon Lass.
Two Savabeel (Zabeel) representatives, Milford (out of a sister to Sacred Falls), and Tilianam (whose grandam is a three-quarter blood sister to Sacred Falls) are two recent stakes winners that look to keep the family in the headlines.
Shades of Magnifique
Anyone interested in pedigrees would have been barracking hard for Rondinella (Ocean Park) to break through and claim pedigree page bold caps in her final race, the Brisbane Cup (Gr 2, 3200m) on June 12, but it was not to be.
The mare has always promised to achieve that goal and ran some inspiring races in the very best of company yet retires with a string of Group and Listed stakes-placed performances.
She showed enormous promise early on, but also suffered a setback after winning her maiden and then finishing a strong fourth in the Sir Tristram Fillies Classic (Gr 2, 1600m).
The injury was quite serious according to Mark Chitty of Haunui Farm: “She injured herself in the box post the Sir Tristram Classic. It was a significant hoof injury that took its time to heal,” said Chitty. “I must give great credit to our farrier Luke Pertab as well as to trainers Roger James and Robert Wellwood. Together, they got her back to the highest grade of racing.”
Returning at four, she won three of her next five starts. At that point in her career it would have been unthinkable that she would never win again. On reflection, probably her best chance to gain the elusive bold caps was her next race, in February 2019, in the Kaimai Stakes (Listed, 2000m). Again, after putting in some huge strides, she was nutted, in a head-bobber, by the previous year’s New Zealand Derby (Gr 1, 2400m) winner Vin De Dance (Roc de Cambes).
That performance was followed by a major step up, three starts in Group 1 company. In the New Zealand Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) she would have to settle for third to Melody Belle (Commands). Next was Sydney where she ran into Avilius (Pivotal) in the Tancred Stakes (Gr 1, 2400m).
That run was huge. She raced three wide with no cover from the 1000 metres in finishing a top-class third, then completed her season with a fourth in the Sydney Cup (Gr 1, 3200m).
The 2019 Melbourne spring carnival beckoned and if she had won either the Stocks Stakes (Gr 2, 1600m) at Moonee Valley or the Ladies Day Vase (Gr 3, 1600m) at Caulfield, she might have gained a start in the one of the big three – the Caulfield Cup (Gr 1, 2400m), Cox Plate (Gr 1, 2040m) or Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m).
She would be denied, running home well, chasing hard for second in each race before a three-month break. Returning home for a short let-up, she ran a very nice third under James McDonald in the much-too-short 1400 metres of the Westbury Classic (Gr 2) on Karaka Millions night of 2020.
Her next few starts however were disappointing, so she was given a decent break then sent to John O’Shea’s Sydney stable for the current season. This past autumn she ran some nice races starting with a second behind Quick Thinker (So You Think) in the Chairman’s Stakes (Gr 2, 2600m), followed by another frustrating second in the Sydney Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) behind Selino (Champs Elysees).
Chitty is complementary regarding John O’Shea’s efforts with the mare: “We’re indebted also to John O’Shea and his team in embellishing her race record, especially with her very good efforts in the Chairman’s and Sydney Cup.”
Two starts in Queensland for two fourths wrapped it up and she is now confirmed to visit Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) in the spring.
In the early 1970s, New Zealand mare Magnifique (Alcimedes) experienced similar misfortune, running some mighty races without achieving the highly sought-after bold caps victory. If anything, she was an ever better example of the anomalies in the black type system.
At three she would finish third in the Riccarton New Zealand Oaks (Gr 2, 12f), second in the Great Northern Derby (Gr 1, 12f) and run thirds in the both the Wellington Derby (Gr 2, 12f) and the Wellington Oaks (Gr 2, 10.75f) before returning to Trentham to finish second in the New Zealand St Leger (Gr 2, 14f).
In the spring of her four-year-old campaign, Magnifique ventured to Melbourne but her bridesmaid saga continued. In successive starts she ran third to Gunsynd (Sunset Hue) in the Cox Plate (Gr 1, 2000m), third in the Mackinnon Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) and second to Piping Lane (Lanesborough) in the 1972 Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m).
She retired with four wins (the same as Rondinella) and 13 placings, including four at Group 1 level. Exasperating.
Rondinella has, however, a wonderful heritage, descending from Haunui Farm’s foundation mare Foxona (Foxbridge).
Foxona and Magnifique’s dam Rosebelle (Bois de Rose) were foaled in the same year, 1950. Comparing the two mares, in the intervening 70 years just one stakes winner descends from Rosebelle, Turnbull Stakes (Gr 2, 1600m) winner Chez Nous (Comeram), a son of Magnifique. Foxona is responsible for 44 stakes winners, 25 of them Group winners.
Rondinella herself is a three-quarter sister to Bob Peters-owned Celebrity Dream (Thorn Park), whose 11 wins include six stakes, the best being the La Trice Classic (Gr 3, 1800m) in Perth.
It is easy to understand why Haunui Farm has booked Rondinella into Snitzel. That cross has already been successful as her half-sister, the well performed Vavasour, is by Snitzel’s sire Redoute’s Choice (Danehill). Vavasour won three Group races. Similarly, her Commands (Danehill) half-sister Vilanova won four races, all stakes including the Autumn Classic (Gr 2, 1800m) at Caulfield.
George Ryder Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) winner Prince Ruling (Ruling), New Zealand Two Thousand Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) victor Magic Cape (Magic Albert) and Queensland Derby (Gr 1, 2400m) winner Shootoff (Duelled) are three of the four Group 1 winners that descend from Foxona, Rondinella being seven removes from the foundation mare.
Haunui Farm are hopeful of the future: “We are looking forward to the next stage of her career as a broodmare and it would be wonderful if she could carry on the Haunui Farm foundation family legacy,” ended Chitty.
There is some consolation in missing out on the bold caps and that is the $953,000 she banked by running such quality placings. It would be nice to have both, though, wouldn’t it?
Galileo everywhere
A snapshot of the results of 22 stakes races run at Royal Ascot last week shows that Galileo (Sadler’s Wells) continues as the dominating force as both a sire and sire of sires, especially in Europe.
Northern Dancer (Nearctic) appears as the tail male sire in 18 of the 22 races including seven of the eight Group 1 races.
A generation closer, Northern Dancer’s son Sadler’s Wells appears as the tail male sire in ten of the 22 and three of the eight Group 1s.
Another generation closer still, Sadler’s Wells’ son Galileo appears as the tail male sire in eight of the 22 and three of the Group 1s.
Northern Dancer’s son Danzig appears as the tail male sire in five of the 22 races and three of the Group 1s, courtesy of Green Desert (Danzig) with three, and Danehill (Danzig) with two, spoils the Sadler’s Wells – Galileo party.
Of those five, the Green Desert line through Invincible Spirit’s sons Kingman, Mayson and Profitable were represented by Palace Pier, Oxted and Quick Suzy respectively.
Interestingly, Kodiac, the stakes-placed son of Danehill, just happens to be Invincible Spirit’s half-brother. He accounts for the other two, Group 1 winner Campanelle is by Kodiac whereas Group 2 winner Perfect Power is by Kodiac’s son Profitable.
Dark Angel, who traces to Northern Dancer via Try My Best, sired the two Group 2 winners Indie Angel and Berkshire Shadow at Royal Ascot last week.
That means slim pickings for other sire lines with only Mr Prospector (Raise a Native) chiming in with a Group 2 and a Group 3 via Kemari and Creative Force, who are both by Dubawi (Dubal Millennium).
Galileo’s mares too
On the back of his outstanding successes at Royal Ascot, Galileo’s daughters are enjoying recent success in Australia. The previous Saturday’s Stradbroke Handicap (Gr 1, 1400m) winner Tofane is out of the Galileo mare Baggy Green and her younger half-brother No Compromise (Pins) made it back-to-back Sydney wins last Saturday.
From Chris Waller’s stable, No Compromise has four wins to his credit, and two from three since his transfer from Bill Thurlow’s stable in Waverley. The four-year-old showed good versatility in scoring over 2000 metres, compared to the 2400 metres of his previous win.
Waller’s stable representative Charlie Duckworth suggested bigger things for No Compromise: “We are thinking No Compromise might be good enough for a Sydney Cup next year,’’ Duckworth said. “But that race is ten months away so we can take him through his grades, build his confidence and he can earn some good prize-money for his owners between now and then.’’
Galileo’s Utmost Caution got into the act with her Makfi (Dubawi) daughter Expat, who added her fourth win and second in town from just seven starts when she scored the Benchmark 78 handicap at Rosehill on Saturday.
Hope for studmasters
Kodiac’s rise to fame as a sire is quite remarkable and has some similarities to I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit). Both stallions were able to claim modest race track performances prior to heading off to stud, and success that defied their track ability.
I Am Invincible hung his hat on a Group 3 win at Morphettville, his premier effort being a second to Takeover Target (Celtic Swing) in the Goodwood Handicap (Gr 1, 1200m). His initial stud fee was $11,000, leaping to $220,000 for this year.
Kodiac won four times but failed to win a stakes race in 20 starts, his premier effort being a second in a Newbury Group 3 race.
Kodiac’s initial stud fee was €5,000, dropped to €4,000 for two seasons then has risen steadily to €65,000 thanks to siring 66 stakes winners, including Cambridge Stud’s Hello Youmzain, who will serve a full book on his first southern hemisphere holiday later this year.