To the rescue
No stakes racing in New Zealand on Saturday meant that all the attention was focussed on Australia and in particular, Flemington, for Coolmore/Derby Day, and Rosehill for Golden Eagle Day.
The Coolmore Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner hails from a US family while a British bred horse took out the Golden Eagle (1500m) so pickings looked slim for the New Zealand Stud Book. The Victoria Derby (Gr 1, 2500m) winner Goldrush Guru (American Pharaoh) does descend from a New Zealand-bred Le Filou (Vatellor) mare but the connection is five generations back.
With one remaining Group 1 for the day, the Empire Rose Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m), to the rescue came the ever-reliable Savabeel (Zabeel) when Atishu grittily got the better of Amelia’s Jewel (Siyouni) within the shadows of the post to add a third Group 1 to the mare’s grand record.
Atishu loves Flemington. The Empire Rose was her second Group 1 there plus she has two Group 2s and two Group 1 placings at Melbourne’s headquarters. At this meeting two years back she was fifth in the Empire Rose won by Icebath (Sacred Falls) then backed up seven days later to land the Matriarch Stakes (Gr 2, 2000m).
This time last year for the Empire Rose she was the only runner to make a race of it, a length in arrears of the break-your-heart tactics of Pride Of Jenni (Pride Of Dubai). True to form she was back seven days later to beat a quality field in the Champions Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) which is the new name for the time-honoured Mackinnon Stakes.
Now seven, her first three runs this spring may have been at Group 1 level but her form was not what we have come to expect. Was her age a factor? Was it time to think about a stud career? Third in the Might and Power Stakes (Gr 1, 200m) was more like it and her return to Flemington finally brought an overdue Empire Rose victory at her third try.
If the pattern holds, she will no doubt line up this coming Saturday and having proved that a seven-day backup is no issue she will undoubtedly be a huge chance to repeat in the Champions Stakes.
Atishu is not only a product of New Zealand, she also had her first nine races here at two and three when trained by Stephen Marsh. She left our shores on a winning streak of four, including two Listed races at Riccarton. From Chris Waller’s stable she added two wins at four. One was the Bill Ritchie Handicap (Gr 3, 1400m), plus a couple of black-type thirds.
Her five-year-old season yielded another two wins, including her maiden Group 1 in the Queen of the Turf Stakes (1600m). Improving with age, her six-year-old season brought two more and the Empire Rose made it 11 for a bank of $5.1 million.
Of Savabeel’s 145 stakes winners only Kawi’s seven Group 1s and Probabeel’s four exceed Atishu’s three which ties her with Lucia Valentina and Sangster. There is still the autumn to go so she could yet add to her tally.
She was purchased for $260,000 by Albert Bosma’s Go Racing from the Waikato Stud draft at the 2019 NZB Karaka Yearling Sale (Book 1). Since then her younger sister Mazzolino (Savabeel) landed the Desert Gold Stakes (Gr 3, 1600m) and now that Atishu has her three elite-level wins she equals the three by her dam’s sister Daffodil (No Excuse Needed). Her winning stake of $600,000, when added to Savabeel’s Australian sire earnings, will see Savabeel just outside the top ten. A remarkable sire, the second–most prolific sire of stakes winners in New Zealand history, Savabeel saved the honour of the NZSB.
Golden age
On Tuesday we celebrate another Melbourne Cup. There was a period when New Zealand bred and/or owned gallopers dominated the race. During the 1940s there were two winners. The 1950s saw five New Zealand-breds win and the 1960s resulted in six winners bred on the eastern side of the Tasman Sea.
However, the golden era was the 1970s when eight Melbourne Cups fell to the New Zealanders, although only seven horses were responsible as Think Big (Sobig) won two, in 1974 and 1975.
The grey Baghdad Note (Kurdistan) kicked off the decade with his win in 1970. A winter performer, he was not expected to race well on the firm but from seventh at the two furlongs he levelled up at the furlong and outstayed them. In 1971 he was followed by another grey, Silver Knight (Alcimedes), the last to win the race when run over two miles before distances were converted to metric. The dual St Leger winner finished strongly to bag the riches.
Think Big (Sobig) completed a rare back-to back double in 1974-75, the first New Zealander and only the third horse at that time to achieve such a feat. The great Peter Pan (Pantheon) also won twice but his two were a year apart. Think Big saved his best for the Cup, coming into form the start prior. His first was achieved with a big finish but in his second he held on after sitting handy turning for home.
After Think Big was Van Der Hum (Hermes), who splashed his way through the mud, then in 1977 and with no rain to spoil things it was the turn of Gold And Black (In The Purple), who was second to Van Der Hum in 1976.
Originally named Flash Guy, renamed Arwon (Aritzo) lost the Caulfield Cup (Gr 1, 2400m) by the slimmest of margins, then won the 1978 Melbourne Cup by the same margin, barely holding on. The decade was rounded out by the outstanding Hyperno (Rangong), a six-time Group 1 winner who seemed ageless, winning 20 races. Hyperno wrapped up six successive cups won by the Kiwi-breds.
Courtesy of Arion Pedigrees, let’s find out if their families are still active.
Since Baghdad Note was foaled in 1965 his family has produced four stakes winners, first being his half-brother Pan Piper (Wharf), winner of the Port Adelaide Guineas (Gr 3, 1800m). Baghdad Note’s half-sister Fair Nevada (Mellay) is the third dam of Follow The Ride (Don’t Say Halo), a seven-time winner including a Group 3 in Adelaide. Squillani (Shagney) won 12 races, including the SAJC Spring Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m), and five Listed races. Squillani’s third dam Ararat Note (Kurdistan) is a sister to Baghdad Note. The most recent stakes winner from the line is Tasmanian Derby (Listed, 2400m) winner Civil Disobedience (Raise the Flag), bred in 2014, who shares the same third dam as Squillani.
It’s been a quiet last 30 years for Silver Knight’s Trelawney Stud family which was both well established and highly regarded well before he came along. His dam Cuban Fox (Foxbridge) has been responsible for a further eight stakes winners in the meantime beginning with Silver Knight’s half-brother, dual Listed winner Calypso (Trictrac), a seven-race winner who finished second in the Sydney Cup (Gr 1, 3200m).
Their half-sister, Group 3 placed Jan Eyre (Rawalpindi II), produced the top mare Free Gold (Gold Sovereign). She won ten times, including the Royal Stakes (Gr 2, 2000m) at Ellerslie, and four Listed races. Free Gold’s granddaughter is dual Sydney Listed winner Regina Madre (Bletchingly), dam of Fashion Cafe (Last Tycoon), a Listed winner in Melbourne, the family’s most recent black type winner, bred in 1994. Best of the rest was Lone Hand (Rocky Mountain) who won 19 races including the Manawatu and Hawkes Bay Cups (Gr 3, 2200m). He was from Free Gold’s half-sister Violate (Gigantic).
Think Big’s dam Sarcelle (Oman), a dual Group winner in her own right, produced two stakes winners before Think Big. Since then there have been just two stakes winners. Sarcelle’s daughter produced Solitaire (Zamazaan) to win nine times, including two Trentham Listed races, the Parliamentary and Wellington Handicaps (2200m). Solitaire foaled Emerald Cut (Citidancer) in 1993, winner of the Newcastle Gold Cup (Gr 2, 2400m), the last in this line to win a stakes race.
There is nothing further to report regarding Van Der Hum’s line as he remains the most recent stakes winner from his family, descending from his dam Tip O‘ Dawn (Count Rendered).
While Gold And Black won only five times, one of his other victories was in the Mackinnon Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) plus he was seven times placed in Group 1 races. However, he also remains the only stakes winner descending from his dam Gem (Talismano). Another close relative became a champion, namely Dulcify (Decies), whose third dam is a half-sister to Gold And Black’s granddam.
Arwon’s Melbourne Cup was one of 16 wins. He also won a Group 2, a Group 3 and recorded five Group 1 placings. He was the second of two stakes winners from his dam Christmas Fair (Resurgent). The other was his older half-brother, Flash Affair (Oakville), winner of the Hawkes Bay Guineas (Listed, 1600m) but their line has produced no more stakes winners.
Australian Horse of the Year Hyperno was a marvel, landing six Group 1s and seven Group 2s among 20 wins. He was also bred via a twist of fate as originally, his dam Mikarla (Persian Garden II), a three-quarter sister to dual Derby winner Classic Mission (Persian Garden II), was to visit Pakistan II (Palestine) in 1972 but the stallion died just before the breeding season began. Fairdale Stud were loaned Rangong (Right Royal V) as a temporary replacement and the result was Hyperno. There have been no further stakes winners to represent his family.
