Cover image courtesy of Peter Rubery (Race Images Palmerston North)
A good Saturday quickly became a great Saturday for Windsor Park when Mustang Valley, a mare who the farm bred and retained to race, added a second Group 1 win to her burgeoning CV with a decisive victory at Hastings.
Trained by Andrew Forsman, Mustang Valley relished the deteriorating track to run out a ready winner of the G1 Arrowfield Stud Plate, a victory that has prompted her connections to dream big for the remainder of her spring campaign.
Schick revealed that the 5-year-old mare will now bid to defend her crown in the G1 Livamol Classic, before potentially making her way across the Tasman for an audacious tilt at the G1 Cox Plate at Moonee Valley later this month.
“She has done a great job and she’s done it from two right the way through to five,” Schick said. “We’re very proud of her and I think she’s just getting better with age.
“She’ll head to the Livamol on the final day of the carnival and she still holds a nomination for the Cox Plate. We’ll just see how she goes, but if she came through the Livamol well and things were spot on, we may look to go there.
“That’s where we would like to head and it’s my favourite race, so if we can nab a placing it would be a huge result.”
“That’s (the Cox Plate) where we would like to head (with Mustang Valley) and it’s my favourite race, so if we can nab a placing it would be a huge result.” - Rodney Schick
Despite being available to back at odds of $151 with race sponsors Ladbrokes, Schick doesn’t think Mustang Valley would be out of place in a Cox Plate, pointing to her ability to handle Australian conditions as well as both wet and dry tracks as a big feather in her cap.
“She’s shown that she can run on good tracks as well as rain-affected tracks, the rain affected going just slows the others up a bit but she seems to get through it very well,” he added.
“She’s not just a wet tracker though, and I know Andrew Forsman is keen to get her back onto a good track at some stage.
“She’s run some good races in Australia already and her Doncaster run last year was huge. She was unlucky in the bad part of the ground.
“There’s a bit of water under the bridge to get to the next step, but if she continues to race well then that’s the plan at this stage.”
Keeping it in the family
Mustang Valley’s rise to the top is even more remarkable given that she hails from a mare whom Schick purchased as a broodmare prospect for just $5000 at the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale in 2017.
The mare in question, one-time winner Cream Of The Crop (New Approach {Ire}), was bought to support Windsor Park’s young stallion Vanbrugh, but not even Schick could have predicted that she would go on to provide the stallion with his breakthrough Group 1 winner from her very first foal.
As a close relative of dual Australian Horse of the Year Might And Power (NZ) (Zabeel {NZ}), whom Windsor Park bred, Cream Of The Crop holds extra special significance for Schick and his team, and the fact that she hails from the same family as the G1 Melbourne Cup, G1 Caulfield Cup and G1 Cox Plate champion was a big reason as to why Schick was so keen to welcome her into the Windsor Park broodmare band.
Might And Power (NZ) (white cap) | Image courtesy of Sportpix
“I found her on the Gold Coast and she is closely related to Might And Power, who we bred and had such great success with that family,” Schick recalled.
“He gave us a huge amount of profile and fun, and then to be able to breed, own and race a good mare like Mustang Valley from that family is what the game is all about.
“I think it’s really important to nurture these families because they always keep producing good horses. That’s what you find with these good families.
“I think it’s really important to nurture these families because they always keep producing good horses. That’s what you find with these good families.” - Rodney Schick
“New Zealanders are renowned as a country that loves having their families and when you’re buying back into your own ones for $5000 it’s pretty good.”
True to his word, Schick will have another opportunity to continue the family’s legacy through Cream Of The Crop’s unraced filly by Windsor Park’s former shuttle stallion Charm Spirit (Ire), whose maiden cover is still yet to be confirmed for this season.
Her 2-year-old filly by Darci Brahma (NZ), meanwhile, fetched NZ$150,000 (AU$139,700) at the New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka Yearling Sale earlier this year, going the way of some of the industry’s finest judges in Anthony Freedman, Julian Blaxland and Andrew Williams, who teamed up to buy the half-sister to a now dual Group 1 winner.
Darci Brahma (NZ) x Cream Of The Crop (filly) as a yearling | Image courtesy of New Zealand Bloodstock
Off the back of another timely pedigree update on Saturday, Schick is relishing the prospect of selling Cream Of The Crop’s yearling filly by Cambridge Stud shuttler Hello Youmzain (Fr) at Karaka next year, and is equally excited about her most recent mating to Waikato Stud’s record-breaking Champion Sire Savabeel.
“We’re pretty excited about her Hello Youmzain filly, she’s a very nice type and Hello Youmzain was an exceptional racehorse himself,” Schick said.
“He’s a very good type physically and we’re very happy with the article, so she’ll be heading to Karaka next year. We’re looking forward to seeing her go.
“He’s (Hello Youmzain) a very good type physically and we’re very happy with the article (foal by him from Cream Of The Crop), so she’ll be heading to Karaka next year.” - Rodney Schick
“The mare is in foal to Savabeel, she tested positive last week so we’re very excited about that too.
“You get that Zabeel blood back in there like with Might And Power, so everything should line up nicely there.
Savabeel has covered Cream Of The Crop in the 2023 breeding season | Standing at Waikato Stud
Cream Of The Crop is in the slightly unusual position of having produced four fillies from her first four foals, but that doesn’t perturb Schick in the slightest, who is only too happy to keep building on the family’s continued success at stud.
“At the end of the day we’re in the breeding game,” he added. “If we get a nice colt and a big sale at some stage then that would be fantastic, but if they’re related to Group 1 winners then you never mind having fillies.”
Down to Business
Whilst Mustang Valley understandably grabbed the headlines at Hastings, Windsor Park-bred horses were having a particularly fruitful afternoon over at Riccarton Park, where Redemption (NZ) (Charm Spirit {Ire}), Trobriand (Kermadec {NZ}) and It’s Business Time (NZ) (Turn Me Loose {NZ}) formed a treble on the card for the Cambridge-based farm.
Redemption was able to deliver on the promise of his recent 4l trial win at Whangarei in the 2-year-old contest while NZ$260,000 New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka Yearling Sale graduate Trobriand took out the Guineas Trial for Te Akau, but arguably the most visually impressive performance of the day belonged to It's Business Time, who was propelled to favouritism for the G1 Coupland’s Bakeries Mile following her runaway success in the closing BM75 event.
Having just her eighth race start, the Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson-trained mare made it career win number five and her fourth on the bounce with a scintillating 4.5l victory over previous Listed winner Goldie’s Chance (NZ) (Iffraaj {GB}), although it hasn’t always been plain sailing for the lightly-raced 5-year-old according to Schick.
“She actually had an accident early in her career, she cut herself badly on her girth and so she had a bit of healing time,” he revealed. “We didn’t see a lot of her early on, but she’s certainly coming to the fore now and she looks pretty exciting.
“I race her with a group of my schoolmates and a couple of other guys, so they’re all having a bit of fun too.
“That’s another family that we’ve had for a long time and both her and Mustang Valley were store fillies that year. We retained 50 per cent of them and syndicated out the other half - it just shows that they can come from anywhere.”
“That’s (It's Business Time) another family that we’ve had for a long time and both her and Mustang Valley were store fillies that year. We retained 50 per cent of them and syndicated out the other half - it just shows that they can come from anywhere.” - Rodney Schick
Out of the well-related mare Risque Business (NZ) (Volksraad {GB}) - a three-quarter sister to Champion 3-Year-Old filly and multiple stakes producer Star Satire (Volksraad {GB}) - It’s Business Time is by Turn Me Loose, who wasn’t the only Windsor Park-based stallion to enjoy a notable winner on the day.
The farm’s Group 1 heroine Mustang Valley is a daughter of its resident stallion Vanbrugh, and Schick was particularly effusive in his praise for the G1 Spring Champion S.-winning sire, who has already produced a trio of stakes winners from just 31 runners at a stakes winners to runners strike rate of 9.67 per cent.
Vanbrugh | Standing at Windsor Park Stud
“Vanbrugh is doing a really, really good job for his numbers, he only had very small numbers to start with and he’s now had a multiple Group 1 winner (Mustang Valley), a Group 1 placegetter and Group 2 winner (Wild Night) and another Listed winner (Sheez Dominant) out of about 30 starters,” he said.
“He just lacked numbers early in his career, but she (Mustang Valley) is certainly a good flagbearer for him.”
New kid on the block
Whilst Vanbrugh has struggled for quantity in his first few years at stud, the same cannot be said of Windsor Park’s newest stallion recruit Profondo, whose debut book of mares has been full for some time now.
A winner of the G1 Spring Champion S. just like his barnmate, Profondo has been subject to huge demand from breeders on both sides of the Tasman and has wasted no time in getting his first few mares in foal according to Schick.
“He has been unbelievably well received,” he revealed. “He was full before we even announced his service fee, which is very rare for a stallion.
“He (Profondo) was full before we even announced his service fee, which is very rare for a stallion.” - Rodney Schick
“He is very fertile too, we just counted up the other day and I think he’d got 12 of his last 13 mares in foal. He’s just an absolute pleasure to deal with and have around the farm.
“He’s had some mares come over from Australia, but once people knew we had him, it was a bit of a rush on and the Kiwis have been unbelievably supportive of him.”
With such a large contingent of breeders keen to visit the son of Deep Impact (Jpn) in his first year at stud, Schick and his partners in Profondo could be forgiven for wanting to make hay whilst the sun shines, but such is their belief in the stallion, the ownership group has resisted any temptation to increase the size of his book this year.
Profondo when racing | Image courtesy of Ashlea Brennan
“We put him at around the 160 mark, which I think is probably enough for a young horse, but as I said, he is a great breeder - he’s not making hard work of it,” he added.
“I own him in partnership with Ben Kwok and Mapperley Stud, and we’re supporting him heavily ourselves. He’s got a really nice book of mares and I really believe he’s going to suit the New Zealand style of mares.
“He’s a very handsome fella and I’m sure his progeny are going to be well sought-after when they get to the sales. We’re very excited.”
