Group 1 targets ahead for Grace after being crowned a Princess at Hawkesbury

Cover image courtesy of Ashlea Brennan

A US$1.7 million (AU$2.54 million) purchase from last year’s Fasig-Tipton November Sale, Princess Grace arrived on Australian shores with an impressive race record to go with her hefty price-tag, having won five Group races and placed at the highest level on three occasions.

On her final start stateside for former trainer Michael Stidham, she placed in the G1 First Lady S. at Keeneland behind In Italian (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), who only last week added a third elite-level win to her resume in the G1 Jenny Wiley S.

With form of that substance already in the book, it was no surprise to see Princess Grace put the writing on the wall on her first Australian start earlier this month, where she finished a slashing third in the G2 Sapphire S. at Randwick over a distance well short of her optimum.

Although the 1300 metres in Saturday’s G3 Hawkesbury Crown was more to her liking, Smith doesn’t expect to see the best of the 6-year-old mare until she is stepped up further in trip, a belief that is substantiated by her pair of Group 2 wins over 1700 metres in the US.

“I think she’s pretty special,” Smith told TDN AusNZ. “She’d never run below a mile before she got to Australia, and she’s Group 2-placed and a Group 3 winner over 1200/1300 metres now, so I think once we get up to a more suitable distance, she’ll be pretty dynamic.

“A race like the Tatt’s Tiara at the end of the Brisbane Carnival would be an achievable target I think, but it’s more than likely she’ll go to the paddock now and we’ll focus on something like the Empire Rose in the spring.

“Importantly she has shown that she has acclimated to Australian conditions, I think that’s the most important thing and we can go forward with some confidence now.”

As an American who lives and works in Australia, Smith knows better than most that getting an import acclimatized to Australian conditions is not always plain sailing.

Much to the delight of her connections, Princess Grace has enjoyed a seamless transition to the Southern Hemisphere thus far, something which Smith believes is the result of a huge team effort.

“We paid a tremendous amount of money for her and put our judgement on the line, so it’s very satisfying,” he said.

“Not every horse travels well and acclimates to Australia. There has been a lot of moving parts between us buying her in November and her winning this race on Saturday.

“After we bought her at Fasig-Tipton I sent her down to Florida because I wanted her to stay warm so that when she came to our summer over here it wasn’t a shock for her. So she travelled down there, spelled well and had a nice break, then she arrived here and got going with Matt Vella and then went into Chris’ system.

“It’s all gone smoothly but so many people have helped us along the way, so it’s a real team effort.”

A long-term proposition

Smith, an integral part of the team who purchased Princess Grace at last year’s November Sale, was on hand at Fasig-Tipton’s ‘Night of the Stars’ to sign the docket alongside the likes of Matthew Houldsworth and China Horse Club founder and chairman Teo Ah Khing.

The daughter of Japanese-bred stallion Karakontie (Jpn) - who stands at Gainesway Farm in Kentucky having won Group 1s in both France and the US - made an immediate impression on Smith during the inspection process, prompting the China Horse Club team to go all the way to US$1.7 million (AU$2.54 million) to secure the John and Susan Moore homebred.

“I fell in love with her when I saw her,” Smith recalled. “She’s an apex physical and she’s got the most beautiful angles.

“She has perfect size and scope, great outlook, great action, and she’s an outcross to everything we have down here (in Australia).

“Karakontie, while he might not be a top-of-the-line name for a lot of people, he’s a very, very good stallion and he has that Japanese blood which we know has been successful all over the world.

“Outside of what she does on the racetrack over the next year, she’s really a long-term proposition for us and hopefully during that time we can knock off a Group 1 before she joins the broodmare band.”

Princess Grace is the first stakes winner from only two runners Down Under for Karakontie, who has sired nine individual stakes winners from four relatively small crops at a strike rate of 6.5 per cent stakes winners to runners.

Out of the stakes-placed, well-related mare Masquerade (USA) (Silent Name {Jpn}), Princess Grace has an added element of intrigue to her pedigree in that she carries a 3 X 3 cross to the hugely influential Sunday Silence (USA), whose most famous son, Deep Impact (Jpn), continues to have a profound influence in both hemispheres following his untimely death in 2019.

Other high-profile mares inbred to Sunday Silence include Japanese fillies’ Triple Crown winner Daring Tact (Jpn) (Epiphaneia {Jpn}) and Japanese Horse of the Year Efforia (Jpn), and while connections aren’t in a rush to whisk Princess Grace off to stud, Smith is understandably excited at the prospect of mating her with some of the finest stallions in Australia.

“You can see a lot of Sunday Silence in her through her colour and her shape,” he said. “It’s a great influence worldwide and I think it will go very well with the Danehill we have down here.

“Because she is an outcross we are very lucky that she would suit nearly any of the stallions in our portfolio. She could go to a Russian Revolution or an Extreme Choice, a Zoustar or a Militarize in a couple of years. The options are endless, which is great.

“It’s clear she’s still got the enthusiasm for racing, but I’d say one more year will do us and then we’re pretty keen to see what she can do on the other end of the spectrum.”

Following the blueprint

Princess Grace’s outcross potential wasn’t the only motivation behind the decision to continue her racing career in Australia, with Smith citing both prizemoney potential and the plethora of suitable races as other factors in the decision.

Smith also revealed that the recent success of American-bred mares Down Under, both on the track and in the breeding barn, gave him further confidence that Australia was a suitable destination for the seven-figure purchase.

“We’ve seen American mares like Lighthouse and Con Te Partiro come down here and be successful, and Princess Grace’s form in America would have been significantly better than theirs was,” he said.

“The US imports are typically on-speed horses, and the other thing from a long-term point of view is that American mares have also been very successful in Australia as broodmares. It’s sort of a one-two punch if you will.

“I just thought there was a great opportunity if it came off and we could put it all together. Obviously, we haven’t done it yet, but I think Saturday was a good first step.

“More than anything I’d just like to thank Mr Teo for giving me the opportunity to buy a mare like her. I’m lucky to be surrounded by such a good team and a visionary leader, and Saturday was a great first step in repaying that faith.”

Princess Grace’s victory in Saturday’s Hawkesbury Crown continued a remarkable run of form for the China Horse Club team, who have enjoyed a particularly fruitful autumn carnival - even by their own standards. “It has been a very rewarding past few months,” Smith added.

“We had four Group 1 wins across the carnival and three of those were part of our colt’s syndicate - Artorius and Militarize with his two wins - and then Communist, who we bred and is by Russian Revolution.

“We had a great maiden winner at Keeneland the other day who we bought at November, Equivoque, a son of Good Magic, he looks very exciting going forward. We had August Bloom run third in the Magic Night, she looks like a very progressive filly for the spring, so we have a few different irons in the fire.

“Hopefully we can have more results like we have had over the carnival.”