Raced by a group of Sydney-based Australians who have fittingly named themselves the ‘Vegemite Sandwich Syndicate’, Peshmerga is by Australian-bred stallion Counterattack, who after one season Down Under now resides exclusively at Gestut Karlshof in Germany.
A multiple stakes winner on the track, Counterattack’s three stakes triumphs were headed by a victory in the 2016 G3 Fred Best Classic. However, his race record also included a second-place finish to subsequent The Everest hero Redzel (Snitzel) in the G1 Doomben 10,000, one of seven times he made the frame in black-type events during his 26-start career.
Counterattack | Standing at Gestut Karlshof
Trained by Chris Waller and raced by his owner-breeder Geoff Grimish, the son of Redoute's Choice was retired to stand at Kitchwin Hills where he covered 49 mares in his sole Australian breeding season in 2017.
However, not satisfied for the stallion to embark on a stallion career restricted to just Australia, Grimish started to hunt for a stud in the Northern Hemisphere the stallion could shuttle to. So, to get the European ball rolling, Grimish approached his friend and well-known agent Avo Damirdjian of Tried And True Bloodstock.
A European home
Damirdjian had enjoyed enormous success buying tried horses in Europe and is perhaps best known for sourcing the multiple Group 1-winning son of Deep Impact (Jpn) Fierce Impact (Jpn), whose exploits on the track Down Under earned him a place on the Leneva Park roster.
Geoff Grimish | Image courtesy of Sportpix
“Geoff asked me to find Counterattack a stud to stand at in Europe with the idea of turning him into a dual-hemisphere sire,” Damirdjian told TDN AusNZ. “I had been buying some nice horses out of Germany and I was aware that the Faust family stood a few stallions in Germany at Gestut Karlshof. So I approached Holger Faust and spoke to him about the possibility of standing Counterattack and they wanted to, so he was sent to Gestut Karlshof.”
With the stallion safely secured by Gestut Karlshof, Grimish himself decided he wanted to source a few European-bred mares to support his stallion and once again turned to Damirdjian for his help.
“Geoff obviously wanted to send some of his own mares to Counterattack in Germany and decided to buy some in Europe to support him in the Northern Hemisphere,” explained Damirdjian. “He charged me with the responsibility of going to Arqana in Deauville to source some for him.”
Holger Faust with Counterattack at Gestut Karlshof | Image courtesy of Gestut Karlshof
Bright as bright can be
At Grimish’s behest, Damirdjian made his way to France and during the 2017 edition of the Arqana December Breeding Stock Sale, he - under his Tried And True Bloodstock banner - purchased six mares for an aggregate of €200,000 (AU$292,500). Among the group was Paper Faces (USA) (Lemon Drop Kid {USA}), whom he snapped up for €52,000 (AU$76,000) from the Haras d’Etreham draft.
The sextet were all sent to Counterattack in his first season at Gestut Karlshof in 2018 and Paper Faces’ first foal was a filly.
Grimish then decided it was time to sell some of the stock and Damirdjian was quick to put his hand up for the filly out of Paper Faces, who would subsequently become to be known as Peshmerga.
Peshmerga (Ger)
“When Peshmerga was a yearling, Geoff decided he wanted to sell a few and I asked him if I could buy the filly out of Paper Faces with a view to syndicating her. She was my favourite mare out of the ones I purchased and I really liked the filly,” explained Damirdjian.
“I syndicated her amongst some friends here in Sydney and we call ourselves the 'Vegemite Sandwich Syndicate’, so there is no mistaking where we’re from.”
The ownership group is made up of six of Damirdjian’s friends; Brett Willis, Thomas Conn, Chris Serrao, Dr Lorenzo Susino and David Skelly and the 3-year-old filly has already handed the partnership some memorable results.
After beginning her career in Germany, Peshmerga was relocated to Anne-Sophie Crombez's Chantilly-based stable.
Unraced as a 2-year-old, Peshmerga made an impressive debut for Crombez at Chantilly in February and, after posting respectable performances in her next three starts, she added a much deserved stakes triumph to her record with a tenacious victory in the Listed Diana Trial at Dusseldorf in her native Germany on her most recent start in June.
“We are having a lot of fun with her at the moment. Initially she was trained out of Germany, but we decided to move her to France because the money is better over there and also she registered for the French bonus,” said Damirdjian.
“We are having a lot of fun with her (Peshmerga) at the moment. Initially she was trained out of Germany, but we decided to move her to France because the money is better over there and also she registered for the French bonus.” - Avo Damirdjian
Nice bloodlines
The filly’s aforementioned dam Paper Faces herself is out of the unraced Sadler’s Wells (USA) mare Liffey Dancer (Ire), who is a sister to G1 Ascot Fillies' Mile winner Listen (Ire) and fellow Group 1 winner Sequoyah (Ire), with the latter famed for being the dam of multiple Group 1 winner Henrythenavigator (USA).
“The reason I liked the mare was because she was by Lemon Drop Kid, who is a very good broodmare sire and her dam is by Sadler’s Wells and that is what I wanted, a filly that was bred to run 2400 metres.”
The filly will face six rivals on Tuesday, including the Charlie Appleby-trained Life Of Dreams (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), who ran second behind subsequent Derby runner-up Emily Upjohn (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) in the G3 Musidora S. at York in May, while last-start Group 3 runner-up Manisha (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) will also take a shot at the 2200-metre race.
Peshmerga (Ger) will face Group 3 runner-up Life Of Dreams (GB) (pictured) in the the G3 Prix de Psyche | Image courtesy of Godolphin
Damirdjian is under no illusions of the task facing Peshmerga, but reported she was in good shape ahead of the target.
“She had her last gallop this morning and the trainer reported that she was ‘ready to rock n roll.’ They, Anne-Sophie and jockey Tony Piccone, couldn’t be happier with the way she has progressed. She has come on since her German run and she needed that hitout, so I think they have her spot on for this next assignment.
“She will need to be spot on, because the field looks pretty handy. There is nowhere to hide; I’ve been looking at the form of some of the fillies and it’s understandably really excellent. There are some horses by Dubawi, Siyouni and Frankel and then we have the little Counterattack filly, it’s like David vs Goliath.
Peshmerga (Ger)
“We are under no illusions how tough it will be for her, but she is improving with every start and she is getting better. It’s a small but very select field on Tuesday.
“We are really looking forward to it. She will probably be the outsider of the field, but I think she might surprise a few people to be honest with you; I think she can cause a little bit of an upset.”
Depending on the outcome of Tuesday’s race, Peshmerga could progress towards elite-level with the ultimate goal the G1 Prix de l'Opera on Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe Day at Longchamp on October 2.
“We are really looking forward to it. She (Peshmerga) will probably be the outsider of the field, but I think she might surprise a few people to be honest with you; I think she can cause a little bit of an upset.” - Avo Damirdjian
“I said to the boys that we should have a crack over in Europe and I said it would be amazing if we could own a stakes winner in Europe and we could go over there and watch the race. I would love to get her to Arc Day for the fillies and mares' race, but whether she is good enough to go that far in her first preparation remains to be seen, but that would be the goal,” said Damirdjian.
Plenty of winners
As for her sire Counterattack, he never returned to Australia after that first foray in Europe and with just two racing crops on the ground and very limited numbers, he has sired 14 winners in the Northern Hemisphere from just 20 runners.
His offspring are headed by three stakes scorers; Italian Group 3 winner See Hector (Ger), Pirouz (Ger), who landed the Listed Premio Emanuele Filiberto and of course Peshmerga. The stallion’s stakes winners to runners strike-rate fires at a respectable 6.8 per cent.
Damirdjian said he would love to see Counterattack return to Australia in the not too distant future.
“At first, we thought he was a high-class sprinter and we thought we would throw precocious horses. In fact it’s been the opposite, he’s been throwing middle-distance types,” he said.
“Counterattack’s statistics are very good off pretty limited numbers. But he is in good hands at Gestut Karlshof and they are trying to get as many mares to him as possible.
“Counterattack’s statistics are very good off pretty limited numbers. But he is in good hands at Gestut Karlshof and they are trying to get as many mares to him as possible.” - Avo Damirdijian
“Off the back of the season he is having now, I am certain he will get a lot more mares going to him next year because he is getting winners and stakes winners. I hope in time we will get him back to Australia to stand at a stud here; that is the hope.”
