Incentivise's fifth maternal dam, Coronella (Coronation Boy {Ire}), was purchased by the McAlpines in the early 1960s and the next four generations were all bred on Eureka Stud, including the triple Group 1 winner's dam, Miss Argyle (Iglesia).
It was Tregea who, having missed out on Miss Argyle as a yearling in 2006, returned to buy her two years later as a broodmare prospect following a two-start racing career for Gai Waterhouse which included a placing in a Listed Gimcrack S.
Eureka Stud | Image courtesy of Eureka Stud
Already a roaring success in the breeding barn with three of her foals becoming stakes winners, it was her mating with Shamus Award that has produced the new megastar of Australian racing. In the space of six months, Incentivise has gone from a Sunshine Coast maiden winner to a Caulfield Cup champion and Melbourne Cup favourite.
As fate would have it, Miss Argyle died last year, leaving Incentivise's half-brother Ardrossan, a son of Redoute's Choice, currently a resident at Waikato Stud, to continue the family along with her half-sisters, the Tregea-owned Flaunt (Drumbeats) and the Merricks Station-owned Ra Ra Epic (Drumbeats).
But a generation further back and you can see Eureka Stud, which put its faith in the family for decades, is also set to reap the rewards, with a host of Miss Argyle's siblings and her family on the farm.
Ardrossan | Standing at Waikato Stud
A family built on success
Looking back through the pedigree, it is no huge surprise that a star has emerged. Going back to Incentivise's sixth dam, Phrygia (GB) (Felstead {GB}), who was imported to Australia in the 1950s, there have been 27 stakes winners emerge from the subsequent eight generations.
Incentivise is the third Group 1 winner to descend from that mare, with the others being Miss Cover Girl (Monashee Mountain {USA}) and the Eureka Stud-bred Queensland Oaks winner Mother Of Pearl (Rascolnik {GB}).
"We acquired Coronella, who was out of Phrygia, that was the original one that we got," Scott McAlpine told TDN AusNZ.
"We’ve kept a fair bit of that family and we always have. So from Coronella all the way through, we had Mink And Pearls and we sold Mother Of Pearl out of her. We bred her daughter Showsay, who was by Head Over Heels, then Precious Pearl and Miss Argyle.
Charlie, Jenny, Angus and Scott McAlpine | Image courtesy of Eureka Stud
"We continued all the way through, another one of those Eureka dynasties, I suppose you'd call it. We started off with that family, and we have continued to race them ourselves, or sell them and they have all been very successful all the way through in their careers."
"We started off with that family, and we have continued to race them ourselves, or sell them and they have all been very successful all the way through in their careers." - Scott McAlpine
McAlpine remembers Miss Argyle, who was a sister to multiple stakes winner Diamondsontheinside (USA), as a quality yearling, who secured $270,000 for Waterhouse at the 2006 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
"She was a nice filly, who we sold as a yearling and she was a lovely type of mare. Unfortunately, she has been taken before her time, as seems to happen. You get a broodmare that has produced a nice horse and that unfortunately happens," McAlpine said.
The Eureka connection continues
While Incentivise was furthering his considerable reputation at Caulfield on Saturday, at Eagle Farm the promising 4-year-old Simply Fly (Spirit Of Boom), another from that family, was carrying the Eureka Stud colours into second place in a Class 6 H. at Eagle Farm
Incentivise winning the G1 Carlton Draught Caulfield Cup | Image courtesy of Bronwen Healy
He is a horse that McAlpine holds in high esteem, with his grandam, Air's Precious (Air Express {Ire}), a half-sister to Miss Argyle. Air's Precious has produced six winners from six runners, including Simply Fly's Group-2 winning dam Express Air (Piccolo {GB}), who has produced four Eureka Stud-bred winners herself.
"Express Air has a lovely Encryption filly on her now and she has gone to Spirit Of Boom. Air's Precious' final foal is a nice Spirit Of Boom colt, who is two. He's a late maturing horse, so we haven't hurried him," he said.
"Express Air has a lovely Encryption filly on her now and she has gone to Spirit Of Boom. Air's Precious' final foal is a nice Spirit Of Boom colt, who is two." - Scott McAlpine
Another of Miss Argyle's half-sisters, Done Deal (Good Journey), has also been a stakes producer for Eureka Stud with the Listed winner Heaven's Deal (Spirit Of Boom). She produced an Impending colt this year and has now gone back to Eureka resident Spirit Of Boom.
Heaven's Deal, meanwhile, is embarking on her breeding career at Fernrigg Farm having produced a Fastnet Rock colt this season, while the McAlpines are breeding on with Heaven's Deal's sister Henley Miss.
They sent her to Incentivise's sire Shamus Award at Rosemont Stud for what would be a sibling-in-blood to Peter Moody's superstar.
"We initially sold her and she was in work with Lloyd Kennewell, but we bought her back and we won three races with her. She has now gone down to go to Shamus Award. She should be covered by him this week and that will be her first foal," McAlpine said.
Hamadama (Red Dazzler) was the final foal from Miss Argyle's dam, Precious Pearl (Semipalatinsk {USA}), and while she never raced, she has produced three foals, including the Toby and Trent Edmonds-trained Sir Bangalow (Sizzling) who ran fourth on the Gold Coast on Saturday. Hamadama visited Encryption on Friday.
"We are pretty excited what has been happening in the family. It just lifts the whole family. You have all the offshoots, all the sisters and half-sisters and they all get a boot along from it. It’s great," McAlpine said.
"You have all the offshoots, all the sisters and half-sisters and they all get a boot along from it. It’s great." - Scott McAlpine
"Eureka's approach is that we buy those families which have got the right bloodlines and you have to stick with them long enough and hopefully you are nicely rewarded as you go along."
Half-sisters continue on
Tregea, a breeder, co-owner and former trainer of Incentivise, is the other one being rewarded for his faith in Miss Argyle and her family. He is breeding on with Incentivise's half-sister Flaunt, who produced a filly by Eureka Stud's Spirit Of Boom this year.
Scott McAlpine with his late father Colin | Image courtesy of Eureka Stud
"He's a very professional trainer and has got his own way of doing things," McAlpine said of Tregea. "He doesn’t train for anybody else and up until the past five years, he was riding his own work all the time."
Ozzie Kheir, one of those who purchased into Incentivise this year in a syndicate led by Brae Sokolski, doubled up his investment in the family by combining with Group 1 Bloodstock and Merricks Station to buy the other filly out of Miss Argyle, Ra Ra Epic, for $200,000 at this year's Inglis Great Southern Sale. She is due to foal to Yes Yes Yes this spring.
