Written by Bren O'Brien
The first progeny of Aquis stallion Spieth (NZ) have made an impact at Queensland's first 2-year-old trial of the season, with the Kacy Fogden-trained pair Victory Moments and Wild Botanica running the quinella in the 900-metre hitout at the Gold Coast on Monday.
Fogden, who is based at Conungra but also has stables at the Gold Coast, presented four of the five starters in the trial, with three of them by Spieth, the son of Thorn Park who is in his fourth season at Aquis.
The chestnut colt Victory Moments tracked the early pace and pushed into the clear by jockey Mark Du Plessis, lengthened impressively, to finish 1l clear of Spieth filly Wild Botanica, who had led throughout but was no match for the winner, who stopped the clock in 53.98s.
Stablemate, Perfect Penelope (Not A Single Doubt), finished third, another 1l behind, while another Spieth youngster, the colt Acotango, was fourth, 1.25l away.
Fogden told TDN AusNZ that she was particularly impressed by the performance of the first two horses across the line, both of which could figure in the early Queensland 2-year-old races.
"It was super, I never really thought any of them would be super early. I remember when we broke them in, we thought they'd need some time to mature," she said.
"It was super, I never really thought any of them would be super early. I remember when we broke them in, we thought they'd need some time to mature." - Kacy Fogden
"But as the season has rolled around they have stayed in and improved. Everything that you throw at them, they stand up to.
"They are really robust. They just keep improving and I was pretty impressed with the first two."
Fogden said she will very much be guided by how Victory Moments and Wild Botanica rebounded from their first serious hit out before plotting their campaign.
"It’s always step-by-step with these 2-year-olds. We never really push them. But they have never had an unsound day in their life, so I wouldn't be surprised if either of those two are off to the races," she said.
Bred by Sebastian Man, Victory Moment is the first foal out of Tris (Street Boss {USA}), who was a Group 3 winner as a 2-year-old in the SAJC Breeders' S. She is in turn out of a half-sister to Group 1 winner Carnegie Express (NZ) (Carnegie {Ire}), with G1 AJC Oaks winner Our Sophia (NZ) (Noble Bijou {USA}) featuring as this colt's fifth dam.
Spieth (NZ) | Standing at Aquis Farm
Tris was sold in foal with this Spieth colt for $200,000 at the 2019 Magic Millions Broodmare Sale and has also produced a yearling colt by Brave Smash (Jpn), while she is in foal to Pierata.
Wild Botanica is a filly out of Colosimo (Foxwedge), a three-time winning mare from the family of stakes winner Mutate (Octagonal {NZ}), and further back on the pedigree page, G1 Melbourne Cup winner At Talaq (USA).
This filly, Wild Botanica, was sold for $4000 to Upper Longdon Bloodstock at the 2021 Magic Millions National Yearling Sale, while Colosimo had a colt by Written By last year. She was sold to Avesta Bloodstock for $40,000 at this year's Inglis Australian Broodmare Sale after missing in 2020.
The Fogden pair are two of the 34 from Spieth's first crop of 103 foals to be named. Working closely with Aquis, Fogden has had a degree of experience with Spieth's progeny and has been impressed with what she has seen.
"We have a smaller team of them here, and we have been all over them. I really like them, they are very easy to train and they haven’t given us any dramas at all," she said.
Lola Star (Spieth {NZ}), Midnight In Tokyo (Kobayashi) and Wild Botanica (Spieth {NZ}) | Image courtesy of Kacy Fogden Racing
"They are versatile types. There are a few there that look fairly early and others which look like they will improve with time. Overall, they are very diverse and exciting horses going forward."
Spieth's first crop averaged just over $45,000 across the yearling sales earlier this year, with a top price of $180,000 for a filly out of Sweet Fire (Shamardal {USA}) at the Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale, where she was purchased by Shea Eden Racing.
Spieth, a Listed winner but twice Group 1-placed as a sprinter under the care of Bryce Heys, stands at $8800 (inc GST) at Aquis' Queensland base this season.
