‘This is so special for all of us’
Emirates Park celebrate third Slipper triumph in 11 years
With the prospect of soon having an incredible three winners of the Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) in their broodmare band, Emirates Park is understandably basking in the glow of Marhoona’s (Snitzel) victory in the world’s richest two-year-old race on Saturday.
But following the successes of their yearling purchases Mossfun (Mossman) in 2014 and Estijaab (Snitzel) in 2018, for Emirates Park’s father-son owners Nasser and Hussain Lootah, Marhoona’s ranks as the best-fitting Slipper of all.
All three winners have come from different parts of the industry’s spectrum.
Mossfun was bought for just $85,000 from Fairview Park Stud’s draft from the old Session 2 of Inglis Easter in 2013.
Estijaab came from the other end of town. The third foal of dual Group 1–winning sprinter Response (Charge Forward), she was a $1.7 million buy for Emirates, from the draft of Arrowfield Stud, as the equal fourth-top lot at Easter in 2017.
But Marhoona is the first Emirates homebred to succeed for the Lootahs in the race they covet the most.
Trained by master two-year-old conditioner Michael Freedman, she hails from an especially rich family the stud has cultivated, and which means much to the farm.
It started in the mid-1990s when Dubai businessman Nasser Lootah bought the New Zealand-bred mare Show Dancing (Don’t Say Halo). She was a dual Sydney city winner from eight starts, but better still was a daughter of Dancing Show (Nijinsky). That American mare’s modest record – one win in 12 starts – paled beside the fact her second dam was the great blue hen Best In Show (Traffic Judge).
Show Dancing became fundamental to Emirates Park’s early operations, with her fourth foal being Al Maher (Danehill). Sold as a yearling to Gai Waterhouse for $575,000, but with Emirates staying involved, he won three stakes races including the Australian Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) of 2005, and after retiring to the stud became a cornerstone of the farm’s founding years.
Two foals earlier, Show Dancing had produced another stakes winner in Salameh (Secret Savings). She couldn’t fulfil the Lootahs’ hopes of running in the 2002 Slipper, after coming fifth in the Reisling Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m), but a couple of weeks later won the AJC Fernhill Handicap (Gr 3, 1600m).
Salameh retired to Emirates and her sixth foal was Salma – a daughter of a particularly influential stallion Emirates also bred, Encosta De Lago (Fairy King).
While Salma was unraced, after five moderate barrier trials, she’s been a sensation at stud. She has six named foals, four of whom are stakes winners – each one eclipsing the last.
First foal Trojan Harbour (Harbour Watch) was a Listed winner in South Africa. Second–named foal Salateen (I Am Invincible) was a Brisbane Listed winner and Group 2-placed. Next in line Hilal (Fastnet Rock) was a Sydney Group 2 winner who was placed at Group 1 level.
And now comes the best of them all, Golden Slipper winner Marhoona. With a delicious simplicity, the name means “bet” in Arabic, and you can wager she’ll forever hold a special place in the hearts of the Lootahs, who watched Saturday’s race from their home in Dubai.
“This is so special for all of us, and especially Nasser and Hussain,” Emirates Park general manager Bryan Carlson told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“They’re very quiet achievers – they don’t like to go around promoting themselves – but they’re just so passionate about breeding. They love their breeding and they’re always looking at it and thinking about how they can do it better.
“They love their racing but two-year-old racing in particular, and the Slipper is the race they love the most and want to win the most.
“I spoke to them straight after the race and they were delighted. We’ll celebrate when they come to Australia in a couple of weeks.
“To get a homebred to win the Slipper means the world to them – especially being from this family.
“To win three Golden Slippers in 11 years – there’s not many operations who could say that. And to have three broodmares who are Golden Slipper winners, that’s going to be pretty special.”
The Slipper was of course another triumph for Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice), Arrowfield’s 22-year-old titan who has now sired three of the race’s past eight winners, after 2023 winner Shinzo and Estijaab.
Somewhat perversely, he was a Slipper-winning damsire four years before he was a Slipper-winning sire. Emirates Park’s other winner Mossfun, out of Snitzel first-cropper Eye For Fun, was in fact the great stallion’s first runner as a damsire.
With Snitzel being by one of the the finest Australian products of the Best In Show family in Redoute’s Choice (Danehill), putting Salma to Snitzel gave Marhoona a powerfully-placed 4f x 4f duplication of Dancing Show, via two daughters: Shantha’s Choice (Canny Lad) running into the top line as Redoute’s Choice’s dam; and Marhoona’s third dam Show Dancing.
Carlson said the Dancing Show duplication – which gives Marhoona a 6f x 6f of Best In Show – was an attractive factor in the mating, although equally important was having Encosta De Lago as the damsire.
Encosta De Lago ranks as Snitzel’s best nick by winners, with 69 from 89 runners at 77 per cent. Second-most Zabeel has 38 winners from 55 runners at 69 per cent.
More importantly, the cross has produced four of Snitzel’s 23 Group 1 winners, the others being subsequent sires Sword Of State and Invader, and the gelded Summer Passage. Only one other damsire has produced more than one of Snitzel’s Group 1 winners – General Nediym (Nediym) with two.
“The double of Dancing Show is good, and with Encosta being a great damsire that’s worked well with Snitzel was another factor with the mating,” Carlson said.
“We’re very particular on damsires. Damsires are very influential, but a lot of the time people don’t take that into account. Plus, we bred Encosta ourselves, so there’s a nice bit of history there.
“So we’ve had Snitzel in all three of our Slipper winners. As a two-year-old sire, he’s very good. His older horses are of course also very good, but he’s a very potent two-year-old sire.
“Funnily enough though, Marhoona is our first stakes-winning homebred by him. I’m sure we’ve bred something else, but we haven’t had much luck with Snitzel. So this is a great result.”
There is one farm that can trump Emirates Park’s record in the Slipper – still Australia’s greatest stallion-maker despite fillies winning six of its past nine editions.
Newhaven Park bred four Slipper winners in John’s Hope (Wilkes) in 1972, Vivarchi (Wilkes) in 1976, Burst (Marauding) in 1992 and Prowl (Marauding) in 1998 – and owned another in 1987 winner Marauding (Sir Tristram) himself.
Still, in the highly competitive modern breeding landscape, the Emirates treble is a remarkable feat. And they could well have had four by now had another homebred in Manaal (Tassort) had better luck last year.
Drawing the widest gate of 16, she flashed home along the inside from 15th at the 400 metres to finish a 2.33–length fifth, franking the form next start by winning the ATC Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m).
“The Golden Slipper is what Nasser and Hussain target, and we targeted it with Manaal last year,” Carlson said. “The barrier stopped her.
“This year with Marhoona, every step of the way everything’s gone right.”
Everything, that is, except that in winning her first start on February 7, she lost two shoes and tore off a chunk of one hoof. That, Freedman said on Saturday, illustrated her toughness.
It may have been only a Friday night fillies’ maiden at Canterbury, but Marhoona first had to recover from a heavy coming together after the jump with the two runners to her outside – when she looked like she was galloping sideways for a few strides – then had her run taken away from her at the 200 metres by a drifting leader.
Marhoona’s ability was on show again when she ran a 0.33–length second in the Reisling to Tempted (Street Boss).
With ratings high out of that race, both fillies were well supported in the Slipper. Marhoona firmed from $9.50 to start at $8, and Tempted went from $5 to a $4.80 favourite before finishing an unlucky third, with Wodeton (Wootton Bassett) splitting the pair in second at $7.
Something of a late bloomer, Marhoona went into the Slipper off just two runs. Only one other horse had won the race off such a preparation – John’s Hope, a full 53 years earlier.
Estijaab and Mossfun, both trained by Team Hawkes, won the Slipper at their fourth and fifth starts respectively.
Freedman confessed after Saturday’s race he’d been worried whether two starts was enough. That hadn’t been the only worry, however. There was the not insubstantial matter of making it into the 16-horse field, since Marhoona had earned just $85,000.
“After her second in the Reisling, the ratings came out very high for Marhoona,” Carlson said. “The racing data rated her higher than Tempted.
“But even last Tuesday morning, at acceptance time, we weren’t sure we’d get in. We knew Memo, who was ahead of us, wasn’t going to the Slipper, but we didn’t know if we’d get in. We thought we might be 16th, or an emergency. Luckily, we got in at 15th.”
Once confirmed, a jockey had to be found, since Marhoona’s Reisling rider Jason Collett had committed to Within The Law (Lucky Vega) – who would repay the favour 400 metres into the Slipper by throwing him off.
“Michael [Freedman] rang me later on Tuesday and he goes, ‘I’ve grabbed Damian Lane’,” Carlson said. “Everything was all a bit last-minute, but we couldn’t have asked for a better jockey.”
Big–race specialist Lane had won the Slipper before, on Kiamichi (Sidestep) in 2019.
The team behind Marhoona were also heartened when Freedman’s three-year-old Enriched (I Am Invincible) ran a strong 1.93–length second to the outstanding Autumn Glow (The Autumn Sun) four races before the Slipper in the Darby Munro Stakes (Listed, 1200m).
“Marhoona worked with Enriched on Tuesday morning and held her own. When he got second, my confidence about Marhoona grew,” said Carlson, adding the filly’s nature had allayed fears over inexperience.
“Estijaab and Mossfun did it with [three and] four runs in. We usually like to give them a run before Christmas and a bit of a break.
“But this filly is just bombproof and she’s bloody tough. We weren’t going in to make up the numbers. We genuinely thought she had every chance of winning.
“In the end Damian gave her the perfect ride, and it all fell into place.”
Owning some 65 broodmares, Emirates no longer stands stallions but remains a player in that field, having sold half of its young sire Tassort (Brazen Beau) to his standing stud Newgate Farm, and owning a 20 per cent share in Yarraman Park’s Brave Smash (Tosen Phantom).
Emirates continues to breed from its earlier Slipper winners, including in the international sphere.
Mossfun’s first foal Tumooh (Fastnet Rock) has thrown Group 3 winner Bodyguard (I Am Invincible). Second foal Dajraan (Frankel) was imported to Australia as a tried horse and won the ATC Festival Stakes (Gr 3, 1500m) in 2022.
The mare’s seventh foal, a filly by Tassort, will go to next month’s Inglis Easter sale as Lot 74, while she has a colt by Justify (Scat Daddy) at foot and is in-foal to Tassort.
Estijaab’s first foal Ejaabiyah (Frankel) has two wins and a Listed placing from her four starts in Britain for Emirates under trainer Roger Varian.
Brought back to Australia via the US in 2023, Estijaab had a yearling colt by Gun Runner (Candy Ride) fetch $500,000 at Magic Millions Gold Coast in January, bought by PR Thoroughbreds. She is now also in-foal to Tassort.
One query for some observers of Emirates Park is why some of their horses – like their three Slipper winners and Al Maher – have borne Hussain Lootah’s colours of green with a white sash, while others – such as Hilal – have carried his father’s red with blue sleeves and white cap.
“It’s a bit of superstition,” Carlson says with a smile. “Nasser believes Hussain’s colours have better luck. It’s just a bit of fun between them.”
With three Golden Slipper winners in 11 years, it’s hard to argue.