Yonce
Breeding, as we know, is all about meticulous planning, searching through the generations for that magical mix of the heavenly connections, and matching mare with stallion on type.
And then there’s Yonce.
Sometimes fortune favours the brave, and sometimes there’s dumb luck.
This budding star of the Australian turf, the mare who’s won six from six for the Midas Men of Maher and Eustace and Khier and O’Neill, probably really wasn’t meant to be.
But for all the times when other things were meant to work but did not, you’ll take it.
The four-year-old, who debuted at Mornington in December, hasn’t stopped winning, and may be about to try black type for the first time at Group 1 level – in the way you might expect of Ciaron Maher and David Eustace – does descend from a classy female family.
It starts with Pure Of Heart (Godswalk), the Sangster-bred mare imported from Ireland to win the 1982 George Ryder Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m), and includes a granddam in Faith Hill (Danehill) who won at Group 2 level.
But when New Zealand breeder-trainer Mark Fraser-Campin and brother Chris Campin, of Cambridge-based Chequers Stud, bought Faith Hill’s second offspring Ziva (Zabeel) at the 2015 Inglis Australian Broodmare Sale, things were about to go beautifully wrong.
Furthermore, the brothers would only have her for little more than a year before moving her on, but in that time she would start carrying her fourth foal, who would turn out to be Yonce.
Considering her class, there’s a fair degree of ignominy in the Yonce tale.
Ziva raced six times for Chris Waller for no wins, though she did manage three placings, including at Randwick on debut.
When the “Chequers brothers” bought her from Edinglassie Stud at that 2015 sale for $21,000, she had two foals on the ground.
The first, Avalon Lad (Domesday), had been passed in at $10,000 as a yearling. He was still two years off starting a racing career, one that would drag on for 23 starts with his highest finish a fourth in a Kyneton maiden, when beaten six lengths.
Ziva’s second foal Galveston (Teofilo) fetched $6,500 as a weanling and would race twice, finishing second-last both times.
And when Ziva crossed the Tasman, in foal to Charge Forward, the idea was to put her to Chequers’ new stallion, the former Peter Moody-trained Il Cavallo.
The son of Choisir (Danehill Dancer) raced in Makybe Diva’s colours for owner Tony Santic, but not quite with the same success. An exciting two-year-old, he won easily on debut at Sandown, convincing connections to pay a $150,000 late entry fee for the 2013 Golden Slipper, but those plans went awry after a seventh in Randwick’s Kindergarten Stakes (Gr 3, 1100m) and a throat infection. In a career curtailed after 16 runs by health issues, ultimately his only dash of black type came from a Listed third place, though he was a city-winner of five races.
After Chequers bought him to commence siring duties in 2016, things took a downturn.
“We loved that family of Faith Hill and that’s why we bought Ziva,” Fraser-Campin tells It’s In The Blood.
“We’d just bought Il Cavallo, and we intended to mate her to him, because it was a good cross. We got her back home and then it turned out Il Cavallo was infertile.”
Looking for a Plan B, the Chequers team had a share in another son of Choisir, Proisir, who’d joined the Rich Hill roster a year earlier. Though restricted to seven starts for Gai Waterhouse, he was a Group 3 winner, placed second in two Group 1s – the Spring Champion Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) and Randwick Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) in 2012-13, behind Dundeel (High Chaparral) both times. He would cover Ziva instead.
“We thought it was a similar mating so we gave that a shot,” Fraser-Campin says.
Ziva got in foal, but a further twist soon came with a visit from Lindsay de Souza, the Melbourne-based breeder with interests on both sides of the Tasman, including a share in another Cambridge-bound stallion, Turn Me Loose (Iffraaj).
“Lindsay was at our place one day, Turn Me Loose was going to stud the following year and he was looking for nice mares for him. He asked what mares we had and he purchased Ziva, in-foal,” Fraser-Campin says.
“So we’re not listed as the breeders of Yonce, and I probably would be training her had we not sold Ziva. But that’s the way it goes. It can be hard afterwards, but we’re in the business to make money and get ahead, and we made money out of that trade.”
Yet more disappointment came when De Souza offered Yonce as a yearling. She only made Book 2 at Karaka in 2019, and failed to meet her reserve of $30,000.
She was subsequently purchased by Cambridge trainer Ross McCarroll, and after two trial placings he sold half of her to her current Australian owners, the Ozzie Kheir-led syndicate. And now, following her latest win in the GH Mumm Mystic Journey (2000m) at Flemington on Saturday, she’s now favourite for the Queen Of The Turf Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) at Randwick on April 9. A start isn’t certain, but is likely.
Ziva, meanwhile, has made only mixed strides since those two first foals. The Charge Forward (Red Ransom) filly she was carrying when bought by Chequers became Nubian Smile, a three-time winner, placed four times in 19 starts and a close-up 7th in a Group 3. But after being put to Turn Me Loose as planned Ziva was sold on again, in foal, for $4,000. Then her Turn Me Loose filly failed to meet a reserve of just $6,000 at Karaka Book 2 in 2020.
So far, Yonce is the shining diamond in the rough.
She is also one of her sire’s leading lights, though the standout at this stage remains Levante. The five-year-old mare recently won successive Group 1s in Trentham’s Telegraph (Gr 1, 1200m) and Ta Rapa’s BCD Group Sprint (Gr 1, 1400m), was then meant to be New Zealand’s big chance in Flemington’s Newmarket Handicap (Gr 1, 1200m) but had to settle for a meritorious fourth while fellow Kiwi Roch ’N’ Horse (Per Incanto) stole the show at 100-1.
Levante has helped Proisir to fourth on this season’s New Zealand general sires list, with 38 winners from 85 runners, including three stakes-winners.
Standing at Rich Hill for $12,500 plus GST, with 94 winners from 174 runners at 54 per cent and seven stakes-winners, Proisir has also been well represented by Riodini – placed in a Group 1 in New Zealand and two more under Waterhouse in Sydney – and by Auckland Guineas (Gr 2, 1600m) winner Dark Destroyer.
Zabeel (Sir Tristram) mares, such as Yonce’s dam Ziva, represent one of Proisir’s strongest nicks, with three winners from seven runners, much as he has for Choisir, with 16 from 21.
Yonce’s pedigree boasts a gender-balanced 4×3 cross of Danehill via Choisir’s sire Danehill Dancer and Ziva’s damsire, while Ziva herself carries a 2×4 gender-balanced cross of Sir Tristram.
In buying Ziva, Fraser-Campin not only had memories of seeing her dam Faith Hill win the Emancipation Stakes (Gr 2, 1600m) in 2003 towards the end of his 20 years as a Warwick Farm-based trainer, he knew she was from a strong family.
Ziva’s fourth dam, Pure Of Heart, not only performed on the track but at stud, too. She bore the stakes-placed pair Glowing Tribute (Danzatore) and, as a 14-year-old, Lion Hunter (Danehill). He went on to some success as a stallion with 17 stakes-winners including the outstanding sprinting mare and dual Group 1 winner Gold Edition, dual Brisbane Group 1 winner Lovely Jubbly, and Pinky Long Legs, who won eight times in Hong Kong in the late 1990s.
Pure Of Heart also bore Convent, the dam of six named foals, four of whom raced, with all four winning. They included the Arrowfield-bred Simply Believe (Kenmare), who won a Group 3 in Adelaide and a Listed race at Caulfield in 1996.
Simply Believe had Faith Hill as her first foal, and later the Caulfield Listed-placed Mr Make Believe (Commands). Faith Hill kept the first-foal trend going in throwing Black Minx (Lonhro), a dual Listed winner now best known as the dam of multiple stakes-winner and Group 1 placed So Si Bon (So You Think).
So, there was some reason to hope Proisir and Ziva might be a hit, but as Fraser-Campin knows, those two words – hit and hope – can often come to the fore.
“Yonce is her dam’s standout, but what makes her different to the one next door? Who knows?” Fraser-Campin says.
“She was a nice enough filly, but still no one purchased her as a yearling. The family’s thrown plenty of good horses. But as everyone in the breeding industry knows, if you knew what the answer was and we were that smart we’d be billionaires.
“It was a nice cross with Proisir but, you know – where the next good one is coming from, I wish we all knew!”