Issue 12, June 4, 2009
The Aga Khan’s Kalanisi before winning the 2000 Breeders’ Cup Turf – closely related to Qld Derby hope Rockdale.
Awake to Sadler’s Wells Victorian breeder Michael Hirst has been breeding to the Sadle r’s Wells (by Northern Dancer) line for 10 years at a time most of us doubted the worth of the great Irish stallion in this part of the world. It hasn’t been blind faith by Hirst, but a passion to breed a Derby winner, and Sadler’s Wells supplied the link he required – to the great broodmare Lalun (by Djeddah (FR)), the 1955 Kentucky Oaks winner who also is the dam of champion sires and staying influences Never Bend and Bold Reason, the latter the dam-sire of Sadler’s Wells. Hirst, a keen student of pedigrees, earmarked Lalun as one of the main influences in the pedigrees of the best stayers of modern times – for instance, Makybe Diva is from a mare by Riverman, a son of Never Bend. He searched for
broodmares in Australia with a direct maternal link to Lalun, and found only three. “I rang a bloke in Rockhampton and bought R iv e r R o yal.” The filly had a career record of one placing from seven starts. However, River Royal’s fourth dam is Lalun, and she also had a double cross of Lalun through her sire River Of Light, a grandson of Riverman. Breeding River Royal (b m 1996, River Of Light–Royalty Plus, by King Pellinore) to sons of Sadler’s Wells, and Hirst has done it eight times, has provided Hirst with one major part of the equation – the stamina. “I have the stamina, but all the foals have lacked the speed,” he said. River Royal’s first foal, Princ e O f Scrib e s (by Runyon) – born in 2000 – won five races between distances 2200m and 3000m, but it has been the recent form of her
fourth foal, Awake nin g D r eam (by Aristotle), that has drawn attention to the pedigree and Hirst’s dreams. Awakening Dream, trained by Patrick Payne, has won his last three starts – two over jumps (Yarra Valley and Morphettville) and a jumpers’ flat over 3300m at Moe – in such impressive style that he is shaping as the next “big thing” in jumping. Hirst said his experiment in matching Lalun in pedigrees is as much about attempting to upgrade River Royal’s “tired” pedigree as it is about breeding his elusive Derby winner. He’s done that. Hirst has twice bred River Royal to Darley’s brilliant Sadler’s Wells son Refuse To Bend, a four-times Group 1 winner at distances over 1400m and 1600m, to enhance the speed factor – he has a 2YO filly in work and a RTB foal due in the spring. DANNY POWER
Back in 2000, trainer Lee Freedman and I sat in an Auckland apartment looking at a video of a 3YO filly for sale. Her named was K o m pl e t e Kaos. While the filly showed considerable promise – she had run second in the G2 Lindauer Guaineas (1600m) at Ellerslie – she was lightly-framed and Freedman doubted her class and the deal wasn’t struck. Freedman was correct, as Komplete Kaos (b f 1987, Desert Sun (GB)–Kappadios (NZ), by Great Charmer) went on to win three more races in New Zealand, and one race in Singapore, but she didn’t progress to win at Black Type level. I am reminded of Komplete Kaos as her son R oc k dale (B g 2005, by Danroad) prepares for Saturday’s G1 Queensland Derby (2400m) at Eagle Farm. It was on Derby day 12 months ago that Rockdale upset the favourite Fravashi to win the G1 TJ Smith Classic (1600m). Komplete Kaos is the only Black Type horse in the first three removes of her damline, but she comes from thoroughbred royalty – her granddam Kapliyda (by Auction Ring) was bred by The Aga Khan. This is The Aga Khan’s famous “K” family that includes his champion racehorse and sire Kalanisi (by Dayoun). Komplete Kaos’s fourth dam Kermiya (by Vienna) is the third dam of Kalanisi, whose wins include the 2000 G1 Breeders’ Cup Turf (2400m).
WORDS BY DANNY POWER
Know when to hold’em … Stud manager Sean Dingwall was surprisingly firm on not accepting anything less than $45,000 for Citid e vil (b m 1993, Citidancer (IRE)–Bright Devil (NZ), by Harrisand (NZ)) when the mare went through the auction ring at the recent Inglis Great Southern Broodmare Sale at Oaklands Junction – on face value any price near that seemed to be way over the odds. Dingwall, from Caithness Thoroughbreds in Wallan, Victoria, passed the mare in when the bidding failed to get beyond $42,500, a price reached only thanks to good auctioneering skill. Citidevil, in foal to Choisir and rising 16, had produced only four winners in 10 years as a matron, and at that stage nothing that was anywhere near Stakes quality. However, Dingwall had great faith in the mare, and especially her 2YO daughter by Fastnet Rock, named Sle e k Anit ra, who was listed in the catalogue as unraced, but had won impressively at her debut at Kyneton five days earlier. Sleek Anitra confirmed Dingwall’s judgement when she blitzed her rivals to win by 3.5 lengths at Flemington last Saturday. This is a filly with spring aspirations, according to trainer Peter Moody. “She throws great types,” Dingwall said of Citidevil, “and Sleek Anitra looked good winning at Kyneton. We weren’t going to give her away.” Caithness client Michael Abell bought Citidevil for $65,000 at the 2007 Magic Millions Winter Broodmare Sale, in foal to Choisir.
PRINCESS COUP: The outstanding mare was sold at auction for $3 million.
Caithness sold the subsequent Choisir filly at the 2009 Magic Millions Premier Sale for $50,000. In 2008, Coolmore Stud sold Sleek Anitra as a yearling at the Inglis Easter Yearling Sale to Geoff Guest of Rockmount Farm (ex Vinery, ex Roselands), Euroa, for $270,000. The price reflected that the quality of the yearling was far beyond the value of her pedigree page. The recent Inglis experience was the fifth time Citidevil – a Stakes-placed, three-times city winner – had been through the sales ring as a broodmare. In 1998, she failed to make her $60,000 reserve at the Easter Broodmare Sale, and in 2003 she sold for only $4750 to the bid of Gordon Cunningham from Curraghmore Stud at the New Zealand Karaka Broodmare Sale. Cunningham sold the mare for $80,000 in 2005 in foal to Montjeu. The subsequent filly foal, now named Moorunda Lass (city placed), was sold at the 2007 Inglis Melbourne Premier Sale for $57,500. Sleek Anita represents a similar Danehill–Citidancer cross that produced the Group winners Hidden Dragon and Tahni Girl.
Son of Street Cry for Makybe Tony Santic’s Makybe has announced that brilliant North American juvenile, St r e e t He r o will stand this spring at their Gnawarre, Victoria, farm. Street Hero adds to a growing list of sons of St r e e t Cry to stand at stud in Australia. Street Hero earned his credentials for stud by winning the Group 1 Norfolk Stakes (2YOs, 1700m) at Santa Anita in September 2008, beating Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner Midshipman. He went on to place third in behind Midshipman in the Group 1 Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita, in a performance even more meritorious by the fact that he came out of the race with a fractured knee which required surgery. Street Hero was immediately retired to stand at Vinery Kentucky (fee US$12,500) where he has just finished covering his first book of mares. The young stallion – never out of a place in six starts – is an imposing individual who has all the strength and bone of his sire Street Cry (by Machiavellian), who has proved
himself a phenomenal sire in both hemispheres. In Australia, after standing four seasons at Darley Victoria, he is the sire of the star Whobegotyou and Predatory Pricer, and Saturday’s Qld Derby hope Shocking. In America and Europe, he has sired a string of outstanding horses including the current unbeaten star mare Z en yat ta, Group 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and Group 1 Kentucky Derby winner St r e e t S ense and dual Group 1 winning sprinter St r e e t B oss – Darley is shuttling Street Cry (NSW, $110,000), Street Sense (NSW, $33,000) and Street Boss (Vic, $16,500) in 2009. Street Hero, who is out of the Summer Squall mare, Squall Linda, will stand his first season at a fee of $15,000 (plus GST). Makybe stood its first stallion in 2008, the Tale Of The Cat son Purrealist, who covered a strong book of 118 mares at a fee of $8800.
Record price for Princess Coup Outstanding mare Princ ess Coup, a four-time Group 1 winner, sold for a Magic Millions record when NSW agent Tony Bott paid $3 million for the mare at the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale on Thursday. Princess Coup (ch m 2003, Encosta De Lago–Stonyfell Road, by Sovereign Red) will be retired and the choice of stallion is likely between headliners Redoute’s Choice (by Danehill) and More Than Ready (by Southern Halo). Bott, acting for a breeding consortium, was the underbidder to the $3.85 million paid for Samantha Miss at the recent Inglis Easter Broodmare Sale. “It’s nice to be able to buy one of these outstanding mares, they only come along once in a while,” Bott said. DANNY POWER