Cover image courtesy of the Victoria Racing Club
Passive Aggressive was purchased by Dean Hawthorne on behalf of Jonathan Munz's Pinecliff Racing for $500,000 at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale from her breeders Cressfield, and Wayne Bedggood told TDN AusNZ that the farm had been excited about the filly after watching her break her maiden in May.
“We are extremely excited and we have been excited since the very first start to be honest,” said Bedggood.
The rise of Passive Aggressive has been short, but stark. The daughter of Fastnet Rock had creeped on to a few people’s radars when she made her winning debut at Werribee on May 2 and this was largely due to the exploits of her famous sister Missrock (Fastnet Rock), who was also bred and sold by Cressfield.
A Group 3 winner for trainer Robbie Laing, Missrock was unlucky not to snare a Group 1 during her 34-start career, having been placed at elite level on three occasions.
Missrock (black jacket) winning the G3 Percy Sykes S. in 2016 | Image courtesy of Bronwen Healy
However, despite the absence of a top-flight win on her CV, it seemed to have no real detrimental effect to her price tag at the conclusion of her racing career, with the mare eventually selling to John and Jake Warren for a sale-topping $2.8 million at the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale in 2019.
Following her maiden victory, Passive Aggressive added another two wins to her record at Pakenham and Flemington and Saturday’s victory was her fourth win and first at stakes level.
Passive Aggressive winning the Listed A.R. Creswick S. on Saturday | Image courtesy of Racing Victoria
Whether Passive Aggressive can go a few places better than Missrock remains to be seen, but Bedggood said if she can continue on this steep upward trajectory she can at least give herself a good chance of hitting those sorts of heights.
“Each time she has stepped out, she has won and she has won well. She has done it relatively easily again today (Saturday), so you always wonder what’s next and you pray they are going to stay sound,” said Bedggood.
“Each time she (Passive Aggressive) has stepped out, she has won and she has won well. She has done it relatively easily again today (Saturday), so you always wonder what’s next and you pray they are going to stay sound.” - Wayne Bedggood
Bedggood was even more buoyed by Saturday’s win, especially given the field she faced included some improving types such as the Clinton McDonald-trained Star Patrol (Starspanngledbanner), who finished second.
“That field was quite a strong field today (Saturday) and she just looked comfortable the whole way and it was quite a convincing win, so it was quite exciting for us here on the farm,” explained Bedggood.
“From the outside it looks like she’s doing it quite comfortably and the jockey said she is still learning and is probably not as fluent as she could be, so it’s exciting to think what she can achieve when she’s had a bit more education, because boy she can motor when she gets going.”
The filly is out of Group 3 winner Miss Judgement (Strategic) and Bedggood said she was always a standout out on the farm.
Miss Judgement when racing | Image courtesy of Sportpix
“She was a lovely filly from day one, in fairness to the mare (Miss Judgement) she always threw a type, they weren’t always the most correct horses, but they were all powerful and well-built, with a good shoulder and good rear,” said Bedggood.
“They all looked like they could run and the mare has produced a couple of horses that have gone to a really high level, so we are quite excited about where this filly might end up.”
“They (progeny of Miss Judgement) all looked like they could run and the mare has produced a couple of horses that have gone to a really high level, so we are quite excited about where this filly (Passive Aggressive) might end up.” - Wayne Bedggood
After a few failed attempts in the breeding barn, Miss Judgement was retired from broodmare duties in 2020, but it is not the end of the road for Cressfield and the family, with the stud having retained Misstook, an unraced, full sister to Passive Aggressive and Missrock.
“Unfortunately, the mare will no longer breed, she was retired in 2020. She is still with us and living a good life in retirement. We luckily have retained Passive Aggressive’s sister Misstook, who has got a lovely Deep Field filly at foot and she is in-foal to Wootton Bassett, so that is something for us to look forward too.
“The Deep Field filly is a lovely type and I think Misstook will make a lovely broodmare, she is a good-sized mare too, which always helps.
"We haven’t decided where the Deep Field will go, it will make a major and it will either go Magic Millions or Easter, but let’s wait and see what Passive Aggressive does first before making any rash decisions.”
