Isthmian as a yearling

Won her maiden in good style on Saturday

I was thrilled to see Isthmian break her maiden on Saturday at Port Macquarie. I purchased her privately from Yarraman Park and she is pictured above the day I purchased her. She is by Yarraman’s champion sire I Am Invincible and had displayed terrific potential as a two year old but mentally wasn’t ready for the pressure of racing. She was beautifully ridden by Robert Thompson on Saturday and can now hopefully go on to give her owners plenty of pleasure on the racetrack.

I love this time of the year when the first two year olds start to step out and hit the track. I have inspected many of them at the sales and it is always interesting to see how they have come since being sold earlier in the year. I am particularly interested to see how the first season sires progeny are performing. Obviously I have an opinion on each given my assessments of the yearlings I had inspected and also feedback I get from our trainers and from the many breeders I have contact with.

In any year up to 30% of foals born are by first season sires with many of our best mares going to these stallions so it is crazy not to closely look at the progeny of these horses. After all, the studs standing these horses are taking a huge risk with each of them. The rewards for the stud owners for getting it right by standing a successful sire and immeasurable and can set them up for many generations.

I am of the opinion the Yearling Sales in 2017 will be very strong and may even set new records. To prepare myself for these sales which are so important to us I have allocated more time to visit the studs leading into the first sale in January at the Gold Coast where we have the great Magic Millions week.

On Wednesday I will be in Tasmania and inspecting some yearlings to be sold at next year’s sales before heading to the races in Launceston where we have Bella Venus and Tough Vic running. On next Monday I am visiting Newhaven Stud to inspect the Delago Deluxe yearlings.

ON THE TRACK

We have a busy week with last start winner Makeadane kicking things off at Doomben on Wednesday, Bella Venus and Tough Vic in Launceston that night, Savoureux with Tye Angland up heads to the Group 3 Nivison Stakes at Randwick on Saturday, Flying Jess to Caulfield with Brenton Avdulla booked to ride and More Than A Rose with Daniel Griffin riding resuming at the Gold Coast. Some nice horses in this group.

It is hard to believe that the Flemington Carnival starts in less than three weeks with Derby Day on 29 October. It has really creeped up on us with the football season finishing a week later than normal. I can’t get my head around the Melbourne Cup and I have no idea who is running. Hopefully after Saturday we will get a clearer picture of the great race’s make up.

MELBOURNE CUP WEEK DRINKS

We will be having drinks at Proper And Son at the South Melbourne Markets on Sunday night before the Cup. Our host for the night will be Irish chef Eugene Lavery with him likely to produce some gems for you to taste and as usual we will have some fine wine on offer.

his function is for ‘Clients only’ as I expect a good roll up and want to be able to spend time with our many of you during this great week of racing.

I am expecting that we will have a few runners during Cup week with the Stakes winners Hijack Hussy, Savoureux and Flying Jess leading the way but we may have a couple of other runners depending on how the marbles fall in the meantime.

STABLE VISITS

The visit to Darren Weir’s Stable was a cracker and I’m certain the big group of owners who attended left the stable in awe of just what a well-oiled machine DK Weir’s operation is. There is no doubt who runs the operation with Darren in complete control of the stable with his results speaking volumes not only for his ability but also the team he has assembled around him.

We had owners come from as far as Cairns for the day and I sensed that many there were not only proud to have a horse trained by Darren but also privileged to have him spend a couple of hours with him.

We have four horses in work with Darren including Hijack Hussy. The mare looks great and is on track to run on Cup day. The other three are the three year old colt Banachek and two, two year old fillies by I Am Invincible.

Darren Weir has done a remarkable job with Hell Bent and Voodoo Lad by I Am Invincible and has an almost impeccable record with progeny of the Sire with five of the six he has trained being winners. I am planning to purchase Darren three yearlings at next year’s sales series.

We are having a Sausage Sizzle at John Thompson’s Randwick Stable on 16 October commencing at 11am. John’s Stable address is at Randwick Racecourse with the entry being through the laneway next to 20 High Street. There is a John Thompson Racing sign and you can either drive in or park in High Street and walk in. There will be a person at the entrance to direct you in. It should be another great day and I have been very pleased with the large numbers of our clients taking the opportunity to attend the visits we have held over the past couple of months.

In the almost 20 years our company has existed we have only ever had about a dozen trainers but I am very confident we have the balance right and couldn’t be happier with our eight trainers. They do a remarkable job for us. Cattonar, Right Dress, Quirion and the Savabeel colt out of On Broadway will be paraded. Again this is a great opportunity to meet John and some of his staff in a relaxed environment.

 John is a remarkable trainer and has been involved with over 40 Group 1 winners and has Sir John Hawkwood, a last start winner of the Metropolitan running in the Caulfield Cup on Saturday. We also have Makeadane, Reneged and More Than A Rose are in work with John at his Gold Coast Stable and Ankara Lass is in pre-training. We are building up a nice team of horses with John and I will be looking at purchasing him two or three yearlings next year. I like the fact that not only is he a terrific trainer operating out of Randwick but he has a very effective satellite stable at the Gold Coast run by Rod Craig who is also a highly accomplished and well respected trainer in his own right.

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. Kris has been in Melbourne putting the final touches on Lucia Valentina for her assault on the Cox Plate. If we get a wet track and it is very likely we will get one given the ordinary spring we are having in Melbourne the mare will become a major player. Exciting stuff