As we head towards the final week of the season it is probably a good time to start to reflect on the year that was. From our perspective it couldn’t have been more positive. Our team of horses have served us well in the most competitive arenas in the southern hemisphere. I am looking forward to the new season with a team of about 50 horses representing us.

Next week I will expand on some of the issues that the industry has had to overcome over the past twelve months and also look at some interesting trends that have developed during this period.

We have a few runners remaining for the season with Savoureux likely to line up at Doomben on Saturday. This mare hasn’t had a thing go right this preparation and deserves a change of luck.

John Thompson hasn’t been able to find a suitable race for Reneged in Sydney and he will head to Caulfield on Saturday where Damien Lane will ride him.

Our other runners are likely to be Montana Pines at Ipswich, Quirion at Ballina, Not Surprising at Port Macquarie, Isthmian at Gosford and Husson’s Kiss at Devonport.

RUGBY WOES A WARNING

On Friday night when I turned to Fox Sports to watch the Brumbies play the Hurricanes in the Super Rugby semi-final I didn’t have any great expectations for the ACT based club. How could you? The five Australian Clubs in the Super Rugby competition had lost all 25 matches to the NZ based clubs through the season and it appeared a mere formality this would be 26 losses after this game.

To their credit the Brumbies put in a very spirited display but were over run in the second half by the talented Hurricanes outfit. Australian Rugby has been in the doldrums for some time and the results this year in the Super Rugby competition have really brought to the surface poor decisions made in the past where the code’s leaders lost touch with the grass roots of the game.

There were never enough top class rugby players in Australia to field five sides in the Super Rugby competition. The code will now have to go through a lot of pain having to select which club to axe from the competition. Whatever the decision, the code’s supporters in either Victoria or WA are going to feel cheated and let down.

Our leaders in racing should take notice of the mistakes made by the Rugby chiefs and ensure the grass roots of the industry are nurtured and developed. I don’t need to tell you that our industry is going very well in NSW and Victoria but the industry is a national one and all the jurisdictions need to be cared for. This is particularly the case in the smaller states. Personally I’d like to see less state or territory bodies administering the industry in this country with the ACT absorbed into NSW and Victoria, SA and Tasmania combined into one jurisdiction. Assuming the TAB Corp takeover of Tatts goes ahead these types of consolidation could be possible. It was impossible under the previous wagering model.

Our leaders need to recognise the true stars of racing are the horses, jockeys and trainers not the administrators. We need to promote our stars and our carnivals and have them well coordinated to gain the best possible exposure. The benefits to a city or state where a major race day or carnival is run are immense. You only have to attend the Magic Millions Carnival at the Gold Coast in January or the Melbourne Spring Carnival has in Victoria to see the positive economic impacts of these events.

Winx does more to promote our great game than any story about an administrator or official. There is a great saying in Rugby League that once a game is finished and you don’t know who referred the game then the referee had done a great job. The game is about the players not the officials. We have seen too often in recent years across a number of sports where the administrators have positioned themselves in the media as the main story. Administrators have an important job to do but the real stars of any sport, the competitors are the ones the public want to read about and follow.

FLEMINGTON COMMITTEE ROOM LUNCH 20 JANUARY 2018

I have been amazed at the response to this function and should have further details available in the next two weeks.

VISIT TO ASCOT FARM

On Sunday I have arranged a visit to Ascot Park at Pitt Town at 11am followed by a visit to Lewis Page’s pre-training establishment. Ascot Farm is located about an hour’s drive from the Sydney CBD. This is a low key visit but will give the owners of Ankara Lass, Black And Tan, Honolulu Lass, Kissing Game, Invincible Al, Hussy’s Glow, Everard, Zizzis, Munjai, Nzuri Mawali, Zelsignoret the Epaulette and All To Hard fillies a chance to see them. Ascot Farm is a private spelling property only available to Prime Thoroughbreds and the owner’s horses. We have been thrilled with the condition the horses have been returning to the trainers after spelling at the farm. Shamus Award was bred at Ascot Park. We have been spelling some of our Victorian based horses in NSW for the past couple of winters and this has been a winner for us.

Ascot Park is located at 134 Bathurst Street Pitt Town.

PERTH VISIT

On Saturday morning 5 August at 9am our clients in Lady Husson will have the opportunity to inspect her at Dan Morton’s Stables at Ascot. Any of our other Perth based clients are also welcome to attend. More details next week Savoureux is likely to have her final run for the preparation at Doomben on Saturday

OUR YEARLINGS

It has been very encouraging to see our yearlings so well accepted by the market and we are not far off filling all up. We have a few shares available in yearlings in Victoria, NSW and Queensland.

QUEENSLAND YEARLING

Sizzling /Dedication colt – Tony Gollan 10% shares $8,500 5% shares $4,250

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 horse. He has a wonderful attitude and is nice walking horse. He handled the breaking in process without any issues. 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 and a colt I really wanted to secure. I only usually purchase two colts a year. 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. General Nediym has done a remarkable job through his daughters at stud with him currently sitting in 5th spot on the Australian broodmare list. This isn’t surprising. The ‘General’ had good depth to his pedigree on his dam’s side with his daughters residing at the very best studs in Australia. 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

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. On the strength of my opinion of this colt and the Sizzling filly I purchased at the Gold Coast Magic Millions I have recommended to our owners that we send three of the mares I manage to Sizzling. I rate him a huge chance at being a success at stud. Hijack Hussy winning at Flemington trained by Tony Gollan Melbourne Cup Day

NSW

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.

Hinchinbrook / Fly By Night / Kris Lees – Newcastle 10% shares $8,500.00 5% shares $4,250.00 ¾ Sister to Unchain My Heart When you look at this photo you see a very good, well balanced filly reared on one of our best thoroughbred nurseries. After I did my inspections at the Magic Millions National Sale I was determined to get this filly. I purchased the first two foals out of Fly By Night and have inspected all her foals since but for one reason or another none really grabbed me. To her credit Fly By Night has had 6 winners from 7 to race.

This filly is very strong through the hindquarters and has a nice presence to her. She has an attractive head and for a November foal is well grown. I’m not concerned that she is a late foal as I would expect her to get to the races as a late two year old or early three year old. The first foal I purchased out of Fly By Night was a colt by Strategic which went to on to race as Captain Chaos. He as a handy galloper winning in Sydney, Brisbane and Hobart and was stakes placed. The second foal I purchased was the very good staying mare Unchain My Heart. Unchain My Heart won 10 races from 1400m to 3200m. She won three times at stakes level and $595,580 in stakes money. She was one of only two Australian bred horses to compete in the 2014 Melbourne Cup. She won the 3200m Andrew Ramsden Stakes on two occasions and also the time honoured Bagot Handicap. I’m absolutely thrilled to have secured such a nice filly for a reasonable price. She will be paid up for BOBS and the Magic Millions Series Of Races.

Hinchinbrook is one of our very best young sires having been Champion First Season Sire in 2014/15 Season in Australia. He followed this up by being Champion Second Season Sire in 2015/16 Season and is currently leading the Third Season Sire’s List. I supported Hinchinbrook from day one sending the best mare I was managing at the time to him. I must say I have learned a lot about the horse since that time and got it right purchasing Flying Jess at the 2015 Magic Millions Yearling Sale. She has established herself as one of the best fillies in Australia beating the Duel Group 1 winner Global Glamour and boom horse Winning Rupert in the $2 million Magic Millions Guineas.

I have another nice three year old filly named Honolulu Lass and two, two year old fillies by the horse including Kissing Game who was placed at Canterbury at first start. I have purchased two yearlings by the sire this year that gives us six of Hinchinbrook’s progeny on our books. It wasn’t hard for me to be attracted to Hinchinbrook. He is the son of Snippet’s Lass the best mare Bill Mitchell trained while I was his racing manager. Snippet’s Lass was a wonderful race mare by the Champion Sire in Snippets from an outstanding North American family. This filly reminds me a lot of Snippet’s Lass. She wasn’t big but beautifully put together, strong and had a great will to win. Snippet’s Lass is also the dam of Champion Sire Snitzel. She has made a huge impact on the Australian breeding landscape. It should be remembered Hinchinbrook was a very smart racehorse winning twice at two including the ATC Skyline Stakes. He was also the first colt home in the Golden Slipper. He has already sired an outstanding colt with Press Statement winning at the highest level and is now at stud. While it is early days for Hinchinbrook his figures are stamping him as a sire of the future and the mating with this filly should prove to be a very good choice. I am expecting as we move forward for Hinchinbrook to be more of a classic type of sire in the mould of his grandfather Danehill.