Raido wins at Doomben ridden by Michael Cahill

Our 1st winner for the 2015/16 Season

Raido won his 3rd race on the trot when he scored at Doomben on Exhibition Day on Wednesday.  This was a great effort with the horse unbeaten during this preparation.  He will now have a break and return for a summer campaign where he should prove to be a very good horse for us on the firmer tracks which he really is at his best on.  He also had the distinction of being our final winner for the 2014/15 season.

It was great to see Michael Cahill ride a winner for us.  Michael won our first metropolitan race on Calming in November 1999 at Eagle Farm.  He also rode Desk Top Lover to win the Grafton Cup in 2001.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Rumeron kicks things off for us at Canterbury on Wednesday with Hugh Bowman to ride the mare.  She has drawn a bit wide but this probably suits her better with her best wins being when she has had some room to move. The Canterbury surface should be perfect and we are starting to see the tracks around Sydney really starting to firm up.  Our other runners for the week are Hazy Blur at either Hawkesbury or at Taree and More Than A Rose at the Sunshine Coast on Sunday.

We have a few horses in barrier trials over the next week and should have our first runner for the season in Tasmania in the next couple of weeks with Maydena having a barrier trial today.

SPRING CARNIVAL

We got a glimpse of what is ahead of us last Saturday with the some excellent racing in Sydney and Melbourne.  This Saturday we will see some outstanding races with top class horses running.  I’m looking forward to the return of the super mare First Seal.  She is a wonderful horse and hopefully she will get some good surfaces to run on so she can display her terrific ability.

She is trained by our Randwick trainer John Thompson who looks like having a strong spring.  He turned out a really good prospect last Saturday at Rosehill in the French import Orbec.  Put him in your black book.  He also has a very good filly in his Brisbane Stable named Honesta.  It will be interesting to see if she heads south.  She has been outstanding in her two wins since the start of the season. I was at his stable last week and his horses look superb.  Hooked is another of John’s horses that looks in fantastic shape.  We now have five horses with John who has done a sterling job to reinvent himself after the demise of Nathan Tinkler’s thoroughbred empire.

The Prime trainers have started the season off strongly with Darren Weir on top of the Australian Trainers Premiership and Kris Lees and Tony Gollan in equal 3rd spot at present.

As we get closer to the carnival I will be giving a few more thoughts on horses you should look at following.  My early feel is that the Sydney horses appear stronger than the Victorians but it is early days and we are still two weeks until spring starts.  I hope it arrives in Melbourne sooner rather than later.

TWO YEAR OLD RACING

I have been speaking with my spies around the place and I am getting very good mail about Smart Missile’s two year olds.  We are still a few weeks away from the first two year old races of the season.  We will soon start to see the first two year old barrier trials and I am looking forward to them.  We have a couple of yearlings that may well run before Christmas but as is the case with our young horses we don’t push then unless they are ready.  We have plenty of activity around our babies at present as they go through our system.  Here is a quick summary of where they are at.

Montana Pines and Husson Boots, both by Husson are in work in Toowoomba with Tony Gollan.  Kris Lees has the I Am Invincible fillies Surprise Me and Isthmian in work in Newcastle as well as the Husson colt Michaud. 

Tony McEvoy has the Husson colt Quirion going through his strides at Hawkesbury.  Patrick Payne has Hussy’s Glow (Hussonet) and Invincible Al (I Am Invincible) in work at Plumpton.  He also has the Hinchinbrook filly out of Velasco learning the ropes. 

John Moloney has the Hinchinbrook filly Flying Jess back in the stable and Charlie Goggin has Strike For Victory (Smart Missile) and Husson’s Kiss (Husson) learning their trade at Runnymede in Tasmania.

As well as these we have another six out spelling or in pre-training. This crop of yearlings are the best credentialed we have ever purchased and combined with our three year olds we have 35 young horses on our books which points to us having a strong couple of years ahead.

SHARES AVAILABLE – FILLING QUICKLY

Smart Missile filly out of Pride Of Pine 2013

10% shares @ $12,500 (5% @ $6,250)

Kris Lees to train

This filly is a strong well balanced athlete that will continue to go forward as she commences breaking in at about the end of June.  She has a great hindquarter and is without doubt the best credentialed filly I have ever offered for syndication. 

She is a ¾ sister to the outstanding 3year old filly Lone Rock and winner of the Group 1 SAJC Goodwood Handicap.

The filly is also a ¾ sister to Pride Rock the VRC Riverside Handicap and Lucia Bella which was trained by Kris Lees and displayed great ability before going amiss.

The filly has many upsides including:

As the ¾ sister to a Group 1 winner she has residual value and if she were to gain black type would be an extremely valuable breeding proposition after she completed her racing career.

She comes from a great female line that includes some of the best mares in the Australian Stud book, Procrastinate, Personify, Galapagos Girl.

There are quite of number of well-bred fillies high up on the page that should continue to see the pedigree page continue to improve.

SMART MISSILE

I was confident after starting to inspect the weanlings and then yearlings of Smart Missile that he would make it as a sire and he is my pick to be Leading First Season Sire in 2015/16 season.

He has almost every important characteristic I look for in a potential sire.  In his case these are:

He has a great pedigree coming from a strong female line that consistently produces black type horses that compete at the highest level. 

His dam is a ½ brother to the outstanding young sire Northern Meteor who gave us a glimpse of his great ability as a sire in the three crops that have raced.

He had explosive speed and was an exceptional two years old.  This is very important in Australia.

He is by Fastnet Rock and represents the most successful sire line ever seen in Australia with his grandsire being the great Danehill.

Importantly for a son of Fastnet Rock he isn’t too big.  In fact he isn’t unlike Australia’s current leading first season sire Hinchinbrook, also by Fastnet Rock in this regard.

He was selected to stand at Arrowfield Stud by John Messara.  Studs always don’t get it right when standing sires but Arrowfield under Messara’s stewardship haven’t made too many mistakes when standing a new horse.

Smart Missile is Australian bred and competed at the highest level in this country in our harsh conditions.  I can never understate how important this is.  If you want to confirm just how important this characteristic is have a look at the leading sire’s tables.

ARROWFIELD’S TAKE ON SMART MISSILE

Overview

The most popular first season sire in many years, Smart Missile retired to stud in 2012 having captured the imagination of the racing industry with his undiluted brilliance. Smart Missile first revealed his devastating turn of foot when he won the Breeders’ Plate on debut.

That raw speed was displayed time and time again over his next five starts with several victories over previously unbeaten future G1 stars Sepoy and Foxwedge.

By Fastnet Rock from a half-sister to promising young sire Northern Meteor, it is no surprise Smart Missile is considered a most exciting prospect.

Superstar Colt of his Generation

Smart Missile, the brightest star of his generation, began his stud career in 2012 at Arrowfield Stud with outstanding support from Australian breeders.

The brilliant son of leading sire Fastnet Rock was unbeaten at two, defeated all his closest rivals at Group 2, Group 3 and Listed level, and was Group 1-placed at three in a six-start, 12-month career.

Smart Missile first caught the public eye with a sparkling trial win in September 2010, then came out on debut to win the AJC Breeders’ Plate 1000m LR by a decisive 1.5 lengths, despite being slowly away and racing very greenly in the straight. Runners behind him included subsequent ATC Hobartville S. G2 winner Wild and Proud and G1 performers Darci Be Good and Induna.

Industry Quotes

"In our view, he was clearly the best two-year-old of a stellar generation, with the best of him not seen at three. Smart Missile made the impossible look easy, and in our view it’s that X factor which separates the exceptional from the merely outstanding."
- John Messara