Cover image courtesy of Trish Dunell
Pukekohe: G3 Easter H., NZ$120,000, 1600m
Another feature-race win for jockey Michael McNab who enjoyed one of his best days at the races - winning all three of the stakes races at Pukekohe - White Noise (NZ) (El Roca) was dominant recording the sixth win of his 20-start career, and his third at stakes level.
One of the eight stakes winners for his Westbury Stud-based dual Listed-winning Fastnet Rock sire, White Noise - who may make a trip to Australia for the Queensland winter carnival - was bred by M J Gatt and Mangaone Bloodstock.
His dam is the unraced White Nymph (NZ) (Sir Percy {GB}) who has also produced by El Roca the metropolitan winner El Nymph (NZ). Served last spring by Ghibellines, she has a filly foal by Raise The Flag (GB) and a yearling colt by that same stallion. And her yet to be named 2-year-old is a son of Wrote (Ire).
White Noise's placed dam Egeria (Ire) (Daylami {Ire}) produced six winners including the stakes-placed Queen Takes King (NZ) (Charm Spirit {Ire}) and she is a daughter of the Group 3 mare Spring (GB) (Sadler's Wells {USA}) whose Group 2-winning dam Gull Nook (GB) (Mill Reef {USA}) also produced the dual Group 1-winning successful stallion Pentire (GB).
Also from this family is the G1 Epsom and Irish Derby hero Shirley Heights (GB)... White Nymph's great, great-grandsire.
G3 Championship S., NZ$100,000, 2100m
Too good hugging the outside rail, Cheval D'Or (NZ) (Almanzor {Fr}) - who had been Group 3 placed at her previous outing - chose a nice race in which to break her maiden at her sixth start.
Bred by Archer Equine Investments, she was purchased by The Oaks Stud and Pike Racing for NZ$420,000 from the Waikato Stud draft at the 2021 New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka Yearling Sale.
The eighth stakes winner for her Cambridge Stud-based sire, Cheval D'Or is the second stakes winner for her winning dam Keepa Cheval (NZ) (Keeper) whose son The Bostonian (NZ) (Jimmy Choux {NZ}) is a triple Group 1 winner of the Doomben 10,000, the Kingsford-Smith Cup and the Canterbury S.
Also grandam of the G3 Grand Prix S. winner Kovalica (NZ) (Ocean Park {NZ}), Keepa Cheval is a half-sister to the two-time New Zealand Horse of the Year Mufhasa (NZ) (Pentire {GB}) and to the dam of the G3 Bonecrusher S. winner Sacred Satono (NZ) (Satono Aladdin {Jpn}).
Served last spring by Tivaci, Keepa Cheval foaled a Savabeel filly in September having missed to that same stallion the previous season. Her 2-year-old Don't Tell Peggy (NZ) (Ocean Park {NZ}) is a member of the Chris Waller stable.
Cheval D'Or is bred on a 6 X 6 cross of the Group 3-winning mare Lady Be Good (USA) (Better Self {USA}) who appears via her Group 1-winning grandson Wavering Monarch (USA) and her Group 1 grandson Disciplinarian (USA).
Listed Champagne S., NZ$80,000, 1600m
She was by no means the biggest horse in the race but she was the toughest, Loch Katrine (NZ) (Ardrossan) game to the line breaking her maiden at her third outing.
The second debut crop stakes winner for her Waikato Stud-based sire, a Group 3-winning son of Redoute's Choice, Loch Katrine was bred by C Hosking and sold by SG Stud to Wilko Bloodstock for just NZ$6000 at the 2022 New Zealand Bloodstock Yearling Sale (Book 2).
Her dam is the Listed Karaka Classic winner Cong'er (NZ) (Zenno Rob Roy {Jpn}), daughter of the G1 Championship S. winner Conifer Bay (NZ) (Virginia Privateer {USA}) who also produced the G3 Thompson H. winner Bahira (NZ) (Volksraad {GB}) - in turn dam of the stakes winners Petty Cury (Not A Single Doubt) and Rio Fortune (Captain Rio {GB}).
And Petty Cury is also a successful broodmare, her daughter Solar Star (Zoustar) winning the Listed Gai Waterhouse Classic.
Now in Australia - served last spring by Acrobat - Cong'er had the previous season off.
Loch Katrine's sire and dam are both bred on a Buckpasser (USA)/Mill Reef (USA) cross.
Riccarton: G3 Canterbury Gold Cup, NZ$100,000, 2000m
Favourite on the back of his Listed Easter Cup victory last weekend, Times Ticking (NZ) (Tavistock {NZ}) was a dominant winner on the back-up.
Bred by V.A Lackner and A.R MacGregor, he is one of his late sire’s 43 stakes winners and one of two winners for the deceased (he is her last foal) two-time winner Laoghaire (NZ) (Pins).
Laoghaire is a granddaughter of the US Listed winner Avum (USA) (Umbrella Fella {USA}) who was not only a high-class broodmare but an influential ancestress with her descendants including the Group 1 winners Stephen Got Even (USA) (A P Indy {USA}), Artemis Agrotera (USA) (Roman Ruler {USA}), Xtension (Ire) (Xaar {GB}) and the in-form young Darley stallion Harry Angel (Ire).
Times Ticking is one of the 10 winners from 12 runners for Tavistock (NZ) out of daughters of Pins.
Listed Warstep S., NZ$65,000, 2000m
Part of a huge day for her jockey Kylie Williams, She's A Con (NZ) (Contributer {Ire}) emerged victorious from a stirring two-horse battle - the runner-up Luella Cristina (Snitzel) losing no fans having found trouble in running.
Bred by Raffles Dancers, the consistent filly is the seventh stakes winner for her Mapperley Stud-based, dual Group 1-winning High Chaparral (Ire) stallion.
Her dam is the unraced Rocks For Me (Fastnet Rock), three-quarter sister to the G1 Blue Diamond S. winner Sleek Chassis (Flying Spur).
The last three seasons visiting Tarzino (NZ) - she foaled a filly to him last year and a colt the year before - Rocks For Me also has a yet to be named 2-year-old Sacred Falls (NZ) filly.
Rocks For Me's city-winning dam Tigereye (NZ) (Kaapstad {NZ}) is a half-sister to the G1 Toorak H. winner Marble Halls (NZ) (Nassipour {USA}) and to the dam of the G1 Thousand Guineas winner Amphitrite (Sebring).
She's A Con is the sixth stakes winner line-bred (4 X 4) to Royal Academy (USA), second dam sire of Contributer (Ire) and dam sire of Fastnet Rock.
Doomben: Listed Princess S., $160,000, 1615m
Trainer Mark Newnham is certainly making the most of his time as he prepares for his big move to Hong Kong, nicely enhancing the value of the well-related filly Street Gossip (So You Think {NZ}) with her smart win in this Listed contest.
Doing a great job stepping up from a Class 1 win at Wyong, Street Gossip is the 51st stakes winner for her Coolmore Stud-based sire and the first winner (her second foal) for the multiple city winner Wahng Wah (Casino Prince).
Not served last spring having foaled a Pierro filly, Wahng Wah has two full sisters to Street Gossip coming through.
She is one of the three winners for the lightly raced Factor Of Safety (Encosta De Lago) who also produced the stakes-placed Warranty (All Too Hard). Her dam Celebria (Peintre Celebre {USA}) is the dam of the G1 Railway S. winner Gathering (Tale Of The Cat {USA}) and the G3 Gold Coast Guineas winner Florentina (Redoute's Choice) whose in-form daughter In Italian (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) is a triple Group 1 winner in the United States.
Bred by Wall Street Thoroughbreds and sold to Newnham by Riversdale for $140,000 at the 2021 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, Street Gossip has as her fifth dam the wonderful mare Dancing Show (USA) (Nijinsky II {Can}) - dam of the Group 1 winners Umatilla (NZ) and Hurricane Sky and grandam of the mighty Redoute's Choice.
The 18th So You Think (NZ) stakes winner line-bred to Nijinsky II (Can), Street Gossip is also line-bred to Fairy Bridge (USA}) (Bold Reason {USA}) and her dam Special (USA) (Forli {Arg}).
Listed Tails S., $160,000, 1615m
It was win number nine - and a fourth at Listed level - for the consistent imported 7-year-old Skyman (GB) (Mukhadram {GB}) who had 1.25l on his rivals.
Bred by K.J Keir, Skyman made his way through the sales ring on two occasions, fetching 90,000gns (AU$175,500) to the bid of Amanda Skiffington Bloodstock at the 2017 Tattersalls October Yearling Sale, returning to Tattersalls for the Autumn Horses In Training Sale two years later - purchased by Go Racing for 42,000gns (AU$81,900).
One of the seven stakes winners for his G1 Eclipse S.-winning, Shadwell-based sire, a son of Shamardal (USA), Skyman is out of the placed Skyrider (Ire) (Dalakhani {Ire}) whose full sister Gothic Dance (Ire) was crowned Italy’s Champion Older Female Miler in 2014.
Skyman’s third dam is the Group 1-placed, dual Listed winner My Branch (GB) (Distant Relative {Ire}) whose eight winners include the G1 Haydock Sprint Cup winner Tante Rose (Ire) (Barathea {Ire}) and the Listed winner Bay Tree (Ire) (Daylami {Ire}).
A descendant of the G1 1000 Guineas heroine Picture Play (GB) (Donatello II {Fr}), Skyman can count amongst his close relations the Group 1 gallopers Dubawi Heights (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) and Make Believe (GB) (Makfi {GB}).
Whilst Skyman's sire is line-bred to the legendary Secretariat (USA), his dam carries a strain of his half-brother Sir Gaylord (USA), providing for a 7 X 7 X 7 cross of the great mare Somethingroyal (USA) (Princequillo {Ire}).
Listed Mick Dittman Plate, $160,000, 1110m
It was certainly a deserved breakthrough at black-type level for Lady Laguna (Overshare) who had been stakes-placed on seven occasions!
The first stakes winner for her Widden Victoria-based G3 Zeditave S.-winning sire - a son of I Am Invincible - Lady Laguna was bred by Spendthrift Australia.
She is the second foal for the dual city winner Catalina De Lago (NZ) (Encosta De Lago), half-sister to the G2 Edward Manifold S. winner She Will Be Loved (Strategic) out of the unraced Katie O'Neill (NZ) (Zabeel {NZ}).
That half-sister to the dual Group winner Soleil Rouge (NZ) (Red Tempo {NZ}) is also grandam of the two-time Group winner Luke's Luck (Show A Heart) and third dam of the Listed Takeover Target H. winner Enchanted Heart (Show A Heart) and the recent G3 Percy Sykes S. winner Kristilli (Hellbent).
This is also the family of the multiple Group 1 winner Lucia Valentina (NZ) (Sabaveel) and of two Group 3 winners currently at stud in Australia - Swear and Extreme Warrior.
Lady Laguna boasts crosses of Fairy Bridge (USA) (Bold Reason {USA}) and her dam Special (USA) (Forli {Arg}) via Sadler's Wells (USA), Fairy King (USA) and Nureyev (USA).
Catalina De Lago was served last spring by Stay Inside having slipped the previous season to Overshare. She does not have a yearling whilst her 2-year-old is the Annabel Neasham-trained Lindelago (Bolt D'Oro {USA}) who ran quite a nice race when debuting in the G3 Ottawa S. at Flemington last spring.
Ascot: Listed Sheila Gwynne Classic, $125,000, 1400m
It took a photo finish to split two game mares with Stellar Vista (Star Witness) having the barest of margins on Jadavi (Coconut Grove).
Bred by Kingarth Pty Ltd, the consistent 5-year-old was an $80,000 purchase for Simon Miller from the Misty Valley Thoroughbreds draft at the 2019 Magic Millions Perth Yearling Sale.
The winner of six of her 20 starts, Stellar Vista is the 23rd stakes winner for her Widden Victoria-based, dual Group 1-winning sire.
Her dam is the multiple city winner Vantage Point (Anabaa {USA}) whose dam Primal Motion (End Sweep {USA}) is also a metropolitan winner.
And her grandam is the wonderful mare Lady Giselle (Fr) (Nureyev {USA}) - dam of the Group 1 horses Zabeel (NZ) and Baryshnikov and ancestress of another 12 stakes winners including the big-race winners Hallowed Crown and Tokyo Tycoon (NZ) (Satono Aladdin {Jpn}).
Stellar Vista's sire is bred on a Nureyev (USA)/Danzig (USA) cross whilst her dam is bred on the opposite.
