Queensland Oaks a source of ongoing success

Saturday sees the 41st running of the race at Group 1 level, with the race not held last year due to COVID-19 related changes to the Queensland racing calendar.

The past two winners of the race, Winning Ways (Declaration Of War {USA}) and Youngstar (High Chaparral {Ire}), are now both embarking on breeding careers overseas.

The 2019 winner, Winning Ways, was purchased privately by Aquis and sent to Kingman (GB) in early 2020, while Youngstar was secured by Katsumi Yoshida at the 2020 Inglis Chairman's Sale for $1.4 million and departed for Japan in December last year.

Provocative (NZ) (Zabeel {NZ}), who won the Queensland Oaks in 2016, was purchased by Paul Willetts on behalf of Three Bridges Thoroughbreds for $1.2 million at the 2017 Inglis Chairman's Sale and has already produced a stakes-performer in Grinzinger Lord (Tavistock {NZ}).

Trainer Chris Waller has won three of the past five editions of the race, with his first success coming via the mighty mare Winx (Street Cry {Ire}) in 2015, while he also won it with Egg Tart (Sebring) in 2017 and again with Youngstar. Winx left an unmatched legacy on the racetrack and hopes are high she can begin making that mark as a broodmare, with her breeding career set to resume later in 2021 after she lost her first foal last year.

Egg Tart delivered a colt by The Autumn Sun last spring but she was sadly lost to the Hermitage Thoroughbreds' broodmare band when she died last December.

The most recent Queensland Oaks winner to have become a Group 1 producer herself is Eskimo Queen (NZ) (Shinko King {Ire}), who won the race in 2008. Under the guidance of Michael Moroney, she would also go on to win a G1 Coolmore Classic.

She would join the broodmare band of the Joy Luck Discretionary Trust, and her third foal would be the G1 George Ryder S. winner Dreamforce (Fastnet Rock). She has produced five winners in all, including the Group 3-placed Deep Chill (Wandjina).

The 2003 Queensland Oaks winner Zagalia (NZ) (Zabeel {NZ}) proved a prolific producer of winners, with seven in all from eight runners, and that list includes Group 3 winner Dawnie Perfect (Big Brown {USA}).

Ethereal's special success

It is 20 years since Ethereal's (NZ) (Rhythm {USA}) epic win in the Queensland Oaks, where she descended from the clouds to claim victory for jockey Scott Seamer and trainer Sheila Laxon. Prior to Winx, she was the highest credentialled winner of the race in the Group 1 era, going on to claim a historic Caulfield Cup-Melbourne Cup double later that year.

She also left a legacy as a broodmare, producing six winners, including the stakes winner Seraphim (NZ) (Rip Van Winkle {Ire}) as well as a trio of other stakes performers. She is also the grandam of multiple Group 2 winner Supera (NZ) (Savabeel) and Group 3 winner Eleonora (NZ) (Makfi {GB}).

The Roger James-trained Giovana (NZ) (Blues Traveller {Ire}), who won the Oaks in 2000, left two stakes performers and is the grandam of South African Grade 1 winner Got The Greenlight (SAF) (Gimmethegreenlight).

The blue hens

It is when you go back to the 1990s and 1980s, you really see the long-term influence of the Queensland Oaks as a broodmare maker. Four fillies really standout on the honour board from this era in terms of their impact on the Australian breeding scene, Joie Denise (Danehill {USA}), Triscay (Marscay), Bravery (NZ) (Zephyr Zip {NZ}) and Travel Light (NZ) (Bellissimo {Fr}).

Joie Denise became the filly on which John Singleton and Gerry Harvey have been able to build considerable success from. Bred by Arrowfield Stud, and from the blue-hen mare and 1976 Queensland Oaks winner Denise's Joy (Seventh Hussar {Fr}), Joie Denise would win four races.

As a broodmare at Singleton's Strawberry Hill Stud, she produced six winners, including the Group 1 winners Tuesday Joy (NZ) (Carnegie {Ire}) and Sunday Joy (Sunday Silence {USA}). The next generation was just as successful, with Sunday Joy the dam of eight-time Group 1 winner More Joyous (More Than Ready {USA}), while another daughter, Deedra (Zabeel {NZ}), produced Group 1 winner Fenway (High Chaparral {Ire}).

The second generation of Joie Denise's family also produced the Group 3 winner and stallion War, a son of More Than Ready (USA), while the third generation features three stakes winners. That makes eight stakes winners descended from the mare, as well as a further six stakes placegetters.

Table: Group 1 winners featuring Queensland Oaks winners (since 1980) in their damlines

The long-term influence of 1991 winner Triscay is just as strong. She would produce the Group 1 winner La Baraka (Euclase) and the Group 2 winner Tsuimai (Thunder Gulch {USA}), while she features as the grandam of another three stakes winners.

The most significant of that second generation was La Baraka's daughter Alizes (NZ) (Rory's Jester). Her first foal, Essaouira (Exceed And Excel), has produced the Group 1 winners Alizee (Sepoy) and Astern, now a Darley stallion, as well as now Newgate stallion, the stakes-placed Tassort.

All in all, there are eight stakes winners and a further five stakes performers who feature Triscay on their maternal line.

Bravery makes a massive mark

The legacy of 1988 Queensland Oaks winner, Bravery, who was trained by Brian Mayfield-Smith, is even greater, with 18 stakes winners in the next four generations, as well as a further eight stakes performers. She produced four-time stakes winner Brave Prince (Kenmare {Fr}) and dual Listed winner Valourina (Snippets) herself.

There are six stakes winners in the second generation, including Valourina's progeny Media (Gilded Time {USA}), Timbourina (Timber Country {USA}) and Cardinal Virtue (Elusive Quality {USA}), while there were four black-type winners in the third generation.

In the fourth generation is G1 Railway S. winner Galaxy Star (Redoute's Choice) as well as five other stakes winners, including three others bred by Bob Peters in Star Exhibit (Statue Of Liberty {USA}), Royal Star (Redoute's Choice) and Enticing Star (Testa Rossa).

Travel Light won the Queensland Oaks in 1986 for Neville Begg and as a broodmare would go on to produce four winners at Arrowfield, including Group 3 winner Stoway (Geiger Counter {USA}). From the second generation of her family would come G1 Flight S. winner Only A Lady (Sir Tristram {Ire}) as well as three other stakes winners, while there have also been four stakes winners from the third generation.

That makes nine black-type winners and two additional stakes performers sourced from Travel Light or through her female descendants.

Other Queensland Oaks winners since the race was afforded Group 1 status in 1980 to have produced stakes winners include November Rain (Estaminet {GB}), Tristram Rose (NZ) (Sir Tristram {Ire}), Round The World (NZ) (Sea Anchor {Ire}), A Little Kiss (NZ) (Sackford {USA}) and Slight Chance (NZ) (Centaine).