Westbury’s big day with trans-Tasman celebrations
First top-flight winner for Redwood, Telperion remains flawless as half-brother Kementari breaks 1,001-day drought
Breeding is notoriously a long-term game with a day of success, where everything goes right, potentially influenced by decisions made weeks, months, years, even decades before.
For Gerry Harvey’s Westbury Stud, yesterday was one of those days where all the stars aligned as the New Zealand farm’s stallions – both past and present – had a red-letter afternoon on both sides of the Tasman.
First-season sire Telperion (Street Cry) maintained his perfect record as a stallion when his sole starter to date, Stormy (2 c Telperion – Silent Night by Swiss Ace), took out the Wakefield Challenge Stakes (Gr 2, 1100m) at Trentham. It was also a celebratory moment for another of their stallions, Swiss Ace (Secret Savings), who brought up his first stakes victory as a broodmare sire.
Less than two hours later, Westbury Stud was celebrating again as Rock On Wood (6 g Redwood – Rock On Rye by Catcher On The Rye) took out the Captain Cook Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m), giving long-term resident Redwood (High Chaparral) his first top-flight winner.
Later in the day, former Westbury shuttler Makfi (Dubawi) was represented by Pakenham Cup (Listed, 2500m) victor Attorney (6 g Makfi – Tia Kia by Montjeu), although the French import was conceived in Europe.
And while it could have been the perfect day if Kingston Town Classic (Gr 1, 1800m) favourite Inspirational Girl had gone one better in the Perth feature for Westbury Stud’s leading light Reliable Man (Dalakhani), it was not to be as she rattled home into second behind her stablemate Truly Great (Dundeel).
While it was Westbury Stud that was leading the charge yesterday, general manager Russell Warwick acknowledges that it has been a strong few months for the New Zealand breeding industry across the board.
“Gerry rang from Australia early today and said, ‘You’ve had a good day,’ but there are so many well wishers on days like this,” Warwick told ANZ Bloodstock News. “You get so many texts and calls to say well done, but it’s a team effort. It’s about the staff, the shareholders and broodmare owners that support these stallions. Without them we’d never get these stallions off the ground.
“So we’re very fortunate that Gerry has got a big broodmare population in New Zealand which supports our stallions and gives them an enormous start to begin with, but then the shareholders and the breeding fraternity that support these stallions are what gets them to the next level.
“I think New Zealand is really starting to add that level of strength to their stallions over the last few seasons. There are a lot of New Zealand-based stallions among the top 20-odd sires in Australia and New Zealand, the likes of Ocean Park, Tavistock, who has unfortunately deceased now, Zed and Reliable Man. We’ve got a lot of stallions that are doing very well and when you look at what they stand for, they’re enormous value in the market.”
Telperion in the spotlight after Stormy success
First season stallions are always one of the great unknowns each season as juveniles demonstrate their sire’s potential as a future breedshaper. For Westbury Stud, they are in the rare position – at least with a roster of their size – of having two stallions with their first two-year-olds this term.
Telperion, a standout juvenile himself, has been first off the blocks, with Victoria Derby (Gr 1, 2500m) winner Tarzino (Tavistock) as expected, yet to have a runner.
Bred and raced by Godolphin, Telperion was one of the two-year-olds of his generation. He defeated Group 1 winners Prized Icon (More Than Ready) and Spright (Hinchinbrook) to win the Lonhro Plate (Listed, 1100m) before finishing fourth to Capitalist (Written Tycoon) in the Golden Slipper Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) and second to Yankee Rose (All American) in the ATC Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m).
At the time he was acquired by Westbury Stud, his year-younger half-brother Kementari (Lonhro) had just won the Randwick Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) – more on him later – while his pedigree, by Winx’s sire Street Cry (Machiavellian) from a family that descends from the mighty Denise’s Joy (Seventh Hussar), also made him an attractive stallion prospect.
“He was an exceptionally well-bred horse and we felt he was a horse that could definitely make a stallion, but obviously starting at the lower end of the service fee range,” Warwick said. “It’s a huge bonus with his first runner to be not a winner but a Group 2 winner. It really sets him up to go forward from here and you couldn’t have wished for a better start than what he’s had. We really look forward to where he’s going in the future.
“I guess when you look at his form it wouldn’t surprise you at all to see him producing two-year-olds. He ran a fast-finishing fourth in the Golden Slipper and ran second in a Sires’ Produce, albeit as an autumn two-year-old. He was always a very sharp horse but physically he’s a big, strong horse and whatever they do they’re going to be better as they get older I think. He had enough mares to suggest he was going to get two-year-olds.”
Trained by Tony Pike, Stormy produced a tough effort to win at Awapuni at his first start in October, giving Telperion his first winner with his first runner. With that run under his belt, the flashy chestnut was sent to yesterday’s Wakefield Challenge Stakes at Trentham, a race that Pike won last year with Not An Option (Not A Single Doubt).
Ridden to lead by Lisa Allpress, the $1.50 favourite kept on finding down the long Trentham straight, even as it appeared he was about to be swamped. Fonsalette (Belardo) was strongest of the challengers, getting within a half-length, but Stormy was simply too tough, once again showing a tenacity that had been on display at Awapuni.
Promisingly, the pair came almost five lengths clear of third-placed debutant Taoiseach (Highly Recommended).
“He got a bit lost out in front and got on the wrong leg going over the crossing but he has got the job done,” Pike said. “He’s probably a better chaser than a leader but he has done it nicely in the end.
“He is a homebred horse and not a Karaka Million contender so we will give him a little break now and then bring him back for one run before we go into the Sires’ races.”
Those races are the Sistema Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) at Ellerslie on March 13 and the Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) at Awapuni on April 3.
Bred and raced by Queenslanders Geoff and Heather Nicholls, Stormy – who, like his sire, features Denise’s Joy as his sixth dam – is the first foal out of the unraced Silent Night (Swiss Ace), a mare who was offered by Westbury Stud and passed in. Stormy gave Swiss Ace a first black-type victory as a damsire.
“It’s not so much regret because we’re thrilled for the owners, but every year we look to sell a few mares and Silent Night, the mother of Stormy, we actually put up for auction and she was passed in there,” Warwick said. “She was then bought for a very low amount, I think only $700 for the mare in foal to Telperion. That foal was Stormy.
“Unfortunately for them the mare died the following year, so it’s been a bit of a good luck bad luck story for the Nicholls who own and race Stormy, but they’ve got a Group 2 winner and he’s still a colt so who knows where that might lead them.”
Stormy’s success comes at a critical time as sales season approaches, with two Telperion yearlings consigned by Westbury Stud in Book 1 of next month’s Karaka Premier Yearling Sale and 11 by the sire, seven offered by Westbury Stud, in the auction’s Book 2.
“I think we’ve got some really nice horses in the second group and, walking through them, probably the best group of foals on the ground at the moment,” Warwick said. “We’re really, really excited with the foals we’ve got. The two horses he has got in the Book 1 session at Karaka, one is out of Group 2-winning mare Chinchilla Rose and he’s a very powerful sprinting-type colt and the other is a half-brother to stakes winner Red Striker, and a very promising three-year-old filly called Mega Bourbon.
“Both of those colts will measure up and be well-received, especially now he’s got a Group 2 winner on the board.”
As for Tarzino, “They’re totally different,” Warwick concurred. “It’s probably a rare feat for us to stand two new stallions in the one season, something we wouldn’t normally do. We already bought Tarzino when Godolphin approached us to see if we’d be interested in Telperion and we looked at his pedigree and his race performance and we thought, ‘well, they’ll probably be quite diverse’. One is a sprinter-miler type horse at the lower end of the market and the other is a staying Derby-type horse, so we felt we might get away with it and we duly did.
“In his first year, Tarzino had 124 mares and Telperion had 118 so both horses were extremely well-received in their first season.”
Telperion stood for NZ$5,000 (plus GST) in 2020, with Tarzino at NZ$12,000 (plus GST).
Family affair for Elliots as Wood joins sire as Group 1 winner
Rock On Wood’s win in the Captain Cook Stakes represented a number of firsts.
It was a first Group 1 win for the honest six-year-old, a first Group victory – let alone a first Group 1 – for trainer Leanne Elliot, a maiden top-level success for her son, rider Ryan, and a breakthrough triumph as a stallion for Westbury Stud’s Redwood.
Narrowly sent out as the third favourite, just behind top two market fancies Concert Hall (Savabeel) and Hypnos (Reliable Man), Rock On Wood was given a patient, cool-headed ride by Ryan Elliot. The 21-year-old took the gelding back in the field in the three-wide line before taking off early.
While known for his dislike of soft tracks, Rock On Wood sprinted sharply and sustained his run to hit the front halfway down the Trentham straight. Concert Hall made one final bid but Rock On Wood had enough in hand to score by a length. Deerfield held down third.
For Leanne Elliot, who is also a part-owner with her mother Jill Ker and her sister Yvonne, it was an emotional moment for the family to share.
“It’s just blimmin awesome,” she said. “I was worried about the sticky track but he went so good. He did it tough as he was out three wide and I was thinking ‘oh no,’ but he was just awesome.
“It’s Ryan’s first Group 1 as well so that just makes it even better.”
Added the younger Elliot: “He’s put in a big effort and done it well. He jumped well and when they pushed up inside him, I thought I’d just stay where I was as there wasn’t any point in going back with him.
“I got a bit of a windbreak from (Times Ticking) on the corner which helped me out and then he sprinted really well in that ground. He was floating around a little bit but that is what he does on a slow track as he needs better ground.
“It is so special to win this for mum as my first winner was on one of hers, so for mum to get such a good horse and for me to win a Group 1 on, it is just awesome.”
For Warwick, it was simply a matter of time for Westbury stalwart Redwood, whose Group 1 placegetters have included Night’s Watch, Platinum Invador and Rising Red, as well as Rock On Wood twice earlier this year.
“I think he’s had four Group 1 placegetters before today,” he said. “He’s had two Derby placegetters, a placegetter in the Toorak and Rock On Wood last season was extremely unlucky not to win the Thorndon and the Herbie Dyke, which are both Group 1s. Many of the forecasters and presenters on television have put the tag on Rock On Wood as a Group 1 winner in waiting and I think today he got his due rewards.
“He’s a lightly raced horse and has been well-handled, so hopefully there’s many more in store for him. Some Group 1 races in the summer should very much be to his liking as he does prefer a firmer track rather than the ground he met today.”
Redwood’s biggest moment in his eight years as a stallion could come next weekend in a race he contested twice, the Hong Kong Vase (Gr 1, 2400m). It was a race in which he finished second a decade ago and his son Columbus County will aim to go one better, with the Caspar Fownes-trained five-year-old one of seven runners in the Sha Tin feature.
“That would be sensational,” Warwick said. “It’s great to get the Group 1 off our back today but it would be amazing to do it at the Hong Kong meeting that’s got the focus of the world on it and Redwood coincidentally ran second in the Vase himself, so for his son to go one better would be an enormous feat and he’s obviously got some chance.
“Joao Moreira won the race last year and has elected to ride the horse, and he’s come of age this season. Caspar Fownes seems to have got him reacclimatised up there now. It’s not going to be an easy task when you’re meeting horses from all around the world, but it would be great for Redwood if he was able to achieve that success.”
Redwood stood for NZ$8,000 (plus GST) in 2020.
Also striking success was former Westbury shuttler Makfi, with the French-bred Attorney taking out the Pakenham Cup.
Ridden by Sydney-based Nash Rawiller for Warwick Farm trainer Matthew Smith, Attorney justified favouritism by producing a narrow but dominant success over Creedence (Helmet), with a further short half-head to Knights Order (So You Think) in third.
Rawiller, who is originally from Victoria, is in the state to visit friends and family including his son, star apprentice Campbell, before returning to NSW in the new year.
“I’ve had good support all week and that’s the first winner I rode,” Rawiller told Racing.com. “But it’s good to be back and catch up with old friends and acquaintances that I’ve ridden for over the years and they’ve been kind enough to give me a nice ride.
“I think he’s a really good stayer, he just proved that. It was a bit of a slog but he really shone through when it counted. I think he’ll be placed to his advantage in the autumn where he could almost win a Sydney Cup or something like that. He’s a nice horse.”
Reflecting on the success of Makfi in Australia and New Zealand, Warwick said: “We spend a lot of time studying our pedigrees and obviously you’ve got to have the horse with the performance and ability to throw his genes onto the broodmare pool, but we felt he was very much aligned with the broodmare pool in New Zealand. If you look back now, I think his southern hemisphere progeny sits at around seven, seven and a half per cent stakes winners to runners, which is a very impressive figure.
“He’s had the dual New Zealand Horse of the Year in Bonneval, he’s had two Oaks winners with Bonneval and Sofia Rosa, he’s had a Group-winning two-year-old with Marky Mark, so he’s just been a phenomenal success down here. Probably one of the things about Makfi is, because he’s been such a good stallion, I’m excited to see what his broodmares are going to do down here too. We won’t have heard the last of Makfi now his daughters are going to stud.”
‘Truly Great’ Peters dominates Kingston Town Classic
The only thing that would have made Westbury Stud’s day even better would have been a victory for Railway Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) winner Inspirational Girl (Reliable Man) in the Kingston Town Classic at Ascot, but it was not to be.
Instead, the string of ones next to her name was broken as she flashed home from another postcode to finish second, two lengths astern of her stablemate Truly Great (5 g Dundeel – Truly Special by Jeune), in the final Australian Group 1 of 2020.
It was a sixth win, and a second quinella, in the race for leviathan owner-breeder Bob Peters, whose famed cerise and white silks have been carried to victory by Old Nick (Old Spice), Old Comrade (Old Spice) twice, Perfect Reflection (More Than Ready) – who led home Peters’ Delicacy (Al Maher) in 2015 – and Arcadia Queen (Pierro).
Three-year-old Dom To Shoot (Shooting To Win) finished third, a length behind the runner-up.
The middle of the race shaped the eventual finish; Truly Great, ridden by Chris Parnham, was three wide with cover behind Taxagano (Rogano) and was perfectly poised to strike as veteran Gailo Chop (Deportivo), guided with aplomb by Brad Rawiller, steadied the field approaching the 1000 metres.
Meanwhile, the Willie Pike-partnered Inspirational Girl, who jumped from the inside gate, was back second–last between horses and in a difficult position, with runners coming back into her face, as the field started the swing towards home.
Steering a similar line to the one he took on Kementari a mere 40 minutes prior, Parnham sent Truly Great after a valiant Gailo Chop and his initial challenger Too Close The Sun (Carlton House). While that pair battled on gamely, finishing fifth and fourth respectively, Truly Great was bounding away, while Inspirational Girl was out and charging home when it was all too late.
“He got a good run and she got way back – that’s all it boiled down to,” Peters told Sky Thoroughbred Central. “When he hit the front, I saw they weren’t going to run him down. I’ve said all along, that year he was our best foal, and I’ve had to wait a long time for him. A lot of things went wrong, but I’ve always believed in him.
“He’s just had problems, silly little things that seem to happen with every foal in this family. I’ve always said he’s one of the best types of any horse I’ve ever bred, this fellow. Stand back and have a look at him, he’s magnificent.”
Truly Great is the fifth Group 1 winner for Arrowfield Stud’s Dundeel (High Chaparral), while he is also a half-brother to Western Australian Oaks (Gr 3, 2400m) heroine Special Alert (Not A Single Doubt).
Dam Truly Special (Jeune) has visited Dundeel every year since, producing four-year-old gelding Truly Inspired, three-year-old gelding Special Deal and two-year-old filly Truly Blessed. She also produced another filly this year, having missed to the Arrowfield stallion last year.
Second dam Reigning Belle (Military Plume) won the Morphettville Guineas (Listed, 1600m), while she produced a game stayer in the stakes-placed Jeune’s Reign (Jeune).
With that pedigree, the Perth Cup (Gr 2, 2400m) always appeared his logical target, but Peters said that the Kingston Town Classic win is likely to see him routed away from the January 2 feature, instead going to the Ted Van Heemst Stakes (Gr 2, 2100m) at weight-for-age on December 19.
“I think the team were a bit surprised when we told them we were heading this way and the Railway. It’s worked out for us,” he said. “I don’t think he will go to the Perth Cup though, he will get too much weight. Maybe he can go to the Van Heemst next.”
Truly Great took his record to seven wins from 12 starts, with his earnings now at $872,575, while Dundeel stood for $66,000 (inc GST) in 2020.
Thousand-day drought ends in style for Kementari
Literature fans would be well aware that Kementari is one of the forms taken by Yavanna, Queen of the Earth, who inhabits Tolkien’s Middle Earth made so popular by The Lord Of The Rings.
Little did they know that, with her gelded equine namesake, they should instead have been looking to a different time period and a different fiction genre completely. The more accurate pointer: One Thousand and One Nights, also known as Arabian Nights.
Why? Because it was 1,001 nights between wins for Kementari, who – like Scheherazade before him – was trusted time and time again before his ultimate breakthrough in the A J Scahill Stakes (Gr 3, 1400m) at Ascot yesterday, giving Parnham a remarkable race-to-race double and rewarding Godolphin with their first victory in Western Australia.
Those 1,001 days since the 2018 Randwick Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) have featured a story fitting of a literary classic: six times on the board in Group 1 races but unable to break through for another win; shipped to stud but proving practically infertile, leaving only two mares in foal; gelded and set for another equine discipline before making a return to the races earlier this year; racing consistently but looking as though a final hurrah may be beyond him; and then, given one final chance to record the ultimate comeback.
Like all good three-act plotlines, though, Kementari (6 g Lonhro – Yavanna by Redoute’s Choice) recorded the perfect resolution to his complex and frustrating drought with a triumph that brought back memories of that top-class three-year-old three seasons ago. All that was missing was a soaring John Williams soundtrack as he skipped home down the outside.
In 19 starts since he’d last tasted success, he’d been favourite on seven occasions, including in races like the Doncaster Mile (Gr 1, 1600m), the Makybe Diva Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m), the C F Orr Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) and the Canterbury Stakes (Gr 1, 1300m).
Remove champion mare Winx (Street Cry) and another two Group 1 races – the George Ryder Stakes (Gr 1, 1500m) and the first running of the Winx Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) – would pop into the column.
Yesterday was not one of those days, even as he dropped back from top-weight in the Railway Stakes to a weight-for-age Group 3 affair. Instead, the James Cummings trainee was sent out the $8 equal second favourite behind luckless Winterbottom Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) runner-up Celebrity Queen (Redoute’s Choice), who was as short as $1.70 at post time.
Ridden quietly by Parnham from an awkward draw, a solid tempo in front set by Valour Road (Frost Giant) – who shared the second line of betting with him – proved the first ingredient to success, particularly once Laverrod (Toronado) crossed to apply pressure.
As the field approached the sweeping Ascot turn and Parnham pushed out into the three-wide line, the hulking brown, almost black, gelding was travelling powerfully, tracking up ominously. It was that similar visual sight to his sire Lonhro (Octagonal) that, among other things, had stamped him as a potential heir apparent.
Yet he’d looked a likely winner many times before, looming large only to lack that killer instinct when the drive was fierce.
Not yesterday. Instead, pulled to the outside by Parnham, he continued to accelerate at a frightening speed.
The manner in which he quickened down the centre of the track was breathtaking, a turn of foot not seen since that Randwick Guineas defeat of Pierata (Pierro) and Trapeze Artist (Snitzel), but it also left him a sitting shot for the favourite. Celebrity Queen, although back last, only had a length and a half to find on Kementari at the top of the straight and was hastening at a rate of knots.
Surely she would reel him in from there?
Not yesterday. In the end, she made up a half-length or so in the run to the line, but she was never catching Kementari, who looked like the ‘Special K’ of old
Godolphin’s travelling foreman Nacim Dilmi, who has prepared Kementari and stablemate Trekking (Street Cry) during their campaign in Perth and declared yesterday “Kementari Day” before he returned to the winner’s stall, said that the blue army always believed that the “gorgeous” gelding would one day prove triumphant once more.
“The team never gave up, they always had faith that he would one day win a race again,” Dilmi said. “Obviously, the team retired him to be a stallion and things didn’t go his way, so he made a comeback to the races as a gelding. It’s easy to forget that it is very hard to do – it’s rarely done by any horse.
“After he ran two weeks ago, I told James that I thought he still had it in him and that we should have one final throw at the stumps. He was perfectly suited in today’s race and the way that he let down today was unreal.”
While Kementari’s comeback may be a leaf right out of the best tales of the past, the journey incorporated a uniquely Australian twist as he prepared for what was potentially his final start.
“This week, we have done so many different things with him,” Dilmi continued. “We went to Jim Taylor’s property on Monday just to work him away from a racetrack. He saw emus and kangaroos and that was a big eye-opener for him.
“On Tuesday, we took him to Belmont for his final gallop; on Wednesday, we took him to the beach. Even today, when we brought him to the races – we are stabled right across the road but I said to James, I think we need to put it in his mind that we’re not coming here today. So we put him on the float, it drove around for half an hour, dropped him at the races and he got off the float like he was a new horse.
“We changed so many things though that we don’t really know what has worked!”
Yesterday’s win was his fifth from 29 starts, while he has earned more than $2.1 million throughout his career.
While Kementari has no future as a stallion, he will have two future foals on the racetrack: a bay colt out of three-time country NSW winner With Care (Bernardini) and a bay or brown filly out of the unraced Mithila (Encosta De Lago), with the mare a three-quarter sister to Encosta De Lago’s (Fairy King) stallion sons Manhattan Rain, Niagara and Echoes Of Heaven.
Whether Kementari, like Scheherazade, has earned another day at the office remains to be seen, with Dilmi indicating that retirement was a more likely option. But as enigmatic as the six-year-old may be, there is little doubt that yesterday’s Kementari is the equal of almost every horse nationwide.
“If today was his swansong, it’s a great way to go out,” Dilmi said. “I’m sure the team will have a meeting about it, but to finish with a win like that, it’s a great feeling. But I keep telling James to send him for a spell and then to bring him back into work because he doesn’t give you a feeling at home that he wants to stop.
“Hopefully the win today gave him a lot of confidence and he can come back to racing again next preparation. He will go to Melbourne on Tuesday night, James will cast his eye on both horses – him and Trekking – and we look ahead to what’s next.”
While the horses will head to Melbourne, Dilmi heads to Brisbane, ready for another carnival. The travelling bandwagon moves on.