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SPRING / SUMMER RACING YEAR IN REVIEW Article by Trevor Marshallsea | Photos courtesy of Bradley Photos
Whichever way you look it, 2022-23 was another bumper season for New South Wales - in prizemoney, revenue, and most importantly, for the state to show it remains head and shoulders above the rest as the heart of nation’s breeding scene. Of the 75 Group 1 races conducted in the season, 47 were won by horses bred in Australia. And of those 47, no fewer than 33 came from the country’s oldest state. That was up from 30 in 2021-22, when there was one less G1. And of those 75 top tier events of last season, no fewer than 40 were won by horses whose sires stood in NSW in the spring of 2022, with New Zealand accounting for 18 and Victoria six. The NSW figure was a stark increase on 30 the previous season. Aside from that, Australia’s richest race - the $15 million Everest - was claimed by Giga Kick, whose sire Scissor Kick stood in the Hunter Valley, at Arrowfield Stud, before being exported. Those 40 G1s for NSW sires were shared by 18 stallions, with Darley’s Street Boss taking the lion’s share of six, thanks to his superstar son Anamoe and his stunning successes in the Winx, George Main, Might And Power, Chipping Norton and Ryder Stakes, and of course his crowning achievement in the Cox Plate. Next came a very even spread of honours, with five sires dead-heating for second with three G1 wins each. Coolmore boasted two in So You Think and Pride Of Dubai, while there was also Yarraman Park’s secondtime champion sire I Am Invincible, Vinery’s All Too Hard, and Arrowfield’s Dundeel.
Anamoe
All Too Hard’s came through the one imposing vehicle - Alligator Blood - who took the Underwood and Futurity Stakes at Sandown, and the Champions Mile at Flemington, while the other four dead-heaters had a pair of G1 winners each. I Am Invincible’s flag was flown by In Secret’s wins up the Flemington straight in the Coolmore Stud Stakes and Newmarket Handicap, and by the flying Imperatriz in Moonee Valley’s William Reid. Dundeel had his two-year-old CV further boosted by Militarize’s victories in the ATC Sires’ Produce and Champagne Stakes, and his staying blood borne out by Dunkel in the South Australian Derby.
Giga Kick
In Secret Spring / Summer Racing Year in Review
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