Looking Ahead puts the spotlight on runners of interest across Australia and New Zealand. Whether they are a particularly well-bred or high-priced runner having their first or second start, a promising galloper returning to the track or a horse which has trialled particularly well, we’ll aim to give you something to follow.
Wednesday at Randwick-Kensington, we look at a pair of horses. The first is a daughter of the brilliant Group 1-winning mare Hurtle Myrtle (Dane Shadow), while the second is a full brother to the excellently performed Nakeeta Jane (So You Think {NZ}). At Sandown, we look at a Kiwi-bred filly whose dam is a half-sister to Inspirational Girl (NZ) (Reliable Man {GB}).
Randwick-Kensington, Race 1, 12.50pm AEST, Julie Harris Service Plate, $55,000, 1100m
Graceful Force, 2-year-old filly (Not A Single Doubt x Hurtle Myrtle {Dane Shadow})
This filly has plenty to recognise her, being a daughter of the G1 Myer Classic winner Hurtle Myrtle, who also won a pair of Group 2 races during a brilliant 2011 season. Hurtle Myrtle is from the family of Light Of Peace (Light Wind {Fr}), and this is an important and old pedigree from Hobartville Stud. It produced the G1 Golden Slipper winner and later sire, Star Watch.
Graceful Force is the sixth foal from Hurtle Myrtle, and she is a half-sister to the dual Group 3 winner Holyfield (I Am Invincible). The filly is also a half-sister to the excellent mare Vamos Bebe (I Am Invincible), who is now in New Zealand and a winner of the Listed Hallmark Stud H.
Not A Single Doubt, sire of Graceful Force
Graceful Force is trained at Randwick by the Snowden team and she is unraced in the colours of Segenhoe Stud. She’s been good in three trials to date, and in this race she has drawn barrier six with jockey Regan Bayliss.
Randwick-Kensington, Race 2, 1.25pm AEST, Furphy Plate, $55,000, 1100m
Mindspace, 2-year-old colt (So You Think {NZ} x Lustre Lady {Flying Spur})
Two-year-old Mindspace, by So You Think (NZ), is the sixth foal from the Flying Spur mare Lustre Lady, who was placed in the G2 AJC Breeders' Classic and Listed Belle of the Turf S. As such, this colt is a full brother to Nakeeta Jane, who won the G1 Surround S. and G2 Light Fingers S., and who was third in both the G1 Randwick Guineas and G1 Flight S.
There is plenty to like about the first line of this pedigree, and Mindspace was consigned to the 2021 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale by Davali Thoroughbreds, where he was knocked down to Mark Newnham Bloodstock for $310,000.
Mindspace as a yearling | Image courtesy of Inglis
The colt is trained at Randwick by Newnham and is unraced. He was third and fifth in a pair of trials this preparation, and he’s drawn barrier six with apprentice jockey Tyler Schiller.
Ladbrokes Park Hillside, Race 1, 12.25pm AEST, Ladbroke It! H., $50,000, 1300m
Proscenium Arch (NZ), 2-year-old filly (So You Think {NZ} x It’s Out Showtime {NZ} {Showcasing {GB}})
This unraced filly is from a New Zealand-bred half-sister to the Group 1 and Group 2-winning Inspirational Girl, plus the Duporth gelding Ruettiger (NZ), who was a Listed winner in Melbourne. In this family is also the G3 Naturalism S. winner Rainbow Styling (NZ) (Zabeel {NZ}), and Zingaling (Redoute’s Choice), a winner of the G3 Birthday Card S. and Listed PJ Bell H.
Proscenium Arch (NZ) was put into the 2021 Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale, appearing in the draft of Maluka Thoroughbreds on behalf of her breeder, Cambridge Stud. She sold to Busuttin Racing and Clarke Bloodstock for $220,000.
Proscenium Arch (NZ) as a yearling | Image courtesy of Inglis
The filly is having her first start in this race, with just a winning trial behind her so far. She won on that occasion on July 4 and, in this debut, she has jockey Craig Williams from barrier one.
Looking Back
Our Looking Ahead selections on Tuesday were a mixed bag. At Ballarat, Caldente (So You Think {NZ}) was third, while at Wyong, My Truth (NZ) (Proisir) was fourth and Millybella (I Am Invincible) was third.
