Cover image courtesy of Peter Rubery (Race Images Palmerston North)
Hastings: G1 Livamol Classic, NZ$450,000, 2040m
Grangewilliam Stud's Zed (NZ) will always be remembered as the sire of Verry Elleegant (NZ) but he is no one horse stallion with Ladies Man (NZ) his third individual Group 1 winner.
Bred by Grangewilliam Stud and sold by them to S A Sharrock for NZ$60,000 at the 2019 New Zealand Bloodstock Yearling Sale (Book 2), Ladies Man is one of his regally bred sire's 17 stakes winners.
He is one of two for G3 Kingston Town S. winner Just Polite (Dehere {USA}) whose daughter Ladies First (NZ) (Dylan Thomas {Ire}) won the 2018 G1 Auckland Cup.
Last spring served by The Bold One, Just Polite foaled a full brother to Ladies Man last year, and her 3-year-old is also by Zed - the Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young trained Zediquette (NZ).
Just Polite is a half-sister to the G1 VRC Oaks placegetter Savsbelle (NZ) (Savabeel), the Singapore stakes placegetter Take The Gold (End Sweep {USA}) and the dam of the G3 Bendigo Cup winner Top Of The Range (NZ) (Savabeel).
Boasting a cross of the great mare Somethingroyal (USA) (Princequillo {Ire}), Ladies Man can count amongst his relations the Group 1 winners Clean Sweep (NZ) (End Sweep {USA}), Habibti (USA) (Tabasco Cat {USA}), Sky Classic (Can), Regal Classic (Can), Grey Classic (Can) (Grey Dawn {Fr}), Always A Classic (Can) and Classy 'N' Smart (Can) (Smarten {USA}).
G3 Spring Sprint, NZ$120,000,1400m
Getting clear from the 100 metre, Our Alley Cat (NZ) (Atlante) won this contest in the style of a favoured runner, yet she was double-figure odds - lovely for her supporters!
A home-bred for the Armstrong family, she is the fifth stakes winner for her late sire, a G1 NZ 2000 Guineas-winning son of Fastnet Rock.
She is one of only three foals for the stakes placed five times winner Cat Woman (NZ) (Scaredee Cat {NZ}) who died young.
Her dam is the metropolitan winner Kara Kum (NZ) (Desert Sun {GB}), whose closest stakes winning relation is her dual Listed winning third dam Kettle (NZ) (Sabaean {GB}).
Our Alley Cat is bred on the successful Fastnet Rock/Storm Cat (USA) cross, one which provides for the duplication of the terrific mare Crimson Saint (USA) (Crimson Satan {USA}).
Morphettville: Listed Hill Smith S., $120,000, 1800m
Too tough and too classy on pace Air Assault (Justify {USA}) won her second stakes race on the back of her success in the G3 SAJC Sires' Produce Stakes in mid-May.
Raced by a group led by her breeder Harry Perks, who passed her in for $100,000 at the 2022 Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale, Air Assault is one of the 21 stakes winners for her Coolmore Stud based US Triple Crown winning shuttling sire.
She is one of the three stakes winners for the dual city winner Elegant Eagle (NZ) (Zabeel {NZ}) who has also produced the G1 Champagne S. winner Go Indy Go (Bernardini {USA}) and the G3 DC McKay S. winner Essay Raider (Bernardini) as well as the Group 3 placegetter Battle Brewing (Medaglia D'Oro {USA}).
Retired after foaling an Omaha Beach (USA) colt last spring, Elegant Eagle hails from a terrific local family, one which has produced the big race winners Southern Speed (Southern Image {USA}), Ha Ha (Danehill {USA}) and Rory's Jester.
One of the strengths of Justify's (USA) pedigree is his 5 X 5 cross of Narrate (USA) (Honest Pleasure {USA}), who hails from the same family as Round Table (USA), dam sire of Sir Tristram (Ire). Air Assault is one of his two stakes winners (Learning To Fly the other) out of a mare carrying a Sir Tristram strain.
