FORMER Cairns-based galloper Camphor is the dam of this year’s Capricornia Yearling Sale 2YO Classic winner Wicked Ways.
Trained by Brisbane-based Liam Birchley, Wicked Ways won the 1200m 2YO Classic at Rockhampton on Saturday, April 7 at his third start. Sold for $10,000 at last year’s Capricornia yearling sale, Wicked Ways collected $61,000 first prize money plus an extra $8500 QTIS bonus for owners who included a strong Rockhampton contingent.
Offered by Oaklands Stud, Darling Downs (as agent), Wicked Ways is by USA Group 1 juvenile winner Wicked Style (USA) who also sired last year’s 2YO Classic winner Stylish Criminal and the 2015 runner-up Wicked Crime.
Wicked Ways is from the Tsuimai mare Camphor who raced 57 times for seven wins and 15 placings. Her first four wins were on Toowoomba’s former cushion track when trained by Mark Webb. The next three came in far North Queensland at Einasleigh, Gordonvale and Mareeba when prepared by Trevor Rowe at Cairns.
There are no more opportunities to breed any siblings to Wicked Ways. His sire Wicked Style was exported to China in January this year while Camphor had to be destroyed just on 12 months ago having produced Wicked Ways and his winning brother Wicked Express – her only two live foals.
The 3YO Championship Handicap (1300m) winner was Sunshine Coast based filly Emsie Is A Star – passed in for $9000 at the 2016 Capricornia yearling sale. A daughter of outstanding sprinter Falvelon from the Danzero mare Star Of Confidence, Emsie Is A Star now has two wins and a placing from five starts for trainer David Vandyke – her previous win being a Doomben maiden earlier this year.
Better Than Ready sale topper
FIRST season sire Better Than Ready provided the major highlight at this year’s Capricornia Yearling Sale held at Rockhampton on Sunday, April 8, when a daughter sold for $50,000 to gain top price honours.
Better Than Ready also topped the sale’s sire statistics with five lots averaging $21,400.
The top priced filly, offered by Lyndhurst Stud, Warwick (as agent), is a daughter of the Falvelon mare Tiger Dimejan who won seven races before being retired with the filly being her first foal.
A syndicated stallion standing at Lyndhurst Stud, Better Than Ready won eight times – including four Listed races in Sydney and Brisbane – for his owners who included Robert Zuttion who bought the top priced filly. Little wonder he bought the filly, as Zuttion was also a co-owner of Tiger Dimejan and her dual black type winning half-brother Cape Kidnappers.
All up, 77 yearlings grossed $840,100 to average $10,992 with a clearance percentage of 76.24 percent. This compared to the 2017 sale when 62 yearlings grossed $793,750 with a clearance rate of 73.81percent.
While this year's average was down on last year's $12,802, the clearance rate staged a remarkable recovery. In fact 16 of the first 33 yearlings offered for auction were passed in. Subsequent negotiations with vendors resulted in further sales so that the clearance finished three percent higher than last year’s sale.
Darling Downs-based Oaklands Stud was the leading vendor selling 19 yearlings to average $13,921. The draft included a Dawn Approach (Ire)/Savings colt sold for second top sale price of $45,000 to Brisbane trainer Chris Munce, a Sidereus colt sold for $36,000 and two colts by Wicked Style (USA) sold for $34,000 and $32,000.
Sun Stud closes Queensland base
SUN Stud has announced it will close its Queensland farm and focus all its operations on its home base in Victoria.
Sun Stud managing director Danielle Cheng said: “With the current lease agreement at the Queensland property concluding in May this year, the decision has been made to consolidate the business to the Victorian farm at Kerrie which is owned by Sun Stud.
“We are pleased to report that seven-times Victorian champion sire Bel Esprit and Queensland’s champion first and second season sire Love Conquers All will stand in Victoria,” she said.
The prestige equine facility near Beaudesert with a reputation for producing champions including Group 1 winning racehorses Buffering, Mossman, Staging, Gold Edition and Zoustar has undergone many name changes in recent years.
Originally established by Peter and Wendy Moran as Noble Park Stud, the property was sold to former Racing Queensland chairman Kevin Dixon who ran his Racetree Stud on the property for eight years from 2004 to 2012. It was then leased as the Queensland base for Eliza Park International which was subsequently bought by current owners Sun International Group in 2013.
Aust provides Dubai winner
AUSTRALIAN-bred shuttle stallions Helmet and Exceed And Excel can claim international bragging rights as the sire and paternal grandsire respectively of this year’s Dubai World Cup winner Thunder Snow.
Bred under Sheikh Mohammed's Darley breeding banner and racing in his Godolphin colours, Thunder Snow beat USA visitor West Coast – recently ranked the world’s current third best horse (124) behind Australia’s Winx and American-bred Gun Runner (129).
Thunder Snow – the horse who refused to race in the last year’s Kentucky Derby – made amends with his dominant all-the-way win in the 2000m Dubai World Cup held on Saturday, March 31 for trainer Saeed bin Suroor. The winning jockey was Christophe Soumillon who was also aboard in the Kentucky Derby when Thunder Snow buck-jumped shortly after the start
Foaled in Ireland in 2014, 4YO entire Thunder Snow is a complete home-bred for the Darley as both his sire Helmet and grandsire Exceed And Excel are regular shuttlers between Darley’s Australian and Irish breeding operations.
A son of the prepotent Danehill, Exceed And Excel was a dual Group 1 winning sprinter in Australia before becoming one of the early shuttle pioneers in 2005. Since then he has sired more than 80 stakes winners world-wide including Helmet – one of four stakes winners produced from the Singspiel mare Accessories – herself a Darley-bred mare foaled in England.
An outstanding racehorse, Helmet was a triple Group winner in Sydney and Melbourne before beginning his shuttle career to Ireland and England in 2013. That first visit included covering a Dubai Destination mare Eastern Joy. The resultant foal was Thunder Snow who has now won Group 1 races in France as a 2YO and 3YO prior to his Dubai World Cup win.
In addition to Exceed And Excel and Helmet, Darley also shuttles Helmet’s Group 1 winning sibling Epaulette. The resultant mating of the Danehill stallion Commands with Accessories, Epaulette won both the Doomben Ten Thousand in Brisbane and the ATC Golden Rose in Sydney.
New era dawns at Cambridge Stud
NEW Zealand-based Cambridge Stud has entered an exciting new phase with Brendan and Jo Lindsay officially taking over as owners of the iconic thoroughbred nursery, reports NZ Racing Desk.
World-renowned for the champion stallions Sir Tristram and his son Zabeel, Cambridge Stud has forged an outstanding reputation as a breeding powerhouse under the direction of Sir Patrick and Justine Lady Hogan. Through the years, stallions on the Cambridge Stud roster have sired 134 individual Group One winners.
"Our decision to buy Cambridge Stud underlines our commitment to New Zealand and its thoroughbred industry and our shared desire for the iconic brand to remain in New Zealand," Jo Lindsay said.
While respectful of its proud history, they have announced future developments. "Cambridge will undergo a major refurbishment over the next three years, including the upgrade of the recently acquired, adjoining Thorpe property, to cater for our expanding stallion roster," explained Brendan Lindsay. "We will continue to operate Cambridge as a premier stallion and broodmare operation, doing what the stud has done best for 40 years, while our Karaka farm will be integrated with the stud, carrying mares and foals and continuing to support the racing operation."