The past week has been good to us with Shining Brooke winning and Annaman, Go Arrivederci and Lomazzo running second.  We had a run of second placings since Reneged's good win at the Sunshine Coast and it was pleasing to see Shining Brooke break the cycle.  

Reneged certainly backed up his strong win at the Sunshine Coast with a solid performance in the Group 2 Queensland Guineas where he finished just 2.2 lengths behind the winner. It isn’t an easy task for horses to effectively jump out of Class 1 company into a Group 2 race and be competitive. He will now head to the Sunshine Coast Guineas and perhaps the Grafton Guineas before having a break.  I have a huge opinion of him with him still a long way off being fully mature.

I really felt for Awasita and her owners when she missed the start 6 lengths in the Listed Lightning Handicap at Doomben.  She ran home strongly in the straight and her effort was full of merit.  She's not far off a win and will probably have her next run at Rosehill on 2 July.

MICHELLE PAYNE

I had a good chat with Michelle on Friday night and she was in good spirits.  She has moved back to Ballarat with her Dad and said she was getting stronger each day.  She has a wonderful attitude and was looking forward to getting on with her career.  We will certainly continue to support her.    

THE YARRAMAN BOYS ARE ON FIRE

Any stud in the world would like to stand two horses of the calibre of I Am Invincible and Hinchinbrook.  The Mitchell boys at Yarraman Park have done a remarkable job with these two outstanding horses.  They understand better than most that Australian racing is about speed with a vast majority of our races up to 1600 metres.  The racing world also recognises that we breed some of the best sprinters in the world and these two outstanding young sires have already made their mark on the wider audience.

I Am Invincible's effort to be Australia and New Zealand Champion first season sire in the 2013/14 Season followed up by his 2nd placing in the 2014/15 Season and now leading 3rd Season Sire in Australia and New Zealand in the current season has pushed aside any doubts his progeny were only going to be fast two year olds.  

Interestingly, he leads Tavistock, the boom horse from New Zealand whose figures may be a little distorted with Tarzino earning in excess of $1.6 million in stakes money.  Currently there are only four sires in the Australian Top 30 which boast a better than 50% winners to runners for the current season.  These are Not A Single Doubt, Redoute’s Choice, Magnus and I Am Invincible.  The unfortunate reality of these impressive figures is that it will be difficult to buy the progeny of I Am Invincible that I like in the future.

At this stage I expect I only have the one 10% share remaining in the I Am Invincible Cathead filly with Kris Lees.  I have included more information on her later in this Dispatch.  She is a beautiful filly and closely related to Champion galloper Mahogany.  What a horse he was.  

Mahogany won eight Group 1 races including the AJC Derby, VRC Derby, VATC Caulfield Guineas, QTC Castlemaine Stakes, VRC Australian Guineas, VRC Lightning Stakes (twice) and the QTC Sire’s Produce Stakes.  He was also placed in the MVRC Cox Plate, MVRC Austalia Day Stakes, VRC Australian Cup and the VATC Underwood Cup, all Group 1 races.      

I dare to write it but Hinchinbrook may well be a better sire than his illustrious stud mate at Yarraman. He too was Champion first season sire in the year following I Am Invincible and like I Am Invincible has really gone on with the job this season.  In fact his dominance is a bit embarrassing for the other sires of his year.

Look at these statistics.  2014/15 Season Leading First Season Sire in Australia and New Zealand with most Listed wins in including the Group 1 winner Press Statement.  2015/16 Season Leading Second Season Sire in Australia and NZ with $4,075,187 in stakes earnings.  This is $2,145,661 more than his nearest competitor Star Witness.  His progeny have won 10 stakes races this season six more than his nearest rival Beneteau who unfortunately is dead.  

Hinchinbrook is set to become a dominant sire in the years ahead and I am pleased I was able to purchase seven fillies by him before they went through the roof.  We have already tasted Stakes success with Flying Jess winning the Group 3 SAJC Sires Produce Stakes and our most recent winner Shining Brooke is by Hinchinbrook as well.  The last of these fillies is on the market with John Thompson to train.  Details are available on her later in this dispatch.  

STABLE VISIT JOHN MOLONEY

We will be having visit to John Moloney’s Stable on Sunday 3 July 2016 with light refreshments provided.  All our clients are invited to meet John and his staff and more information will be available as we get closer.  

The SAJC Sire’s Produce Stakes winner Flying Jess, Maldicion and the Sebring filly I purchased for John should be at the stable.

John’s had great run recently and consistently punches above his weight.  I was pleased to see Sea Spray who finished 2nd to Hijack Hussy at Flemington back in the winner’s circle.

MAGIC MILLIONS NATIONAL SALE

I purchased a Snitzel filly out of the Anabaa mare Signoret for Darren Weir. Full details will be available next week but she is a very athletic filly.  Signoret is a ½ sister to a handy galloper El Tegra we syndicated.
It is my intention to continue to build up our numbers of horses based in Victoria. We have three very good trainers in the state with Darren, Patrick Payne and John Moloney doing an excellent job for us.  It will be interesting to see if Darren can break the Australian record for the number of winners in a season.  With just under six weeks to go he looks to have a great chance with him needing just 22.5 winners to equal the record set by John Hawkes in 2002/03 season when backed by the Ingham Empire.

ON THE TRACK

Tomorrow Bridie’s Brook makes her debut for Kris Lees in Newcastle and on Saturday Raido heads to Randwick. We are set to have a big number of runners in early July although our numbers will be down in Victoria for the next six weeks.  I’m not too keen to run our horses on the bottomless tracks we can expect due to the forecast above average rainfall over winter. RVL must be pleased they have the two artificial tracks to fall back on.

NATIONAL JOCKEY’S TRUST LUNCHEON

Over the past few weeks we certainly have been reminded of the dangerous job being a jockey can be with bad falls in NSW and Victoria.  It probably hit home a bit more for many of our owners with Michelle Payne being injured in a bad fall at Mildura.

I certainly recommend you attend the National jockey’s Trust Luncheon on 19 July as a mark of your appreciation for the job the jockeys do for us.

The National Jockey’s Trust do a great job raising funds to help jockeys and their families who are doing it tough through injury or in some cases where the rider was killed in an accident.  There is no more dangerous profession that being a jockey and the risk their lives each time they ride one of our horses.  

The Trust conducts several functions each year to raise funds and their annual luncheon is being held at Caulfield on 19 July at a cost of $195 per head.

If you wish to attend please forward your attendance with the number of tickets you require to:

primethoroughbreds@hotmail.com

I will forward out details and accounts once I have final numbers.  I will be closing the function off on 31 June 2016.

The function will be held in the The Skyline Level of the Rupert Clarke Grandstand and the package includes:

• Entertainment Jim Cassidy to speak
• 4-course meal (Entree, Main, Dessert, Afternoon Tea)
• Premium Beverage package (Beer, Wine, Sparkling, Soft Drink)
• Guest Speakers
• Raffle & Auction Items
• Enjoy the day with leading former jockeys
• Racebook on Arrival
• Racecourse Entry
• Reserved Grandstand Seating

 FEATURED SHARES

Hinchinbrook filly out of Kiss ‘n Chase 2014, John Thompson to train at Randwick

10 shares @ $7,900 each

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 has been broken in and is currently spelling.  I intend inspecting her in mid July with a view to putting her into work.

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, our filly and Group 3 winner Flying Jess, multiple stakes winner Flippant and stakes winners Samara Dancer and the unbeaten filly Whispering Brook.

The success he enjoyed in his 1st season has continued on with him clearly leading the 2nd Season Sire’s Title with his progeny earning almost double that of his nearest rival.

Hinchinbrook’s conversion rate of winners to stakes winners is exceptional with 14.6% of his winners converting up to stakes winners.  This compares with Fastnet Rock 12.6%, Snitzel, Street Cry12.8%, Written Tycoon 4.8% and Not A Single Doubt 8%. 

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.

I have been very big supporter of Hinchinbrook and have seven of his daughters on our books including the SAJC Group 3 winner Flying Jess.  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!!!

Kiss ‘n Chase

Kiss ‘n Chase is by Red Ransom whose daughters when crossed with Danehill line sires being very good.  Some of the horses with this cross include Roll Out The Carpet, Red Ruler, Vavasour, Vilanova, Ovidio, Chance By, Secret Agenda, Reparations and Cape Kidnappers.

Kiss ‘n Chase was a good race mare winning four races and running 4th in the Listed AJC HB Carr Stakes.  She is a full sister to Kick ‘n Chase a winner of 4 races with $$252,540 in stakes earnings.  

Kiss ‘n Chase’s first foal is by Northern Meteor and heading to John Size in Hong Kong.  He recently won a trial and the information we are getting is that he has very good ability.  The 2nd also by Northern Meteor is trained by Laurie Mayfield Smith and he reports he is very happy with her.  

The first four dams on this page have had 22 foals race for 19 winners.

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