The Chase

This January Stable QD at Bundall will play host to a new vendor but one with plenty of pedigree to bring to the market. The Chase, China Horse Club’s beautiful property at Sutton Forest south of Sydney, will make its Gold Coast debut with 14 quality youngsters prepared in line with CHC’s philosophy for excellence.

As CHC’s Australasian Representative Michael Smith told us, “This is The Chase’s debut Magic Millions Gold Coast draft and will be the first of many going forward. China Horse Club, and by extension The Chase, aim for excellence as evidenced by CHC’s ten-year track record across the globe. We had an auspicious beginning when The Chase’s inaugural draft of CHC breds was presented at the Magic Millions Adelaide Yearling Sale in March of 2022 where we were the leading vendor by average at just our first sale! Naturally, we don’t expect to do the same on the Gold Coast but I think buyers will be very pleased with the high quality hardy running stock we are bringing to market.”

The Southern Highlands has been a hotbed for producing equine talent and those green pastures are now the home to CHC’s elite broodmare band and young stock. Michael explained “We have mares of the calibre of Perfect Persuasion, dam of this year’s Gimcrack Stakes runner up Perfect Proposal, along with Purcentage, the dam of Blue Diamond and Thousand Guineas runner up Revolutionary Miss, and a host of mares of similar quality. The 14 yearlings that make up The Chase’s 2023 Gold Coast draft have grown out on that same pasture under the program instigated by China Horse Club.

As might be expected all 14 youngsters are by stallions in which the CHC holds an interest. While three are by exciting first season sires Cosmic Force and Strasbourg, the remainder are all by stallions grabbing the headlines in Zoustar, Russian Revolution and Deep Field.

To give us a head start we asked The Chase’s Farm Manager Alex Kingston to provide an insight into the lots by each stallion that she felt would catch the buyer’s eye.

Prospective buyers will have to wait until the Saturday evening session to watch what could be The Chase’s best seller go through. Lot 912, a colt by the red-hot Zoustar out of Grasslands looks a readymade star with a pedigree to match. Grasslands is a twice winning Snitzel full sister to the Magic Millions 2YO Classic winner and Gr1 Golden Slipper runner up Away Game and the Listed winner Modern Wonder. If just a fraction of Away Game’s tenacity has filtered through to this colt he is bound to be a star. Alex enthused “He’s very well balanced, well grown and prepping up beautifully for the sale. He oozes presence and quality with a very good walk and action. He’s a very good representation of Zoustar and a must see for anyone on the hunt for star colt with a stallion’s pedigree.”

The draft also contains a Zoustar colt out of the Gr3 winning sprinter No More Tears that sells as Lot 187. This is the family of Gr2 winning juvenile Hips Don’t Lie and her daughters Ennis Hill who was a Gr3 winner at two, Golden Slipper third Lake Geneva and the brilliantly fast Acrobat. In Alex’s opinion “He’s a neat colt, very well balanced and his full brother Ozzmosis came to hand so early he won at the Official Two year-old barrier trials at Randwick and would have been near enough to favourite for the Breeders’ Plate had he not been tipped out. This colt is built in the same mould and looks another sharp proposition.”

As the largest shareholder in Russian Revolution it’s no surprise that this CHC bred draft boasts 6 by the young gun Champion First Season sire. Add that to the fact that nearly half of his stakes horses wear the CHC brand makes it prudent for astute buyers to give this group a close look. Two fillies that Alex has plenty of time for are the daughters of Russian Revolution out of Nurse Kitchen and Atlantis Dream. “Both are well-grown fillies, precocious types, and they know their job and are very straight forward. They both have loads of quality but also the toughness to say they’d run through a brick wall if you asked them too.”

The Atlantis Dream will carry hip sticker number 632 with the dam a winner of six including the Gr2 Queen Of The South Stakes a race she also finished second in. This is a lovely family of the Gr1 VRC Oaks winner Bulla Borghese with speed shining through as well with recent Stakes winners from this line including Gr2 Danehill Stakes winner Kallos and the Gr3 Canonbury Stakes winner Zethus. As for Nurse Kitchen, the daughter of Savabeel was amongst the best of her age winning twice at two then taking the Gr2 Moonee Valley Fillies Classic over 1600 metres before running a gallant second in the Gr1 Storm Queen Stakes. This is the family of international star Helene Vitality. Asked to make a case for a Russian Revolution colt Alex couldn’t split two, one out of the Dubawi mare Bethsaida that sells as Lot 659, the other Lot 693 out of Medaglia d’Oro’s daughter Calvados. “Both are very, very good colts, both have rich, dark brown coats, and are very much in the mould of Russian Revolution. Both take your eye when you see them in the paddock and it will be the same at the sales. You only have to look at them to imagine them with a saddle on and back at the Gold Coast for the MM 2yo Classic in 12 months time” she said.

Of course Deep Field is a market favourite and Alex is pleased with The Chase’s pair of offerings by the Newgate stallion. “For me, the two Deep Fields are very, very nice and both standouts for the sire,” she explained. Lot 700 is the Deep Field colt out of Caricature, a Gr3 placed daughter of Power who was a close up fourth in the Gr1 New Zealand Oaks. This is a strong New Zealand family his grandam Octapussy a Gr1 performer with her daughter’s including the Gr2 winner Pussy Willow and the Listed winner and Gr1 placed Pussy O’Reilly both excelling over trips from 1200 – 1400m. It’s a deep high quality family and Alex thinks he might come to hand quickly, “He’s a very precocious type and looks ready to be a two year-old. He’s well balanced with a lot of presence about him, has a great head, good body and a very strong hindquarter and forearm.”

As for the Deep Field filly out of Primavera to go through as Lot 257, Alex believes she is “A lovely quality filly, stacks of presence and is a precocious type that is going to prep up very well.” There is certainly plenty of speed in this family, with her dam a Redoute’s Choice threequarter sister to Gr1 ATC Sires’ Produce Stakes winner Invader and a half to the dual Group winning sprinter Not Listenin’tome.

Pushed to single out one of the youngsters by a first crop sire Alex landed on the colt by Strasbourg out of Strykum, winner of the Listed Queen Adelaide Stakes at two and dam of a winner. This is the family of the Gr1 winner Rinky Dink. “He’s an extremely good representation of the stallion and he looks a two year-old type like his mum. The bone on him is extremely good, he’s short cannoned, has a great hindquarter and forearm and is a very well balanced colt. Strasbourg profiles very similarly to his own sire I Am Invincible and based on this colt I think he is a sire to be excited about.”

Nothing more than lack of space precluded us from describing the other five lots, a pair of colts by Cosmic

Force, another two sons of Russian Revolution and a Zoustar filly, all of which are worthy of their place in the sale and also inspection. All 14 lots will be proudly presented by The Chase, a name we will be hearing a lot more about in the coming years.