Great Southern (Husson – Bel Mer) pictured here as a yearling scored a strong win at only his second start and now heads to town!!!

Darren Weir decided to take Great Southern to Mildura to get a firm surface for him on a grass track and all was going to plan when final declarations were declared at 730am with us running on a good 4.  Not long after 20ml of rain fell and we finished up on a Soft 7 which wasn’t in the script.  In any case the downgrade made no difference with Great Southern looking very good winning easily.  

He was the most expensive yearling I had ever purchased when I secured him for $240,000 at the 2015 Inglis Easter Sale.  He is a cracking type of a colt and he will now probably head to Sandown on 7 September.  It is always exciting at this time of the year when nice three year olds start to put up their hoof to be given the opportunity in tougher assignments.

In other news the SAJC Sire’s Produce winner Flying Jess is scheduled to trial tomorrow and Savoureux is on track to run on 10 September in the Sheraco Stakes. Savoureux has put together quite a record and is already a Group 3 and Listed winner.  We have an ambitious programme for her that may see her head to Melbourne should her form warrant it.  Earlier in the year when she ran 3rd in the Triscay Stakes at Randwick her closing 600m was quicker the Winx ran earlier in the day which gave us an indication of her ability.

Hijack Hussy is coming along nicely for Darren Weir with her likely to run at Flemington during Cup week and then onto Sandown with the Summoned Stakes her likely target.  Husson Eagle and Invincible Al are back in work with Patrick Payne after spelling at Yarraman Park.  Both did very well during their break.  

A number of our babies are going through our system with them looking a likely bunch. I don’t like to get ahead of myself with any of our horses particularly the two year olds as they are always one gallop away from going shin sore but at this stage I couldn’t be happier.

ON THE TRACK

Awasita needs a good barrier on Saturday at Caulfield!!!

We only look like having three runners this week with Awasita heading to Caulfield for the Group 3 Cockram Stakes and Naranja venturing north to Doomben for a suitable race.  Hussy’s Glow is likely to run at Donald where she should get a good chance to break her maiden.  

The metropolitan three year old races at this time of the year are quite strong with trainers trying to qualify their charges for the bigger races during the Carnival.  I am of the opinion the Sydney three year old form is stronger than Melbourne but you only need a couple of youngsters to put up their hand to change this situation.  

I update our Website, Facebook page and our Twitter account almost on a daily basis.  Check these out at Prime Thoroughbreds Pty Ltd for Facebook, @JoefromPrime for Twitter and of course primethoroughbreds.com.au

OLYMPICS

I thought our Olympic Team did a great job to finish in 10th place on the medal count.  Our media are too quick to brand a new athlete a rising superstar and put far too much pressure on these young people many of whom are only teenagers.

Speaking of superstars on the horizon!!!  I watched Curtis Luck win the Us Amateur Golf Championship and he is a great young golfer and looks to have a bright future.  Hopefully our best men golfers will represent Australia in the Tokyo Olympics.

STABLE VISITS

We are visiting Darren Weir’s Ballarat Stable on Sunday 25 September at 11 am.  More details as we get closer.

We are having a Sausage Sizzle at John Thompson’s Randwick Stable on 16 October commencing at 10am.

We will also be visiting Kris Lees Ellalong Farm with this visit also including Christmas drinks for our NSW clients.  I’ll send through the details once we have a firm date.    

We have some terrific horses with these three trainers and many will be available to be inspected on these visits.  The visits to John Moloney, Patrick Payne and Tony Gollan’s stables have been very well received.

FOOTBALL FINALS

Good luck to our owners who have teams they follow competing in the upcoming football finals.  In particular our best wishes go to Anthony Don who plays for the Gold Coast Titans.  The Titans performances this season have been terrific considering the turmoil the club has faced during the past couple of years and Neil Henry and his team deserve a special mention.  They have done a remarkable job.

It is great to see the Melbourne Storm going so well and a special thank you to South Sydney for beating Cronulla Sutherland on Monday night which almost certainly will see ‘The Mighty Storm’ as Minor Premiers.   

I’m not as confident about the Hawks heading into the AFL Final’s Series but wish them well.  

I’d like to write something about the Wallabies but after their performance on Saturday Night against The All Blacks I’m at a loss to write anything except well done to our NZ clients who no doubt are quietly enjoying their ‘century’ in the sun.

RACING.COM AND MORE

I was interested to see Scott Perrin the CEO of Racing.com resigned on Monday.  Part of his brief was to head up the Racing.com free to air television channel.  

While I can understand the reasoning behind why the Racing.com television station was established I’m not so sure that our industry can sustain two entities with Sky Channel covering all other meetings outside Victoria.  

I wish all parties would get together and deliver a premium channel that covers the main meeting each day from NSW, Victoria, Queensland and SA.  Personally I have had enough of flicking channels to try and keep up with racing in the different states.

All other meetings could be covered on a 2nd channel which would also cover good meetings across all the states and territories as well as from overseas.

I would hate to guess what the financial cost of setting up Racing.com has been to the industry in Victoria!!!

YEARLINGS ON OFFER

This week I will highlight the Hinchinbrook filly out of Kiss ‘N Chase.

HINCHINBROOK FILLY OUT OF KISS ‘N CHASE BOBS ELIGIBLE

John Thompson to train at Randwick, 10 shares @ $7,900 each

The filly

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 thoroughbred nurseries.

The filly has been broken in and is currently spelling.  She is due back into work in early August.

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.  He has continued on and has blitzed his opposition and will be the Champion 2nd Season Sire as well.

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 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 12.5% of his winners converting up to stakes winners.  This compares with Fastnet Rock 12.7% and is superior to Snitzel 10.6% and Not A Single Doubt 8.2%.  

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 three two year old fillies at various stages of their development as well as two three year olds and two yearlings.  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!!!

We have had terrific success with these including Flying Jess which won the Group 3 SAJC Sires Produce Stakes recently.  Shining Brooke has also displayed good ability winning twice.

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.