Issue 20, July 30, 2009
RIP VAN WINKLE, pictured winning the Group 1 Sussex Stakes at Goodwood, is another outstanding son of Galileo.
What to do with Galileo What are we to do with Galileo? The brilliant 2001 Epsom Derby and Irish Derby winner continues to confirm his place at the top of the heap as a sire in Europe, yet he is nothing more than a nobody south of the equator. The problem certainly must be troubling both the breeding empires of Coolmore Stud, which stand Galileo (by Sadler’s Wells) in Ireland, and Sheikh Mohammed’s Darley Australia, which has invested heavily in sons of Galileo for stud duty. This season Darley is standing the sensational 2008 Epsom Derby winner New Approach (at Darley Northwood Park, Victoria) and the unbeaten dual Group 1 winner Teofilo (Darley Kelvinside, NSW). Galileo shuttled to Australia between 2002 and 2006, and he was well supported by breeders, averaging around 140 mares
a season. But as Galileo’s star began to shine in Europe after a string of brilliant Group 1 winning colts and fillies, the opposite happened in Australia. Eventually, Coolmore pulled the plug, although it could easily be argued that the value of the stallion had risen so high in the Northern Hemisphere, and it simply wasn’t cost effective with high insurance premiums to shuttle him to Australia to cover mares at a relatively bargain fee. The issue of Galileo and his sire-sons was further exacerbated when his son Rip Van Winkle easily beat a class field to win the Group 1 Sussex Stakes (1600m) at Goodwood on Wednesday. Rip Van Winkle is not sleeper – he has been highly rated by the Coolmore racing arm, Aidan O’Brien’s Ballydoyle, since he stepped out as a 2YO. Rip is certainly in line to shuttle to Australia to stand
at Coolmore, Jerrys Plains, in the Hunter Valley. Galileo’s failure to dominate in Australia as he has done in Europe is more a reflection on the differences in racing styles and tracks, than it is on Galileo as an individual. He’s not the first son of Sadler’s Wells to struggle here, but Scenic has proven that, given time, the Sadler’s Wells line can have an impact. Of course, Montjeu, another son of Sadler’s Wells, is starting to show his true colours as a top-class sire of stayers, although he also is no longer shuttling south. There is no doubt the “Galileo factor” is behind the incredibly low service fee for New Approach. This is one heck of a racehorse, every bit as good as any horse to shuttle to Australia. His fee of $33,000 (inc. GST) is about one-third of what it should be for a horse of his calibre. DANNY POWER
T r ustin g’s imposing win at Canterbury, 1200m, on Wednesday stamped the colt as a likely spring contender, with the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m) at Caulfield in October in his sights if trainer Jason Coyle can keep the Patinack Farm-owned colt progressing that far in his first racing preparation. Trusting (Br c 2006, Tale Of The Cat–Legible (NZ), by Zabeel (NZ)) cost Patinack NZ$300,000 at the 2008 NZB Karaka Premier Yearling Sale. He joins the recently retired Real Saga as the second outstanding 2YO colt by Coolmore’s Tale Of The Cat (by Storm Cat) to step out this season. His dam Legible is well remembered as a high-class mare for owner Lloyd Williams, and winner of the 2003 Group 2 Sandown Classic (WFA 2400m) at Sandown for Williams’ then trainer Brad Marzato. Legible is by the great Zabeel from the Tights mare Waihora’s Lass. This is a very intriguing pedigree with a blend of speed and stamina. Tale Of The Cat is easily the most successful son of Storm Cat in the part of the world, and Coolmore has a long line of hopeful broodmare owners on the waiting list trying to get a service to the handsome stallion at a fee of $33,000 (inc. GST). Legible was bought by John Camilleri, of Fairway Thoroughbreds, for $610,000 at the 2005 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale. Her first foal, by Exceed And Excel, is the handy Lee Freedman-trained rising 4YO Mount Olympus.
WORDS BY DANNY POWER
Elope daughters for sale Two prized daughters of champion mare Let’s Elope, the 1991 Caulfield and Melbourne Cup winner, are for sale. The young imported mares are being sold privately by NSW-based bloodstock agency Randwick Bloodstock for owner-breeder Dennis Marks. L e t’s Elo p e (ch m 1987, Nassipour (USA)–Sharon Jane (NZ), by Sir Tristram (IRE)) has had a mixed breeding career, but she has six named foals, including the Group 2 AAMI Vase (2040m) winner Ustinov (by Seeking The Gold (USA)), who is standing at stud in Victoria after starting his stud career in New Zealand. The imported Stakes-placed Yes I Will (b m 1996,by Danzig (USA)), Let’s Elope’s first foal, is selling in foal to More Than Ready, while Over The Moon (by Storm Cat (USA)) is on the market for $140,000 (plus GST). Yes I Will is the dam of two winners. The unraced Le t’s G e t Famous (b m 2001, by Danehill (USA)) is in foal to Red Ransom and has a price tag of $175,000 (plus GST). Her first foal Famous Canny (by Canny Lad) is a rising 3YO. Let’s Elope didn’t have a foal between 2004 and 2006, but she has produced a colt by Elvstroem in 2007 and last spring foaled a filly by that son of Danehill.
Bright finish for The Shadow Promising filly Hur tle My r tl e capped off a fine first season for young sire Dane Shadow when she won the 2YO Fillies Handicap (1200m) at Canterbury on Wednesday.
Hurtle Myrtle, by Dane Shadow, photographed as a yearling in 2008.
Hurtle Myrtle (b f 2006, exRavenswood, by Woodman (USA)) is Dane Shadow’s seventh first-crop winner (six in Australia and one in Korea). The win also was another credit for the impressive Danehill-Mr. Prospector cross, through Mr. P’s son Woodman. The recent dynamic winner Rothesay is by a son of Danehill (Redoute’s Choice) from a Woodman mare. Hurtle Myrtle comes from a successful family that originates from Hobartville Stud, Richmond, NSW – partowners of Dane Shadow – where the filly was bred. Her granddam Wings Of Peace (Bletchingly–Light Of Peace, by Pipe Of Peace) is a sister to the brilliant 1988 Group 1 Golden Slipper winner Star Watch. Trainer Matthew Smith paid $55,000 for Hurtle Myrtle at the 2008 Classic Yearling Sale. Dane Shadow (b h 2001, Danehill (USA)–Slight Chance (NZ), by Centaine) stands at Kitchwin Hills, near Scone, NSW, for a fee of $16,500 (inc. GST). He finished third on the first-season sires’ list (prizemoney earned) behind Charge Forward (by Red Ransom) and Fastnet Rock (by Danehill).
Stars to trial at Cranbourne Some of Victoria’s outstanding 3YO prospects will be trialling at Cranbourne on Monday, including the former Sydney stars Tickets (by Redoute’s Choice) and Wanted (by Fastnet Rock), who have been transferred from trainer John O’Shea to the Caulfield stables of Peter Moody, and the brilliant filly Rostova While most of the attention will be on these three spring contenders, I will be watching two fillies from the Lee Freedman yard that are on the long trail to the Group 1 VRC Oaks – Mon t Fleu r i and Swe e t L o r raine. Mont Fleuri (b f 2006, Cape Cross–Great Manners, by Rubiton) was put aside by Freedman after her impressive debut win at Caulfield on March 21. The filly, who hit the line hard under her own steam, is a natural talent and she may be more suited to the shorter Group 1 Thousand Guineas (1600m, Caulfield) than the 2500m Oaks at Flemington. The real Oaks filly looks to be Sweet Lorraine, a rangy bay filly by Encosta De Lago from Dathiyna (IRE), by Kris GB).
Sweet Lorraine is raced by Teely Assets Pty Ltd, the racing company of Sri Lankan businessman Muzaffar Ali Yaseen, who is best known as the breeder and part-owner of Redoute’s Choice. Interestingly, Sweet Lorraine is the first horse raced by Yaseen with Lee Freedman since he had Shantha’s Choice (by Canny Lad), the dam of Redoute’s Choice in 1996. Freedman picked out Shantha’s Choice, who is out of the Nijinsky mare Dancing Show (dam of Umatilla and Hurricane Sky), at the 1994 Melbourne Yearling Sales and Yaseen paid the sale’s top price of $220,000 for the filly. Freedman and Yaseen parted ways early in 1995 and the filly was moved to Gerald Ryan. She had two starts, winning at her debut at Seymour in July 1995. Sweet Lorraine looked every bit an Oaks filly when she powered over the top of Stoneblack to win over 1400m at Ballarat in March. The filly comes from one of the Aga Khan’s best families. Her granddam Dafayna (by Habitat) was a Group 3 winner at two at Royal Ascot. Dafayna is a half-sister to the Group 1 2000 Guineas winner and top sire Doyoun. This is an outstanding “milers” pedigree in Europe, but it is stout enough to carry Sweet Lorraine to the Oaks in November.
No doubt that 13 is lucky for some No t A Single D o u b t (by Redoute’s Choice) broke the three-way deadlock for Leading First Season Sire (winners) when his son Judicial (ex-Vitale Beauty, by Octogonal (NZ)) won at Gosford on Friday. The Arrowfield Stud-based stallion has sired 13 individual Australian winners, one more than Coolmore’s Fastnet Rock and Darley’s Shamardal. DANNY POWER