Cover image courtesy of Hong Kong Jockey Club
By Bren O'Brien
Having enjoyed incredible success with the progeny of the blue hen Parfore (NZ) (O'Reilly {NZ}), breeder Mike Ryan looks to have bred another headline horse with Caspar Fownes' emerging Hong Kong star Sky Field (Deep Field).
Sky Field opened his season with an impressive victory over 1200 metres at Sha Tin on Sunday, making it two wins from four starts having broken through with a 4l success at the same track back in July.
Fownes has long-term ambitions for Sky Field to tackle the Listed Classic Mile in January but wants to give him every chance to step through his classes.
“He’ll have one more run at six furlongs then he can go to 1400 metres – we know he’s going in the right direction to be something quite special for us,” Fownes said.
"We know he’s going in the right direction to be something quite special for us." - Caspar Fownes
“You’ve got to set yourself some goals with these 4-year-olds and in my mind he’s the type of horse that would be perfect for [the Classic Mile] because once he starts to race more he’ll start to learn to relax more and conserve energy."
Switzerland-based Australian Ryan, who bred Sky Field, only has two broodmares, but can count himself among one of the more successful smaller breeders in Australia, largely thanks to Parfore.
Having purchased the daughter of O'Reilly back in 2004 through agent Paul Willetts for just NZ$30,000, Ryan was able to source Group 1 winners Terravista (Captain Rio {GB}) and Tiger Tees (NZ) (Dubawi {Ire}) from her as well as seven-time stakes winner Ball Of Muscle (Dubawi {Ire}). She had earlier produced another multiple stakes winner Our Lukas (NZ) (Generous {Ire}).
Parfore's unraced daughter Janicemarie (NZ) (Darci Brahma {NZ}) is one of two broodmares Ryan has at Paringa Stud, with Reggie Blundell, who part-owns her along with the other mare, Sky Field's dam Laravissante (NZ) (O'Reilly {NZ}).
Laravissante was previously at Segenhoe Stud where she foaled Sky Field, who immediately made an impression according to the General Manager Peter O'Brien.
"When the mare came to us, she had a Rothesay colt, Don't Leave Me Out. She was with us for four years or so and we had some bad luck with her. After delivering Sky Field, she lost a Pride Of Dubai after birth the following year," he said.
"Don't Leave Me Out was a good looking a horse as you’d ever see and Sky Field, he would have been in our top three yearlings on type that season, he was magnificent."
Sky Field as a yearling
Sky Field stayed with Segenhoe until October of his yearling season when he was sent to Trelawney Stud to be prepared for the 2018 New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sale at Karaka.
At that point, his dam had produced four winners in Oberland (Rothesay), Brienz Bella (Real Saga) and The Hipster (Rothesay) as well as Don’t Leave Me Out, who had won in the lead-up to the Sale.
"There was a lot of Deep Fields in the first crop and we thought if we sent him over to New Zealand to Trelawney Stud where there would be fewer Deep Fields, he might stand out more," O'Brien said.
"As it turned out at the Sale, he just didn’t hit the bullseye. I honestly thought he was a $300,000 yearling and Willie Leung was the only one who liked him and we sold him for NZ$175,000.
"As it turned out at the Sale, he just didn’t hit the bullseye. I honestly thought he was a NZ$300,000 yearling." - Peter O'Brien
"It was a disappointing sale for the quality of horse he was. He had a bit of white on him and maybe that put off a few people. As a type, he was simply magnificent."
Leung, of Magus Equine, was buying on behalf of the Kwan family, and given Sky Field's pedigree, it wasn't surprising that he was headed for a career in Hong Kong.
Willie Leung (left) | Image courtesy of Aushorse
Laravissante is a half-sister to The Duke (Danehill {USA}), who was a winner of the G1 Hong Kong Mile.
Having made significant progress in his four starts for Fownes, Sky Field, one of five winners for Newgate sire Deep Field, looks destined to be another top quality horse bred by Ryan.
"Mike is a brilliant breeder from only having two mares. I don't think anybody pound for pound would ever have the record he has," O'Brien said. "He has retained a Pride Of Dubai filly out of Laravissante who is named Jolie Christine and is with Grahame Begg.
"The mare is visiting Too Darn Hot this year. Mike loves Dubawi and had luck with Dubawis before so is happy to go with his son. She is getting older now and so she probably only has a couple of foals in her.
"I'm delighted he got a filly out of Laravissante to continue the lineage and I know he will be desperate for more fillies out of her. He's a very astute breeder and his success speaks for itself."
