Cover image courtesy of NZ Racing Desk
G1 Captain Cook S., NZ$220,000, 1600m
Already a triple Group winner, the honest and classy Two Illicit (NZ) (Jimmy Choux {NZ}) increased her value with this soft victory at the elite level.
The second Group 1 winner for her five-time Group 1-winning sire (a resident of Roselee Park, WA), she was bred by her owners - the Taylor family - with Trelawney Thoroughbreds; racing in that stud's well known colours.
Two Illicit's dam Gemini (NZ) (Tale Of The Cat {USA}) died in 2019 with her final foal being the unraced 3-year-old All Fired Up (NZ) (Turn Me Loose {NZ}).
Gemini is a half-sister to the G3 Maurice McCarten H. winner Easy Eddie (Super Easy {NZ}) from a high class European family, one which has produced the Group 1 gallopers Reams Of Verse (USA) (Nureyev {USA}), Elmaamul (USA) (Diesis {GB}) and Midday (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}).
Two Illicit is the 53rd Group 1 winner line-bred to Storm Bird (Can) (Northern Dancer {Can}).
G2 Challenge S., NZ$110,000, 1100m
Remaining undefeated with this barnstorming performance (finishing off strongly from mid-field in a race with good pace on), Wolverine (NZ) (Tivaci) justified favouritism unleashing from the 200 metres.
A NZ$50,000 graduate of Book 1 of this year's New Zealand Bloodstock Yearling Sale (purchased by Royden Begerson and Chris Rutton Bloodstock) bred by Waikato Stud, she is the second stakes winner (and the first from his second-crop) for that farm's G1 All Aged S. winner Tivaci (High Chaparral {Ire}).
She is the second foal and second winner for Knew It (NZ) (O'Reilly {NZ}) who looked good easily winning a Benalla maiden at debut as an odds-on favourite only to never race again.
Knew It is a granddaughter of the G1 Maori S. winner Critic (NZ) (Centaine) from one of New Zealand's finest families, that of the big race winners Ocean Park (NZ) (Thorn Park), O'Reilly (NZ) (Last Tycoon {Ire}), Courtza (NZ) (Pompeii Court {USA}), Grunt (NZ) (O'Reilly {NZ}), Our Pompeii (NZ) (Pompeii Court {USA}) and Prince Kaapstad (NZ) (Kaapstad {NZ}).
Paying a return visit last spring to Tivaci, Knew It also has a yearling by former shuttler Iffraaj (GB) (Zafonic {USA}).
Boasting crosses of the great stallions Northern Dancer (Can) (Nearctic {Can}), Sir Tristram (Ire) (Sir Ivor {USA}) and Mill Reef (USA) (Never Bend {USA}), Wolverine is also line-bred to the influential mares Natalma (USA) (Native Dancer {USA}), Lalun (USA) (Djeddah {Fr}) and Special (USA) (Forli {Arg}).
G2 Isuzu S., NZ$110,000, 1600m
Engaging in a battle with favourite Showoroses (NZ) (Showcasing {GB}) from the 100 metres, Concert Hall (NZ) (Savabeel) was able to get the upper-hand late, drawing clear to record a convincing victory - her sixth in stakes company.
A ten-time winner from 29 starts, Concert Hall is a homebred for Joan Egan who also bred this year's triple stakes winner Beauden (NZ) (Bullbars). One of her Waikato Stud-based star sire's 121 stakes winners, she is out of the handy metropolitan class mare Classic Legacy (NZ) (Carnegie {Ire}).
Not served last spring after producing a Per Incanto (USA) (Street Cry {Ire}) filly, Classic Legacy is out of the stakes-placed Super Sound (NZ) (Sound Reason {Can}) whose G1 South Australian Oaks-winning half-sister Lee's Bid (NZ) (Tawfiq {USA}) produced the G1 VRC Derby and G1 Canterbury Guineas winner Arena (Danehill {USA}).
Super Sound is also a full sister to the dual stakes winner Ultra Sound (Sound Reason {Can}) whose daughter Tartan Tights (NZ) (Tights {USA}) was crowned New Zealand Filly of the Year, winning two races at Group 1 level and going on to produce the G2 Chelmsford S. winner Nevis (NZ) (Danehill {USA}).
Concert Hall boasts duplications of four great mares within seven generations - Special (USA) (Forli {Arg}), Derna (Fr) (Sunny Boy {Fr}), Perfume II (GB) (Badruddin {Fr}) and All Moonshine (GB) (Bobsleigh {GB}). She is one of the seven stakes winners and three Group 1 winners bringing together the close relations Zabeel (NZ) (Sir Tristram {Ire}) and Carnegie (Ire) (Sadler's Wells {USA}).
G3 Waikato Cup, NZ$100,000, 2400m
A successful race for Waikato Stud's stalwart Savabeel who provided the quinella; Cheaperthandivorce (NZ) just nosing out Starrybeel (NZ).
A homebred for the Taylor family, Cheaperthandivorce is now a dual Group winner and one of her in-form sire's 122 stakes winners. She is a daughter of the G1 New Zealand Oaks heroine Boundless (NZ) (Van Nistelrooy {USA}), also dam of the Listed Hawke's Bay Cup winner Richie McHorse (NZ) (Redoute's Choice).
Served last spring by Almanzor (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}), Boundless is a half-sister to three stakes-placed winners - Purrfection (NZ) (Tale Of The Cat {USA}), Nothing Lika Tango (NZ) (Dance Floor {USA}) and Our Dance (NZ) (Dance Floor {USA}).
Cheaperthandivorce has as her third dam the G1 Brisbane Cup winner Limitless (NZ) and she is bred on a 3 X 4 cross of that mare's sire Sir Tristram (Ire) (Sir Ivor {USA}). The five-time Group 1 winner Veyron (NZ) (Thorn Park) also hails from this family.
G3 Swap Sprint, NZ$80,000, 1400m
It was an all Australian finish to this feature sprint with the well-travelled Packing Rockstar (Fastnet Rock) proving too strong for Providenceprovides (Real Impact {Jpn}) and Dragon Leap (Pierro).
Bred in Victoria by Morning Rise Stud, Packing Rockstar was purchased for $260,000 at the 2017 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale by Hong Kong trainer Ricky Yiu. He raced just the once in Hong Kong, running a solid Happy Valley fifth in June 2019 - next seen breaking his maiden at Hawke's Bay seven months later.
Boasting consistent New Zealand form, Packing Rockstar recorded the sixth success of his 17-start career and his second at stakes level on the back of success in the G2 International S.
Bred on a 3 X 3 cross of Danzig (USA) (Northern Dancer {Can}), Packing Rockstar is one of his Coolmore Stud-based sire's 183 stakes winners. He is out of the dual Group 1 winner Anabandana (Anabaa {USA}) who has also produced by Fastnet Rock the dual city winner Overkill.
Not having a great deal of luck at stud in recent years, Anabandana (a half-sister to Fastnet Rock's dual stakes winner Gybe) has not had a foal since producing a yet to be named I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) in 2019.
Packing Rockstar hails from a strong family that has enjoyed success all around the world with the likes of G1 New Zealand Thousand Guineas winner King's Rose (NZ) (Redoute's Choice), the US Group 3 winner Hessonite (USA) (Freud {USA}), the Australian stakes winners Roanoke (Danehill {USA}) and Hardham (Redoute's Choice), the dual Group 3-winning Japanese galloper Santono Arthur (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), the two-time Group 3-winning French filly Soneva (USA) (Cherokee Run {USA}) and The Blue Eye (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) who earned the title of Qatar's Champion Older Male.
Awapuni: G3 Eulogy S., NZ$80,000, 1600m
Gutsy getting clear over the final stages after making a sweeping run, Belle En Rouge (NZ) (Burgundy {NZ}) was a deserved winner at black-type level having been a game G1 New Zealand Thousand Guineas third at her previous outing.
A homebred for Karyn Fenton-Ellis, Belle En Rouge is the seventh stakes winner for her late sire and is a member of his penultimate crop of just 33 living foals.
A full sister to the Singapore winner Little Master (NZ), Belle En Rouge is out of the unraced Cavendish Belle (NZ) (Thorn Park), half-sister to the Listed QTC Metropolitan H. winner Filante Etoile (NZ) (Soviet Star {USA}) and to the stakes-placed Vega Sicilia (NZ) (Rodrigo De Triano {USA}) who produced the G2 Avondale Guineas winner Valbuena (NZ) (Darci Brahma {NZ}).
Carrying crosses of the prolific stallions Northern Dancer (Can) (Nearctic {Can}), Sir Ivor (USA) (Sir Gaylord {USA}), Nureyev (USA) (Northern Dancer {Can}) and Bletchingly (Biscay), Belle En Rouge also boasts a 6 X 7 cross of the wonderful mare Best In Show (USA) (Traffic Judge {USA}) via her descendants Redoute's Choice (Danehill {USA}) and Spinning World (USA) (Nureyev {USA}).
Belle En Rouge hails from the same branch of the Blue Denim (USA) (Blue Larkspur {USA}) family as the Group 1 winners Naturalism (NZ) (Palace Music {USA}), Crystal Palace (NZ) (Palace Music {USA}) and Star Dancer (NZ) (Star Watch).
