Raceday doubles are rare for any stallion, but a juvenile raceday double is even rarer. At Warwick Farm on Wednesday, however, that’s exactly what Rubick pulled off when his progeny pair of Undivided and French Endeavour won the first two races of the meeting.
Undivided, who was on debut for trainer Michael Freedman, led home the more experienced duo of Encap (Capitalist) and Coincide (Invader), while French Endeavour was second-up among the fillies after a debut second in February for trainer Matthew Smith.
On both accounts, the youngsters delivered timely, spring-eve success for Rubick, who will cover his third book of mares since relocating from Coolmore to Victoria’s Swettenham Stud. He will stand for $27,500 (inc GST).
Undivided and French Endeavour bring Rubick’s seasonal winners figure to 99 in Australia, or 105 including New Zealand. Those numbers are already streets better than last season, when he delivered 81 Australian winners, and better again than 2021, when he finished the season with 71 winners.
On Wednesday afternoon, the office phone at Swettenham Stud was popping off the wall after the stallion’s juvenile double, and that was more than okay with the farm’s General Manager, Sam Matthews.
Rubick | Standing at Swettenham Stud
“It’s been a good afternoon,” he said, chatting with TTR AusNZ. “Undivided is one we’d been watching for a while. We didn’t really expect him to win on debut because we all know how hard it is to win on debut, but it was signature Rubick… quality and strength.”
Undivided is from the Redoute’s Choice mare Mining Tycoon (Written Tycoon), a half-brother to the dual stakes winner Usmanov (Choisir) who is closely inbred to Shantha’s Choice (Canny Lad).
At the 2022 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, he was a rich, robust chestnut colt for Segenhoe Stud, bought by Darby Racing for $240,000.
There is plenty of pedigree here. Undivided is the extended family of Joie Denise (Danehill {USA}) via Tycoon Joy (Last Tycoon {Ire}), and it has produced such good horses as Bentley Biscuit (Peintre Celebre {USA}) and Thorn Park (NZ).
Undivided as a yearling | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
However, the Rubick side of things didn’t suggest to Matthews and the team at Swettenham Stud that Undivided would be sharp enough to win on debut as a 2-year-old.
“Rubick’s had more than his share of 2-year-olds, and he’s a very good sire in that respect, but I think they’re better as 3-year-olds,” he said. “We’re getting close to being 3-year-olds with those now, so with late season they do come of age a little bit more than others.
“But anything winning on debut, and particularly going into town on debut, is a hard task. It doesn’t matter how sharp or how good they are, that first start is always a challenge and with Undivided, they must have known he was pretty good.”
“...anything winning on debut, and particularly going into town on debut, is a hard task. It doesn’t matter how sharp or how good they are, that first start is always a challenge...” - Sam Matthews
Undivided was ridden on Wednesday by Tom Sherry. The gelding hopped out of barrier three and got home in the time of 1:03.75, the last 600 metres in 34.08s. It was a narrow finish, Encap flooding the last few strides to just miss out.
The field also featured the well-related Northern Eyes (Zoustar), who had been a $1.25 million yearling purchase for the Coolmore team last year.
Sophie Johnson was trackside representing the Michael Freedman yard, and she said Undivided gave Tom Sherry everything that he needed to just get there when it counted.
Undivided winning at Warwick Farm | Image courtesy of Ashlea Brennan
“He’s shown a bit of promise at home,” she told the raceday broadcast. “That last trial at home showed that the penny was dropping a bit for him. He’s always been sharp and forward out of the gates. It was just about bringing him here today and giving him a good experience, and he’s certainly ticked all the boxes.”
French Endeavour
After Undivided won the opening race for the colts and geldings on Wednesday, French Endeavour did the same among the fillies in the second race.
Over the same course and distance, she posted a slightly slower time of 1:04.08, albeit the last 600 metres was faster in 33.86s, when jumping from barrier two to win with jockey Dylan Gibbons, who is inching towards an apprentice premiership this season. In fact, he sits behind only James McDonald for winners on the New South Wales metropolitan table.
French Endeavour is a homebred for Hobartville Stud. She is a daughter of the Anabaa (USA) mare French News, herself a half-sister to the Group 3-winning News Alert (Danehill Dancer {Ire}).
On debut, she was second in a juvenile maiden on the Randwick-Kensington track over this distance, and was third in a pair of trials between then and Wednesday. Amy Burke, representing trainer Matthew Smith, said the filly had done very well in her first preparation.
“The form around her first race was quite strong,” Burke said. “A few stakes performers and a nice couple of winners came out of it. Her trials back this time in were good and she presented really well here today. It was a great ride by Dylan. He’s just on fire at the moment.”
“The form around her (French Endeavour's) first race was quite strong. A few stakes performers and a nice couple of winners came out of it.” - Amy Burke
It’s unclear if French Endeavour will be seen again soon. She is only weeks away from being a 3-year-old, and Burke said it was a handy card to hold, these smart 3-year-old fillies into a spring.
“She is lightly raced and there’s plenty of upside,” Burke said. “It’s great for Mr Mapp (Grahame Mapp, studmaster at Hobartville) that he’s got one to look forward to and they’ll have a bit of fun, for sure.”
French Endeavour winning at Warwick Farm | Image courtesy of Ashlea Brennan
Rubick’s queue
At Swettenham, Sam Matthews said they’ll be in touch with the connections of the winning mares, hoping to lure them back to Rubick this spring.
“Any time a stallion produces a good horse, you’d be trying to get the dam or a half-relation back,” he said. “Unfortunately, Rubick has had a tough time of it in that a lot of those mares that have produced his good horses have died. We’ve got a list of every good Rubick out there, and more than half of those mares are dead.
“Obviously, starting out at a lower base, he had some lower mares in those early years. As time goes by, those mares don’t live forever so to get one that’s living, and Segenhoe is fantastic in respect of supporting us before, it would be fantastic if we could find a way to get them back.”
Adam Sangster and Sam Matthews | Image courtesy of Swettenham Stud
Mining Tycoon, the dam of Undivided, wasn’t served last year. Her last two foalings have been to Capitalist and Dundeel (NZ). French News, the dam of French Endeavour, has gone to the Group 3 winner Sheer Talent the last two seasons.
Matthews is expecting Rubick to this season cover about 120 mares, and the horse’s book is already standing at about 100. They’re good numbers for a horse that got only 42 mares in his first year at Swettenham Stud in 2021, which was part and parcel of the stigma around stallions relocating.
“People see any stallion moving as a negative,” Matthews said. “But we deliberately chased Rubick knowing Coolmore was going to get Yes Yes Yes. We thought Rubick would be a great fit, and most of his success to the date when we got him was in Victoria.
“We chased him deliberately and we were really disappointed in the first year when he covered 42 mares. We tried our guts out to tell people that he had massive, quality books coming through. We genuinely felt he would be an even better stallion than what he was at the time, and he’s proven that with his five or six stakes winners this season, and plenty of 2-year-old winners.”
“People see any stallion moving as a negative... We genuinely felt he (Rubick) would be an even better stallion than what he was at the time (when he relocated to Victoria), and he’s proven that with his five or six stakes winners this season, and plenty of 2-year-old winners.” - Sam Matthews
Rubick is up there with some of the best stallions on statistics.
He’s the sire of Jacquinot, Rubisaki, Shades Of Rose and Yes Yes Yes. There’s also Glint Of Silver and Bound For Home, all Group winners. He’s had six juvenile winners this season, and that figure last season was 12. Pound for pound, he’s one of the best-value stallions on offer.
“He certainly wasn’t damaged goods when we got him, and we’ve worked very hard to put all the information out there for breeders,” Matthews said. “Those that have got 35-odd weanlings on the ground by Rubick are certainly in the money now.
Gallery: Some of Rubick's Group-winning progeny, images courtesy of The Image Is Everything
“I couldn’t tell you the last time any stallion had two 2-year-old winners on any program, especially in town, let alone one of our own stallions. It's been a good day.”
