Cover image courtesy of Ashlea Brennan
G1 Golden Rose, $1,00,000, 1400m
Part of a great weekend for Newgate Farm, the gallant all-the-way winner In The Congo (Snitzel) became his sire's second G1 Golden Rose S. winner, after the success four years ago of Trapeze Artist.
Snitzel's 17th Group 1 winner, the Nordic Racing and Breeding-bred flashy chestnut fetched $350,000 at the 2020 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale. He is the second foal and second winner for the imported Via Africa (SAF) (Var {USA}), whose first foal Pleasant Endeavour (Redoute's Choice) races at Sha Tin today.
A triple Group 1 winner named South African Champion Sprinter, Via Africa is a half-sister to the stakes-placed Elusivenchantment (SAF) (Elusive Fort {SAF}) from the family of South African Champion 3-Year-0ld Mythical Flight (SAF) (Jet Master {SAF}).
Whilst Snitzel is bred on a Danzig (USA)/Storm Bird (Can) cross, Via Africa is Storm Bird (Can)/Danzig (USA), and another strength of In The Congo's pedigree is his 7 X 7 cross of the outstanding mare Grey Flight (USA) (Mahmoud {Fr}) via her son Misty Day (USA) (Nasrullah {Ire}) and her star daughter Misty Morn (USA) (Princequillo {Ire}).
G2 Golden Pendant, $400,000, 1400m
It was a Group 2 running double of sorts for Medaglia D'Oro (USA) with Yonkers (USA) winning the Shannon S. whilst Vangelic is by the former shuttler's G1 Golden Slipper S.-winning son Vancouver.
Part of a great day for the Waterhouse/Bott stable, Vangelic is that Coolmore Stud resident's sixth stakes winner amongst his first 102 winners.
Boasting a cross of the wonderful mare Special (USA) via her grandson Sadler's Wells (USA) and son Nureyev (USA), he was bred by Segenhoe Thoroughbreds and sold at the 2019 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale for $400,000.
His Group 3-placed dam Angel Bee (NZ) (Pins) sadly died last spring with a Written Tycoon colt her final foal. Her dam is the Group 3 winner Zabeels Angel (NZ) (Zabeel {NZ}) who produced another stakes placegetter amongst her seven winners; the good broodmare Turnstiles (NZ) (Anabaa {USA}) who has produced two Group 3 placegetters - Revolving Door (Sebring) and Golden Spin (Medaglia D'oro {USA}).
Group 1 winners Alabama Whirly (Bold Rancher) and Shuka (NZ) (Bachelor Duke {USA}) also hail from this family which has deep colonial roots right back to the 1825 born mare Cornelia (Young Grasshopper {GB}).
G2 Shannon S., $200,000, 1500m
From a paddock in Kentucky to Rosehill, is the story of the Forging Oaks Farm bred Yonkers (USA), who was so strong to the line recording his first black-type victory at big odds.
The 155th stakes winner for El Prado's (Ire) multiple Group 1 winner Medaglia D'Oro (USA), the Chris Waller-trained 6-year-old is out of the dual stakes-winning Oasis Dream (GB) mare Anne Of Kiev (Ire), whose dam Top Flight Queen (GB) is a half-sister to the triple Group winner Sacrament (GB).
One of the eight stakes winners bred on a cross (4 X 7) of El Prado's stakes-placed grandam Cap And Bells (USA) (Tom Fool [USA}) (whose son Drone (USA) is the damsire of Oasis Dream's dam sire Dancing Brave (USA)), Yonkers, who is also line-bred to the wonderful mare Lalun {USA}, hails from the family of the Group 1 winner Chorist (GB) and fellow stakes winners Mac Monarch (Ire), Sennockian Star (GB), Gospel Choir (GB), Crucial (GB), Icelandic (Ire), Icicle (GB) and Ginmann (Ire).
The ancestress of this family is Fancy Free (GB), dam of the G1 Epsom Derby hero Blue Peter (GB).
G3 Colin Stephen Quality, $160,000, 2400m
It was a third stakes success and an easy one for Entente (Dundeel {NZ}) who proved that the Australian-bred stayer can still prove competitive against the imports.
Bred Mr P.L Bennett and Mrs S. Bansemer-Brown, Entente made his way through the Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale ring, purchased by trainer Shaun Dwyer for $105,000. He trialled for Shaun before being transferred to the Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott stable.
One of Arrowfield Stud's Dundeel's (NZ) 15 stakes winners, he is a three-quarter brother to the Group 3-placed High 'N' Dry (High Chaparral {Ire}) out of the two time-winning Stratum mare Nextess, who sadly died having produced just those two foals.
Nextess' dam is the stakes-placed Regal Tess (Bluebird {USA}) whose dam Knight's Contessa (NZ) (Eldag {USA}) was Group 3-placed on two occasions. Entente is one of the 22 stakes winners carrying a cross of Luskin Star.
G3 Gloaming S., $200,000, 1800m
A breakthrough winner for Coolmore Stud's American Pharoah (USA), the 12th US Triple Crown winner, Head Of State is his sire's first Australian stakes winner and his 23rd overall.
Bred by Brad Crismale and sold at the 2020 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale for $850,000, the colt racing in the Coolmore navy silks is a half-brother to the dual Group winner Man From Uncle (Uncle Mo {USA}) out of the Danehill Dancer (Ire) mare Derelique.
Recently foaling a full brother to Head Of State, Derelique is out of a half-sister to the stakes winners Shania Dane (Danehill {USA}), Scintillation (Danehill {USA}) and Risk Aversion (Encosta De Lago).
Bred on a 4 X 4 cross of Storm Cat (USA), Head Of State also claims amongst his relations the stakes winners Northwest Passage (So You Think {NZ}), Order Of The Sun (Encosta De Lago), Beauty (Smart Missile), Get To Work (Snippets), Summer Passage (Snitzel) and Excitable Boy (More Than Ready {USA}).
Listed Heritage S., $140,000, 1100m
Home Affairs (I Am Invincible) edged closer to a lucrative stud career with this dominant performance, his second at stakes level on the back of his G2 Silver Slipper S. success in February.
An $875,000 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale graduate bred by Torryburn Stud, Home Affairs is a half-brother to the G1 Caulfield Guineas runner-up Aysar (Deep Field) out of the three-time winning Flying Spur mare Miss Interiors.
Served last spring by Dundeel (NZ) having produced a colt by that stallion last October, Miss Interiors is a half-sister to the dual Group 1-winning sprinter Russian Revolution and the Group 3 mare Turbo Miss (Sebring).
Hailing from one of the great international families (one which also produced his dam sire Flying Spur), Home Affairs has as his fifth dam the famed Northern Dancer (Can) mare Fanfreluche (Can), who earned a number of titles including Canadian Horse of the Year, US Champion 3-Year-0ld Filly and the Sovereign Award for Outstanding Broodmare.
Remembered as much for her time off the scene (she was kidnapped in 1977 in foal to Secretariat (USA); fortunately located five months later) as her contribution to racing, she produced four stakes winners (including the Group 1 winner L'Enjoleur (Can)) and is an ancestress of such high-class gallopers as Flying Spur, Encosta De Lago, Aube Indienne (Fr), Holy Roman Emperor (Ire) and Majestic Roi (USA).
Home Affairs is one of the four I Am Invincible stakes winners out of Flying Spur mares, noting that I Am Invincible's grandsire Green Desert (USA) is bred on the same Danzig (USA)/Sir Ivor (USA) cross as Flying Spur.
