One of the men most impressed by the credentials of the young Not A Single Doubt was successful trans-Tasman trainer Graeme Rogerson who paid $210,000 for him at the 2003 Magic Millions Yearling Sale at which he had been consigned by his breeder Arrowfield Stud. It didn’t take the colt long to come to hand under Rogerson’s care and he got his racing career off to a flying start by winning three races that same year, ridden every time by the trainers compatriot Larry Cassidy. His first two victories (in a two-year-olds handicap at Rosehill and in the inaugural Strawberry Hill Slipper Stakes at Wyong, where he set a new track record for the 1000m of 56.21) were good. He chased home a good horse on each occasion, with Rogerson’s subsequent Caulfield Guineas winner Econsul filling the runner-up’s spot at Rosehill and Oratorio (who had already won a Listed race at Moonee Valley and who would subsequently score in GROUP 3 company at the same track) taking second place at Wyong. Not A Single Doubts third win was even more significant: he landed his first stakes victory when taking the Canonbury Stakes over 1000m at Randwick,which at that stage was run in December but which now takes place later in the season in February.

Not A Single Doubt had two more starts that season and, while he didn’t win either, he ran well in very good company both times. He finished second to the subsequent Golden Slipper winner Dance Hero in the Magic Millions Classic at the Gold Coast before finishing fourth to Charge Forward (who now stands alongside him at Arrowfield) in the GROUP 2 Todman Slipper Trial at Rosehill. Unfortunately, after that latter race Not A Single Doubt was found to be sore in his off-fore leg, so April 2004 saw him heading off for a spell rather than contesting the Slipper itself.

Just as John Messara had correctly identified Redoutes Choice as a good stallion prospect at a similar stage of that horses racing career, so he stepped in at this juncture to secure the right eventually to stand Not A Single Doubt. Interestingly, although Arrowfield is a New South Welsh operation,Messara took the decision that Not A Single Doubt should thenceforth be trained in Victoria, announcing that September that there was such a solid programme for sprinters in the second half of the season in Melbourne that, now that the horse was ready to return to training after his spell, he would be best placed to capitalize on these races if he were trained down here. He consequently joined the Caulfield stable of Tony Vasil who had sent out the Danehill colt Elvstroem to win the previous season’s Victoria Derby.

Ironically, bearing in mind that Not A Single Doubt had been sent to Melbourne because he would be racing there, his first start for Vasil didn’t even take place in Australia, never mind in Victoria; the trainer dispatched him to New Zealand at the end of the year for New Zealand’s premier sprint, the Railway Handicap at Ellerslie on New Year’s Day 2005. As a three-year-old who had never won a GROUP race, he was given a light weight (51.5) but unfortunately that turned out not to be light enough as he could only finish seventh of the 14 runners under leading Kiwi jockey Lisa Cropp.

Having been thrown in at the deep end against older horses in GROUP 1 company on his resumption, Not A Single Doubt found things much more to his liking on his second start for Vasil;opposed only by his fellow three-year-olds in Listed company, he posted a smooth victory in the Zeditave Stakes at his home track at the end of the month under Kerrin McEvoy. After that confidence-boosting success Not A Single Doubt was returned to GROUP company for his final three starts that Summer/Autumn. Unfortunately for his connections, he proved unable to land that all-important GROUP race victory, but he still showed enough to suggest that, had they persevered indefinitely, he would have been good enough to register a victory in such class. His second place against his contemporaries in the GROUP 3 Schweppes Cup over 1400m at Caulfield was particularly good as the winner Shinzig ultimately proved good enough to win the GROUP 1 weight-for-age company; and while he was out of his depth when contesting GROUP 1 weight-for-age races, he was taking on outstanding horses on each occasion. His sixth place in the 15 runner C.F.Orr Stakes at Caulfield came behind Elvstroem and Savabeel (horses trained,ironically,by Vasil and Rogerson respectively) while, although he only beat one of his nine rivals in the Newmarket Handicap at Flemington, it was a vintage edition of that race, dominated by the outstanding three-year-olds Alinghi,Fastnet Rock and Foreplay.

Not A Single Doubt,then,clearly had the ability to win GROUP races. However, the economics of the stallion industry meant that the obvious safe course of action was to retire him at the end of that preparation and take him home to Arrowfield,where he could cover a three figure book of mares at a fee of $12,500 (plus GST) as a four-year-old in the Spring of 2005,rather than continue to take his chances with the vagaries of fate on the racecourse. He would obviously have been able to command a higher fee had he won a GROUP race, but he had at least shown himself to be a GROUP class sprinter, and a precocious one too. As such, he was clearly going to appeal to breeders trying to produce yearlings for the type of sales, such as the Magic Millions, at which there are always plenty of buyers with good money to spend on potentially sharp youngsters. Furthermore, such breeders and yearling-buyers would be encouraged by Not A Single Doubt’s pedigree, as well as by his form.

Not A Single Doubt has done an outstanding job at stud and is only getting better and better. He has just sired his 32nd Stakes winner when Single Gaze won the GROUP 3 Arrowfield Classic at Kembla Grange recently and has produced 3 GROUP 1 Winners in EXTREME CHOICE (Trained by Mick Price), GOOD PROJECT and MIRACLES OF LIFE. Apart from these outstanding gallopers Not A Single Doubt’s list of credits include GYPSY DIAMOND, VILLA VERDE,CASTLETHORPE,DON’T DOUBT MAMMA,DOUBTFUL JACK,KARUTA QUEEN,SECRET AGENDA,SQUAMOSA etc. He is currently Australia’s leading Stallion by both Winners AND Prizemoney with big leads in both and his averages at the sales are only going one way and that is up averaging 200,000 at the 2016 Magic Millions Sales and selling up to $650,000!

The mare Touched By God has done a super job at stud having produced 5 winners from her 6 foals to race and includes the Japanese GROUP performed OCEANIA BOSS. Our filly comes from arguably the best pedigree in the Studbook descending from the great Nine Carat family that includes such Champion GROUP 1 Winners as OCTAGONAL,MARQUISE,SHOWER OF ROSES,DON EDUARDO,TRISTALOVE,VIKING RULER,DE BEERS,VISCOUNT,KAAPSTAD,MOUAWAD,DANEWIN,SHOOTING TO WIN,BONANOVA,TELESTO,FRATERNITY-the list just goes on and on and on! This filly has an outstanding family that continues to throw winners through all dams including GROUP winners which is one of my strict criteria to selecting horse pedigrees as common sense would tell you that if a family does NOT have a history of producing winners it is highly unlikely to start doing so. I am so excited to have purchased this filly which meets all the necessary criteria to be throwing the percentages our way and proud for her to becoming under the United Syndications banner!

The filly will be trained at Caulfield by Mick Price who is currently one of Melbourne’s and indeed Australia’s top city trainers. His association with Rustic Dream,Slavonic,Red Dazzler, Perfectly Ready, Pompeii Ruler,Shinzig,Rubiscent,Light Fantastic,Alamosa,Gallica,Bel Mer,Heart Of Dreams,Velocitea,Samaready,Aloha,Lankan Rupee,Tarzino and Extreme Choice have well and truly cemented Mick into the elite GROUP 1 club.Mick’s city winners this season include Sailing By,Tajenka,Secret Agenda, Celtic Tiger,Tarzino,Badawiya,Mefnooda,Invincible Heart,Harveys True Heart,Berlutti,Twisting Typhoon,Yulong Baby, Volcanic Ash, Duke Of Brunswick, Mighty Like,Sheeza Commander, Extreme Choice, Top Ravine, Flying Artie and our very own United Syndication horses in ONPICALO and LE BONSIR (to 12/3/16).