PRIME DISPATCH

Edition 84 – 24/09/2015 Compiled by Joe O’Neill

THE WEEK IN SPORT

Jason Day’s win in the BMW Tournament and his elevation to World Number 1 player was the absolute highlight of the week for Australian sport and continued the good run our sportsmen and women having been having in recent months.  You can’t win every time you compete but Jason’s current form is simply faultless and I hope he has a long reign at the top.  He joins two great Australian Sportsmen to have held the premier position in golf in Greg Norman and Adam Scott. We should also include Karrie Webb in this group.  She is probably Australia’s greatest ever golfer and dominated Women’s golf for many years and is still very competitive.

Australia is about to say goodbye to one of its greatest ever competitors with Leyton Hewitt set to bow out after the Australian Open in January.  He has been a great warhorse carrying the Davis Cup side on his shoulders for quite a few years.  Well done to him.  He deserves every accolade he receives. 

The AFL and NRL seasons are drawing to a close with just four sides remaining in each competition.  Good luck to our clients that support the eight clubs still in contention.  O’Neill’s tips for what they are worth are Hawthorn to play West Coast in the AFL and Melbourne to play the Roosters in the NRL Grand Finals.

The Wallabies kicked off their World Cup campaign this morning against Fiji with a solid win.  Fiji is a good side.  I’m pleased Michael Cheika decided to go with his strongest line up.  It is important Australia make a sound start to the tournament and get the momentum rolling.  It is in a difficult Grouping and the Wallabies need to win three of our four matches to get through to the quarter finals.

I must say I had a wry smile when the news Japan had beaten South Africa filtered through on Sunday morning but the standard of world Rugby is improving.  It is certain to keep a couple of staunch Springbok’s fans around Beaumaris quiet and out of sight for some time which isn’t a bad thing.

VICTORIA IN SPRING A GREAT PLACE TO VISIT

Last week I recommended you look closely at visiting the Yarra Valley during your time in Melbourne in the coming weeks.  Melbourne has some great markets with the Victoria Market the best known.  Personally I love the South Melbourne Market.  It isn’t as big as the Vic Market but the quality of fresh produce, seafood and meat on offer is hard to beat. 

South Melbourne Seafood is a terrific shop and sells the freshest fish and shellfish you are likely to find anywhere.  Their oysters are simply divine and shucked at the market.  Kirkpatrick’s is a great butcher shop.  Their lamb is outstanding and Fred Kirkpatrick is always looking for a winning tip!!!

South Melbourne Pizza Shop is located next to the fish shop and serves great pizza and excellent coffee.  Say hello to mine host Frank who raced Eramor with Prime Thoroughbreds.  He loves his racing and a chat.

There are several good restaurants including Turkish, Mexican Spanish, Seafood, Asian and numerous take away shops and delis. Check out the website and get the light rail from the city to and from the market.  It is a short journey but you won’t be disappointed.

 http://southmelbournemarket.com.au

A great way to enjoy the market is to take a good bottle of wine with you and wander around having some oysters at the seafood outlet, dumplings to die for from Mama Tran, a piece of Frank’s Pizza and then coffee at Prosser’!!!  What a day.  Make sure you don’t drive though because you may have more than one bottle of wine!!!!

THIS WEEK ON THE TRACK

We are likely to have Go Arrivederci, Annaman and Ankara Lass running over the next few days.  Currently we also have Husson Eagle, Shining Brooke, Miss De Vega, Makeadane, Atalanta Miss, Bridie’s Brook, Lamozza, Savoureux, Raido, Stimuli, Naranja and a host of other horses ready to trial or in work getting ready to race during the Spring and into the Summer. As well we have our team of 20 two year olds at varying stages of their preparations.  We are careful with these precious babies and always take the cautious approach with them although I expect we could see some action on the racetrack before Christmas.

HINCHINBROOK – PRINCESS ANNA FILLY

I wrote last week that I had purchased two fillies to be the start of our 2016 team.  The first of these is a Hinchinbrook filly out of the Encosta de Lago filly Princess Anna.  See the details on her below:Hinchinbrook filly out of Princess Anna 2014

John Thompson to train at Randwick

10% shares $7,900

5% shares $3,950

This filly is a strong nicely balanced athlete that gets around well and has a real presence about her.  She is very strong behind and through the hocks which is a characteristic of the progeny of Hinchinbrook.

She vetted out without any issues and was reared at Yarraman Park one of Australia’s most well respected boutique nurseries.

The filly is an August foal and will be broken in in February/ March of 2016 with a view to giving her every chance to run as a two year old.  She comes from a very precocious family with her dam’s ½ sister winning stakes races twice as a two year old and being placed in the $1million Gold Coast Magic Millions Two Year Old Classic.

Hinchinbrook

After I inspected the yearlings by the first season sires in 2013 I made the prediction that Hinchinbrook would be Australia’s leading first season sire.  He didn’t let me down winning the title in a field of over 50 contenders for the title.  This was a wonderful effort considering the horse didn’t serve a big book of mares and stood at a modest fee.

A lot of the credit for his success goes to the team at Yarraman Park.  The farm consistently punches above its weight with the yearlings coming off the farm setting the benchmark across our industry.  It should be remembered Yarraman Park’s I Am Invincible won the title in the previous season.

In winning the title Hinchinbrook not only got early runners but high class juveniles including the Group 1 winner Press statement and multiple stakes winner Flippant.

Hinchinbrook was a top class juvenile winning the Group III AJC Skyline Stakes and Listed Canonbury Stakes before being the first colt home when fourth to Crystal Lily in the Group I STC Golden Slipper and was then third in the Group I AJC Sires Produce Stakes.

He then trained on at three for Group I placings in the AJC All Aged Stakes, MRC Oakleigh Plate and MVRC William Reid Stakes, before being injured in the UK while preparing for Royal Ascot and retiring with earnings in excess of $590,000.

He is a three-quarter brother to leading young sire Snitzel and Group III winner Viennese by champion sire Fastnet Rock from stakes-winning sprinter Snippets’ Lass.

Snippet’s Lass was the best mare trained by Bill Mitchell while I was with him and had one of the very best pedigrees in Australia.  While she was only small in stature she was big on quality and had a heart as big as herself.

It looks as though Hinchinbrook will continue the great start he had in his first season with The most impressive trial winner to my eye to date has been the Hinchinbrook filly Divajeu at Randwick recently. 

I have been very big supporter of Hinchinbrook and have three two year old fillies at various stages of their development as well as two three year olds including Shining Brooke who is being prepared for the Spring Carnival.  Hinchinbrook really impresses me and during my visits to the Hunter over the past few months I have left each time with the feeling that he is going to be a great success at stud.  I can’t get enough of them!!!

Princess Anna

Princess Anna was by Encosta de Lago.  Princess Anna is very well related and was a $200,000 Easter yearling.  This is her first foal which I love buying.  Horses bred on this cross include the Group or Stakes winners Musir, Empress Rock, Pheidon, Killua Castle, Proisir, Beneteau, Sookie, Instinction, Essington, Mohave, Ghost, Peeping, Inner Warrior, Frespanol, Burnstone.

As I wrote earlier Princess Anna comes from a very precocious two year old family that includes the outstanding racehorses Faith Hill, Black Minx, Simply Believe, Mr Make Believe, Chosen Moment, Truly Believe, Pure Of Heart and the successful sire Lion Hunter.

It is important to note the 2nd and 3rd dams both won high class stakes races with the conversion rate of winners to runners in the first 4 dams being very good when you consider the level that they raced at.

Encosta de Lago is proving to be one of our very best broodmare sires and is currently placed 2nd behind Flying Spur on the broodmare sires list.  The previous three seasons has seen him progress from 14th to 5th to 4th and now 2nd on this highly competitive list.  His best to race this season is Japonisme. 

It isn’t surprising for him to be so well up on the list as he offers a terrific outcross to the dozens of sons and grandsons of Danehill standing here in Australia.  Encosta de Lago has also been a highly successful sire in his own right.

I am really looking forward to this filly racing and feel I purchased her well under the odds.