Cover image courtesy of Racing Photos
Broodmare Miss Hufflepuff (Encosta De Lago) holds a special place in the heart of Tyreel Stud co-owner Linda Monds, and Saturday’s Listed Oaklands Plate in Adelaide has done nothing to change that.
The 2-year-old feature was won impressively by Miss Hufflepuff’s daughter Coco Sun, who comes from the first crop of Arrowfield Stud’s five-time Group 1 winner The Autumn Sun.
Coco Sun now boasts a perfect two-from-two record, and her trainers Tony and Calvin McEvoy believe the best could be yet to come.
“We came here to get that beautiful black type, and that was very good,” Tony McEvoy said on Saturday. “We’ve thought for a while she could be a horse who could figure in the spring, and that was a great step forward today.
Tony McEvoy
“Her pedigree says she’ll get further. I think we'll just protect her now, we might just back off and give her a chance to digest it all. She's a ripper going forward.
“I think initially we'll look at the Thousand Guineas, they've moved it back to November now. If we keep going now, she's not going to be there for the spring, so I think if we protect her and give her a chance, we'll see where she takes us.
“But there are some ripper races, like the Jim Moloney over 1400 metres in late September – that could be her next run. I think she's a good-quality filly.”
Monds bred Coco Sun under the banner of Wallings Bloodstock Pty Ltd, and she has been delighted to see her start her racing career in such spectacular style.
“For this filly to come out in her second career start on Saturday and do what she’s done is hugely exciting,” she told TTR AusNZ on Saturday afternoon. “I think the McEvoys have managed her so beautifully.
“She was a real no-fuss filly when she was raised here, she was really easy to do anything with. She was quite relaxed and switched off, and that might have helped make her a racehorse – she’s been able to learn and not have her brain get in the way. But she was always such a beautiful filly.”
Broodmare purchase pays off
Coco Sun is the third winner from four foals to race out of Miss Hufflepuff.
A full sister to Hong Kong Group 1 performer Liberator (Encosta De Lago) and the stakes-placed Pink Siris (Encosta De Lago), who is the dam of G2 The Roses winner Etana (Shamus Award), Miss Hufflepuff was herself a three-time winner on the racetrack between 1400 and 2000 metres.
She was later offered by Rothwell Park at the 2017 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale, where Tyreel Stud teamed up with Belmont Bloodstock to buy her for $470,000.
Miss Hufflepuff at the 2017 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
That purchase quickly reaped rewards, with her yearlings selling for $220,000, $400,000, $300,000 and $250,000 over the following five years.
Coco Sun was the most recent of those, bought by McEvoy Mitchell Racing and Belmont Bloodstock Agency (FBAA) for $250,000 and now raced by Terry Jarvis.
The $400,000 purchase Queen Of Wizardry (Not A Single Doubt), meanwhile, was a winner as a 2-year-old, finished fourth in the R. Listed Magic Millions 2YO Classic and was later bought by Cambridge Stud for $525,000 at the 2021 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale.
Queen Of Wizardry | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
“Miss Hufflepuff has been quite a remarkable mare,” Monds said. “She’s always produced quality stock, ones who are tapping on the door to be the next big thing. She’s a beautiful mare who I’m very firmly attached to.
“Miss Hufflepuff has been quite a remarkable mare... she’s always produced quality stock, ones who are tapping on the door to be the next big thing.” - Linda Monds
“When we bought her at the sale all those years ago, I was drawn to her depth of girth and her impressive hind-end strength. She was a lovely-natured and very attractive mare.
“Her pedigree is perhaps more distance-oriented than what I would normally be attracted to, but look at what she’s done at stud – she’s had a very good record of producing runners and winners, including with her 2-year-olds.
Linda and Laurence Monds | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
“She came from a very strong family, and a current family. We felt we could use her to produce successful stock at stud, and she has absolutely done that.
“The McEvoys think this filly will possibly go over a bit more distance in time, so it will be very interesting to follow her progress.”
The Autumn Sun a perfect match
Coco Sun became the second first-crop stakes winner for The Autumn Sun, whose daughter Autumn Ballet won the G3 Black Opal in Canberra earlier in the year. He has also had a Group 1 performer in New Zealand, where his daughter Tulsi finished second in the Sistema S.
With four winners and total earnings of $558,767, The Autumn Sun currently sits in seventh place among Australia’s first-season sires by winners, and he is sixth by earnings.
While his outstanding nine-start, eight-win career on the racetrack made him an obvious drawcard, Monds was more attracted to The Autumn Sun as a physical specimen.
The Autumn Sun | Standing at Arrowfield Stud
“As soon as we had our first look at The Autumn Sun at Arrowfield in that first year, I instantly said ‘Miss Hufflepuff’ right there on the spot,” she said.
“He’s a big boy and he’s got everything you could ever want in a horse, and I also felt it could be a good match in terms of pedigrees and distances.
“As a breeder, I’m always very critical and looking for things I’d like to improve. With the progeny of Miss Hufflepuff, I felt that we should just try to make her progeny a little bit bigger, with a bit more leg to them. She tends to give her progeny big, barrelly bodies and plenty of strength.
“As a breeder, I’m always very critical and looking for things I’d like to improve. With the progeny of Miss Hufflepuff, I felt that we should just try to make her progeny a little bit bigger, with a bit more leg to them. She tends to give her progeny big, barrelly bodies and plenty of strength.” - Linda Monds
“Breeding and racing horses, you obviously want the on-track success, but you’ve got to sell horses too. You’re trying to do two things – breed a racehorse, but also breed the closest thing you can to a perfect-looking article to attract the buyers. I thought adding a bit more size and leg would be a good way to go for Miss Hufflepuff.”
Since Coco Sun was born in the spring of 2020, Miss Hufflepuff has produced filly foals by Yes Yes Yes and So You Think (NZ).
“She’s currently dry,” Monds said. “She’s been a very consistent producer, year in and year out, and we thought she deserved a year off. But she’s definitely going to visit The Autumn Sun again this spring.
“She does have a very, very nice filly by So You Think who was born last spring. In fact, I think she’s actually close to being the perfect physical – she’s very, very, very nice. But after yesterday’s performance by Coco Sun, The Autumn Sun is the only possible match for her this time around.”
