Hijack Hussy retired from the track stakes earnings $304,650 Purchased for $62,500 2013 Magic Millions Gold Coast Sale

Our policy over the years of purchasing more fillies than colts has seen many of our clients receive a nice dividend at the completion of their mare’s racing careers. Horses like Calming, Unabated, Hidden Wonder and Unchain My Heart in particular were sold for good money when their racing days were over. For most of our clients racing is a hobby and there are not many hobbies where you get the opportunity to receive something back in a financial sense. It doesn’t always work but it is nice when it does.

I’m tipping we will get our biggest ever result when Hijack Hussy is sold at the Gold Coast National Sale in late May. The stakes winning daughter of Hussonet is from a Redoute’s Choice mare. Hussonet mares are in great demand with his daughters throwing stakes winners all over the world. In fact his daughters have 113 stakes horses to their credit.

Hijack Hussy comes from the immediate family of Wandjina, Zoometric, Discreet, Masked Party, Lucky Unicorn, Dracula, Sash, Provence, Inspiration, Banaadeer, My Admiration, Festal and Branigan. All these horses are stakes winners with Inspiration and My Admiration being outstanding horses in Hong Kong and Banaadeer wining at Stakes level in Hong Kong. Many of the horses listed her were either winners or placed at Group 1 level. Awasita and Strike For Victory will be sold at the same sale. Both these mares are well related with Awasita being a very good racemare and Strike For Victory a ¾ sister to the WA Sire’s Produce winner Deballatio.

WHAT A WEEK

There certainly has been a lot going on over the past week. The big story is John O’Shea moving on from Godolphin. I thought john did a very good job for the them winning 550 races and 10 Group 1 races. Timing is one of the most important things in sport and John may have been a shade unlucky that Winx came on the scene at about the same time as he took over the reigns of the massive operation.

The Godolphin heirarchy probably thought they could be a dominant force in the higher end WFA races in Australia but Winx has dominated these races for a couple of years and provided she stays sound could well do so for at least another 12 months. It is irronic she is by one of their sires in Street Cry. The other issue has been the lack of performance by their sires. Currently no Darley horse apart from Street Cry who is deceased is in the top 10 on the sires list with their best performer being Hard Spun at 14 on the list. An operation like Darley need their young sires firing and the two most high profile in Sepoy and Helmet haven’t set the world on fire. In fact in the top 10 on the two and three year old lists only Exceed And Excel features coming in at 8th on the 2 years old list. I must say I do like Epaulette and Brazen Beau as sire prospects.

It will be interesting to see how Godolphin now structure their racing operation. I wouldn’t be surprised to see it split into NSW and Victorian stables. Lee Freedman would be my tip to take over the Victorian stable with the NSW appointment up in the air. No doubt all will be revealed in the next few days.

Well done to Tasracing for deciding to rebuild the Hobart track after the completion of the 2018 Summer Carnival. The rebuild has been a long time coming with the Hobart track well past its use by date. While on tracks the reports on the Eagle Farm surface are mixed after Saturday’s meeting. There did seem to be a lot of kick back but not as bad as expected. The authorities in Brisbane should pray the state gets no rain for the next six weeks. A big down pour could well make an awful mess of the track which would be disappointing for racegoers and a disaster for the BRC.

ON THE TRACK

We didn’t have a lot of action on the track but we had some nice performances headed by The Wasp who ran her best race to date when second at Tamworth. Country racing in NSW is going very well but getting stronger by the day. The Wasp was beaten by a very smart horse with the form from the race sure to be very good.

Racing is a tough game and Chastity Strikes probably shouldn’t have run after hitting her head on the barrier after the horse beside her went off in the barriers. Considering this her effort to run home for third was full of merit.

The next week sees us having runners everywhere. On Wednesday Go Arrivederci heads to Balaklava. Hopefully she can win a metropolitan race in Adelaide this preparation. She is by Snitzel and has a progressive pedigree with the smart two year old filly From Within out of her dam’s halfsister. Zelzignoret will head to Wangaratta on Tuesday. Hussy’s Glow will also be nominated for a 0-58 race at the same meeting. This would be her last chance to win a race of this rating and once you go up in grade you can’t go back to these.

All too often we see horses not going anywhere near reaching their earnings potential by being poorly placed. It does pay to ‘milk’ the system while you can because once horses get up in grade wins become more difficult to achieve. On Saturday we have Savoureux in the Listed Silk Stocking at the Gold Coast or at Rosehill (less likely option) with Husson Eagle and Black And Tan at Flemington. Munjai will run either Saturday or Sunday. After her gallop yesterday it was decided to spell Watego’s Beach. She has had enough for now. Casa De Lago heads to Pakenham on Sunday and we will make a decision on where Honolulu Lass heads for her next start in the coming week.

Next week sees Kissing Game head to Canterbury with Raido and perhaps The Wasp running at Scone and Invincible Al heads to Morphettville. Husson Boots also has a few options during that week. Added to this Reneged, Chalmers and Lord Elliott will run in barrier trials next week. One Invincible Cat had her first barrier trial at Wyong on Monday running a nice third.

It is exciting having quite a few of our 13 two year olds starting to head to the races. They have been given time to develop and we should have a nice team of three year olds next season. Bart Cummings once said the least expensive part of racing was ‘having patience’. In my opinion this is the most important attribute a trainer or owner can have but probably the most difficult aspect of our industry for many to come to terms with.

REMARKABLE PERFORMANCES

The rise and rise of I Am Invincible continued in earnest over the past two weeks with more stakes winners and a remarkable performance where his three runners ran the trifecta in the Group 3 Irwin Stakes at Morphettville. He has now sired 20 stakes winners from his 208 winners which is impressive. Wordsmith put in not quite as impressive a performance but still very good filling all three placings in the Autumn Classic for two year olds in Hobart on 23 April 2017. Wordsmith is an outstanding sire and has produced remarkable results from limited opportunities. He has 11 stakes horses from his 44 winners with all bar two owned by the Geard family.

SOME NICE YEARLINGS TO CONSIDER

I have been getting g around to see how our yearlings have developed since we purchased them and I couldn’t be happier with their progress. I doubt if there is a better group of young horses on any syndicator’s list than ours. Have a close look at these three. They represent outstanding value and are by two of our best sires and a first season sire I have a huge opinion of.

Al Maher filly out of Miss Cutie 2015 $8,500 per 10% share (5% shares $4250) - John Thompson to train at Royal Randwick

For a few years I have been on the lookout for a nice Al Maher filly and at last I found the one I was after. This filly is a beautiful walking filly and in many ways reminds me of the better Street Cry fillies I have inspected. She has good size and is well proportioned. She has an attractive head and is strong through the shoulder and hindquarter. The one characteristic I really liked about this filly was her attitude. While she had a strong personality she was easy to handle and I observed her being inspected on several occasions to make sure she a good attitude.

In my experience the progeny of Al Maher can be a bit ‘hot’. I was keen on the progeny of Al Maher from day one and purchased two fillies out of his first crop. One of these was Unchain My Heart. She was a wonderful staying mare and won the Andrew Ramsden Stakes twice and also the Bagot Handicap. Like this filly Unchain My Heart came from a stout female line and wasn’t unlike this filly as a type. Al Maher has been a really good sire with his progeny producing better than 10% stakes winners to winners. Only the best sires achieve this figure. His 32 stakes winners include some outstanding females including Delicacy, Majestic Music, Speedy Natalie and of course Unchain My Heart.

Miss Cutie is by the Champion sire Street Cry and was a metropolitan winner and placed in Sydney as a two year old. This is only her second foal with the first being placed recently at Sandown. Miss Cutie comes from a very good female line that includes the high class Group 1 performers Defier and Traveston Girl. I also like the line of dams with Street Cry, Grand Lodge, Marscay and Salieri the dam sires of the first four dams. The 2nd dam is a half-sister to Defier who was a wonderful galloper winning three times at Group 1 level and in excess of $2.9 million. All in all Miss Cutie presents as quite a complete package.

Sizzling colt out of Dedication 2015 $8,500 per 10% share (5% shares $4250) - Tony Gollan to train at Eagle Farm

This is a cracking colt and he certainly attracted my attention at the sales where he was one of only two colts I had vetted. He is well grown and a very athletic individual. He has a wonderful attitude and is nice walking horse. I love his pedigree and more than that I was instantly attracted to him when I inspected him. If you don’t like a horse when you first inspect it you should never buy it. In my opinion this colt was as good an individual as I inspected in the sale.

I really liked what I saw in a number of the progeny of Sizzling at this year’s sales. To me it is a no brainer that he will be a success at stud. He was a terrific racehorse and precocious two year old from the most dominant sire line in Australia for the past 20 years out of a ‘black type’ mare by one of the greatest sprinters of the modern generation in General Nediym. Sizzling’s pedigree page is very strong with a host of very good horses down the page. In fact it couldn’t be any stronger with both the 2nd and 3rd dams being superior producers.

I love the General Nediym (1st dam), Alzao stakes winner (2nd Dam) and Without Fear stakes producer (3rd dam) down the page. Estate Label, the 3rd dam was a very high class producer also throwing the outstanding two year old filly Loving Cup. I must say I had a bit to do with both sides of this pedigree with Sizzling’s sire Snitzel being out of Snippet’s Lass. Both General Nediym and Snippet’s Lass were trained by Bill Mitchell when I was his Racing Manager. They were both high class racehorses with Snippet’s Lass being one of the toughest mares I have had anything to do with.

Dedication is a young well related mare by a sire that has had a great impact in Australia through his daughters at stud and provides a perfect outcross to the many Danehill line sires we have standing in Australia. A close look at this female line displays plenty to be enthusiastic about. Firstly, Singspiel has crossed beautifully with the sons of Danehill with the high class Australian Group 1 winners Helmet and Epaulette being amongst the thirty two Group winners his daughters have thrown.

Secondly, there are several examples of Danehill working in this pedigree headed by Alverta, the Group 1 winning daughter of Flying Spur, Group 3 winner Aerobics and stakes performers Violet Lane and star Mystic.

UPDATE 30/04/17 - I inspected this colt at Fulmen Park today and he heads to the breakers tomorrow. He is a cracking horse that has gone forward since I purchased him at the Adelaide Magic Millions. He will be a very good addition to our Brisbane stable.

Husson filly out of Zany Lady 2015 $8,500 per 10% share (5% shares $4250) - Dan Morton to train at Ascot (WA)

This filly really caught my eye at the Perth Magic Millions Yearling Sale. She is a very strong well balanced filly with a powerful shoulder and great hindquarter. I have had terrific success with the progeny of Husson having raced eight with six individual winners already. These include Husson Eagle, the outstanding sprinter and winner of the 2016 $1 million Magic Millions Sprint on the Gold Coast on Magic Millions $10,000,000 day.

This filly reminds me a lot of a couple of good Zeditave mares I raced in Calming and Zelady. She has a real presence about her and I was thrilled to pick her up for about half what I was prepared at pay. Husson is a great Sire and the job he has done in Australia has been remarkable given the start he received here standing at Patinack Farm. I could go on forever about his accomplishments but as Hussonet’s best son at stud he was always going to a great chance at stud.

Since the start of the New Year he has continued to get great results including Private Secretary’s outstanding win in the $1 million Magic Millions Mares Race at the Gold Coast in January and his two year old daughter Frolic won the recent $250,000 Inglis Classic race at Randwick. Other current gallopers by him doing the job are Lucky Hussler and of course our very good sprinters Husson Eagle and Raido. Husson’s outstanding 2yo daughter Frolic has since gone on to run 2nd in the Golden Slipper with Husson sitting on 6th on the National Sire List represented by just six runners ahead of Not A Single Doubt (22 runners), Redoute’s Choice (13 runners) and Exceed And Excel (34 runners). Added to this outstanding achievement Husson has the highly progressive three year old Nothinglikemore in Hong Kong who is unbeaten in four starts. He looks a superstar in the making.

Zany Lady is a very good brood mare by a great sire in Zeditave. She has had five to race for four winners and comes from a very good winning family. Zeditave has had 37 stakes winners as a brood mare sire including the Group 1 winner and Sire Reset. It is hard to go past winning families and in this case the filly was reared at Oaklands Park Stud, one of WA’s very best and the nursery that produced the outstanding gallopers Northerly, Marasco, North Boy and So Secret. This filly offers a complete package which is hard to ignore. As I have often written ‘it is more important where a horse is reared than who its parents are’.

UPDATE 30/04/17 - This filly has now been broken in and she heads to the paddock for a spell. The report from the breaker is outstanding and Dan Morton reports she is a beautiful moving filly that may well run as a two year old. She has done everything asked of her and more.