Edinburgh Park

by Nathan Exelby

Edinburgh Park had a select draft of four yearlings at the Gold Coast last January, selling all four up to $260,000 for a gross of $730,000. The draft has grown significantly in 12 months, with no less than 16 yearlings catalogued for January. Smith explained that Edinburgh Park had gone on a course of selecting and buying younger mares in recent years.

“This just meant culling of a few of the mares that weren’t quite what we wanted and we’re just getting to the numbers now we intended,” he said. “These are nice young mares with the right stallions. We will continue to do that. We are always evolving.”

Edinburgh Park had another fruitful spring carnival, with graduates Tamasa and Zizzis winning on some of Australian racing’s biggest days. “It’s just proof that the farm is consistently producing good quality animals,” Smith says. “With bigger numbers, we’re producing more of them.”

Another Edinburgh Park graduate is Better Than Ready, the one-time Randwick course record breaker who is now making a name for himself at stud, having had his first winner at Doomben in October for his former trainer Kelly Schweida.

Smith has no doubt there will be more star graduates among the horses he is taking to the Gold Coast in 2019. “This is the best draft we’ve put together on paper and on types,” he said. “There’s depth of quality and quantity as well. We’ve really got everything for everybody.”

Within the draft, there are progeny of Champion Sires Snitzel, Fastnet Rock and Lonhro, proven stallions Written Tycoon, Medaglia D’Oro, Star Witness and Pierro and exciting young sires Vancouver, Deep Field, Pride Of Dubai and Super One.

The family of Mica’s Pride and globetrotting multimillion dollar earner Criterion features heavily in the Edinburgh Park draft. “It’s one of the nicest families in the stud book,” Smith said.

These include a Snitzel colt from Alice’s Smart (“This is the nicest Snitzel Alice’s Smart has thrown”) and two Fastnet Rock colts. “Both are outstanding types, typical Fastnet Rocks, quality animals,” Smith said.

IAN SMITH’S EDINBURGH PARK BRINGS WHAT IT FIRMLY BELIEVES IS ITS STRONGEST EVER DRAFT OF HORSES TO THE 2019 MAGIC MILLIONS AFTER A RECENT REPLENISHMENT OF YOUNGER MARES ON THE FARM COMES TO FRUITION.

The General Nediym mare Fortune Of War continues to produce promising types and Edinburgh Park have a Snitzel full-brother to the stakes placed Spoils and promising Darren Weir trained three year-old Interram. “This colt as a physical type is one of the nicest Snitzels we’ve ever brought to sale,” Smith said.

The Pride Of Dubai colt from the stakes winning juvenile Calcatta is described as a “cracking early running two year-old,” while the draft also includes a Deep Field filly from Quicksilver Lass, a half-sister to Rosehill Guineas winner D’Argento.

Golden Slipper winner Vancouver is represented by a colt from Candela, who is a daughter of the Group 1 winner Recurring. “He’s an early running two year-old type and an exciting individual. He will tick everyone’s boxes who are looking for an early running two year-old,” Smith said. “There’ a lot of speed there and he’s an exciting yearling.

The Mica’s Pride/Criterion theme continues with the Vancouver filly from Sticky Fingers. “We also have a gorgeous Lonhro filly out of stakes winning mare Becerra. There’s a lot happening in this family. There’s been a lot of success through Danehill with Lonhro,” Smith said. “This is a young mare, with a lot of upside.”

Star Witness continues to produce star quality gallopers and Edinburgh Park is pleased to have two of his progeny in the Gold Coast sale. “We have a beautiful looking colt from the good young race mare Face Forward and a filly from Flying Single, who is a half-sister to Not A Single Doubt.

“She has already thrown multiple winners, the filly is a nice type and anyone would want a piece of that family.”

Edinburgh Park’s Pierro colt is the first foal of the Redoute’s Choice mare Seagrove and is said to be a “big, strong athletic colt.” “Pierro didn’t have a huge crop that year and this fellow will be one of the very few Pierro colts on the market in 2019 from a young mare with a good pedigree. I expect him to be very popular. He has a lot of presence about him.”

Written Tycoon has taken all before him in the past two years and the filly from Miss Independent is poised to add to that success. “She was a lovely race mare and she’s found a horse in Written Tycoon that matches her physicality and her page,” Smith said.

“Super One will be a very popular first season stallion,” Smith predicted. “We have two fillies by him which are both outstanding types.”

What can buyers expect from your 2019 MMGC draft?

Depth, class and we are renowned for producing good quality, running animals. There will be some serious racehorses of the future among them.

Your biggest giveaway that proved to be a topliner later? Silent Witness made $55,000 and went on to win $10million. How has technology and IT affected and influenced your business?

We’re starting to evolve and develop into the electronic media and getting out our updates and highlights of our progeny through Twitter and Facebook.

When you’re not working how do you like to spend your time? Relaxing and enjoying my family. What was the worst job you’ve ever had?

You tackle every job to the best of your ability and sometimes you don’t have to like it, you just do it because you have to.

What do you give a damn about?

I give a damn about my family, my friends and the people involved in our business, whether they be breeding partners, staff, or buyers of our stock. l

www.edinburghpark.com.au Ian Smith: 0419 637 892 Wingham, NSW