Cover image courtesy of Brisbane Racing Club
It was a flash of inspiration driven by many years of pedigree research that led Yarramalong Park's Richard Foster to paying $1000 for Our First Lady (Denman) through the 2017 Magic Millions Racehorse Sale.
Foster had been looking for mares to send to Better Than Ready, the promising stallion he was heavily invested with along with Lyndhurst Stud Farm, when a pedigree jumped off the page at him.
Joanie and Richard Foster | Image courtesy of Bronwen Healy
Our First Lady had shown a bit of brilliance as a racehorse for her trainer Clarry Conners before injury curtailed her development, but it was her damline that most drew Foster in.
She was out of Becky's Ransom (USA) (Red Ransom {USA}), a half-sister to the legendary Vinery Stud shuttle stallion More Than Ready (USA), who is, of course, the sire of Better Than Ready.
The theoretical mating with Better Than Ready would produce a foal with a double cross of More Than Ready's dam, Woodman's Girl (USA) (Woodman {USA}).
"I wanted to duplicate that mare for two reasons," Foster told TDN AusNZ.
"One, it’s a good way to do things with a pedigree, particularly top and bottom or through the middle, but the other reason is that that mare is full of Buckpasser and La Troienne and Better Than Ready loves that.
"It’s a good way to do things with a pedigree, particularly top and bottom or through the middle, but the other reason is that that mare is full of Buckpasser and La Troienne and Better Than Ready loves that." - Richard Foster
"If I could find another mare with that breeding at the bottom of the pedigree, I'd buy her too."
An Arion search reveals only one other active line in Australia featuring Woodman's Girl on the maternal line. Our First Lady's half-sister Kentucky Belle (Redoute's Choice) is active at Ponderosa Park in Victoria and has produced two fillies by So You Think (NZ), Warnock and Frappe, who have been active at stud. None of that trio are yet to be bred to the More Than Ready line.
The other aspect that interested Foster in Our First Lady was her brief racing career, which began with Conners and ended with Bjorn Baker.
"She was fast, she won her first start in a race as a 2-year-old pretty easily for Darby Racing. She then fractured a knee and they thought enough of her to operate on her and when they did that, it wasn't all that successful, but they persevered and put her back into work a year later," he said.
"She (Our First Lady) was fast, she won her first start in a race as a 2-year-old pretty easily for Darby Racing." - Richard Foster
"She had a trial in Sydney against open-class horses and she gave them a bit of a lesson. The knees came against her after a couple of starts and they weren't able to persevere and that proved good luck for us.
"They threw her in the Sale and I happened to be there when she came in. I thought that she was an interesting one, I liked that pedigree."
Better Than Ready | Standing at Lyndhurst Stud Farm
A Better plan
Our First Lady's breeding career has been dedicated to Better Than Ready, visiting him five-straight years since that $1000 purchase, producing three colts to date.
Bloodstock agent Paul Moroney, a man renowned for his knowledge of pedigrees as well as his eye for a good horse, was on the spot when Steady Ready came through the ring in Book 2 of the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale last year as part of Yarramalong's draft.
"He was a lovely, athletic horse. He looked as though he had a lot of scope. We had an order to buy a number of yearlings for a particular group, it was a bit of an odd order, we were given $1 million to buy 10 yearlings for a group," Moroney said.
Paul Moroney | Image courtesy of Inglis
"We thought this was going to be hard, given the market and to average out for $100,000. We ended up buying eight and still had some change."
The double cross of Woodman's Girl immediately stood out to Moroney when he assessed the Better Than Ready colt ahead of the Sale.
"That's how the experts do it, they match the top and bottoms that way to get twice the power from those strong females," he said.
"That's how the experts do it, they match the top and bottoms that way to get twice the power from those strong females." - Paul Moroney
"He was always a lovely colt, a great-walking and great-moving horse, very athletic. I never thought he'd make a 2-year-old, maybe a late 2-year-old, but I thought he was more likely a Guineas type."
In the end Moroney came together with Haoh and Co to pay $70,000 for Steady Ready.
"We bought him and I thought we bought him well. Tony and Maddy have been telling us all along that he was very, very good, from late spring onwards."
Steady Ready as a yearling | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
A hiccup in the ownership circumstances led to a deal in getting the colt named and Tony Sears was left tapping his feet waiting for the all-clear to run Steady Ready.
That issue has since been resolved and he came out in March and won a Toowoomba trial by 13l. Late last month, he was super impressive on his debut at Doomben, winning by 5.75l and stamping himself as a 2-year-old to watch.
"He won like a pretty smart horse. What he beat that day was debatable, but they can only win and win like he did, and he had been impressive winning a trial before that. It's big step up for him on Saturday," Moroney said.
Ready for another?
When Steady Ready's brother came up for sale at the recent Magic Millions Gold Coast March Yearling Sale, Moroney, his partner Catheryne Bruggeman and RS Bloodstock were on the spot again, securing him for $72,500.
"It's always good to have a heads up that you know the other one has got ability but he was a completely different type. To me, he was a lot more precocious, he's a strong, more nuggety, compact horse, but once again he is a good mover," the bloodstock agent said.
"To me, he (the yearling) was a lot more precocious, he's a strong, more nuggety, compact horse, but once again he is a good mover." - Paul Moroney
"I got a video of him yesterday from the breakers and they are absolutely delighted with him. He’ll now go to the paddock."
Moroney purchased the colt for a client who has an eye to the ready to run sales later in the year.
"I bought him specifically for a client in Melbourne, who will possibly breeze him up. He buys horses and puts them through a breeze-up system and makes his mind up whether he is going offload them or perhaps keep them," he said.
Better Than Ready x Our First Lady '20 (colt), purchased by Paul Moroney, Catheryne Bruggeman and RS Bloodstock for $72,500 at last month's Magic Millions March Sale | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
"He's following the exploits of Steady Ready fairly closely. We could confidently tell him when he bought the horse that there was a very smart full brother that was coming along to embellish the family, lift it up and put some black type up there. Saturday's result will tell us whether our prediction was right or wrong."
A victory on Saturday would also be a fitting reward for Better Than Ready, who has had 14 individual 2-year-old winners this season, two more than his closest rival Spirit Of Boom and four more than both Snitzel and Zoustar.
He is yet to have a stakes winner from that crop but has had two older stakes winners in 2021/22 in Apache Chase and Tiger Heart, and 86 winners for the season overall.
