Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
G2 Moonee Valley Gold Cup, $750,000, 2500m
Charging late to haul in a gallant Vow And Declare (Declaration Of War {USA}), Cleveland (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) put forth his G1 Melbourne Cup credentials with this, his first win on Australian soil.
Group 3 placed in Ireland, the Coolmore-bred 6-year-old is the 59th stakes winner for his Coolmore Ireland-based, G1 Epsom and Irish Derby-winning sire whose son Sir Dragonet (Ire) won the G1 WS Cox Plate three years ago.
His dam is the dual Group 3 (and four-time Group 1-placed) winner Venus De Milo (Ire) (Duke Of Marmalade {Ire}), half-sister to the Group 3-placed What A Home (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}).
Her grandam is the Group 2 and dual Listed winner Inchmurrin (Ire) (Lomond {USA}) whose eight winners include three stakes winners - the Listed winners Incheni (Ire) (Nashwan {USA}) and Ingozi (GB) (Warning {GB}) and the triple Group 3-winning successful stallion Inchinor (GB).
Hailing from the same family as the Group 1 winners Miss Keller (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}), Harbour Law (GB) (Lawman {Fr}) and Poet's Word (Ire), Cleveland has close male line-breeding - a 3 X 4 cross of Sadler's Wells (USA) (supported by a strain of that stallion's three-quarter brother Nureyev {USA}), a 3 X 4 cross of Kingmambo (USA) and a 4 X 3 cross of Danehill (USA).
G3 JRA Cup, $200,000, 2040m
Racing in flying form this time in, Ain'tnodeeldun (Dundeel {NZ}) cruised into the race but had a fight on his hands as the leader Red Sun Sensation (Awesome Rock) kicked strongly.
But he knows where the line is, and the determined 6-year-old was able to record the seventh win of his 21-start career and his third at stakes level.
One of the 25 stakes winners for his Arrowfield-based, multiple Group 1-winning sire, Ain'tnodeeldun was bred by Glentree Pastoral and sold by Bhima Thoroughbreds to Anthony Freedman Racing and Blue Sky Bloodstock (FBAA) for $240,000 at the 2019 Inglis Premier Yearling Sale.
He is one of two winners - the Hong Kong-based Mighty Valour (Snitzel) the other for the dual Listed winner Aint'nofallenstar (Starcraft {NZ}) whose dam is the triple Listed winner Ain't Seen Nothin' (Nothin' Leica Dane).
Missing last year, Aint'nofallenstar foaled an Ole Kirk last spring with her two previous foals being full siblings to Ain'tnodeeldun - the unraced 2-year-old filly Star Croupier (a member of the Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young stable) and the lightly raced and promising 3-year-old gelding Binotto who is under the care of Anthony and Sam Freedman.
Ain't Seen Nothin' did a good job at stud with her seven winners including the local Group 3 winner Bachman (All American) and the Singapore star Stepitup (Hussonet {USA}). And her grandson Stronger, a Group 1 winner in Hong Kong, is part of the Aquis Farm roster.
Hailing from the same family as Circles Of Gold (Marscay), Elvstroem, Highland Reel (Ire), Haradasun and Starspangledbanner, Ain'tnodeeldun carries two strains of Nureyev (USA) and one of that stallion's three-quarter brother Sadler's Wells (USA).
Listed Chautauqua S., $175,000, 1200m
She was odds-on and she won like it, She Dances (Street Boss {USA}) getting clear over the final stages of this 1200-metre contest and looking to have plenty in hand with her 1.5l winning margin.
The winner of seven of her 13 starts, she is one of the 66 stakes winners for her Darley Victoria-based sire whose son, Anamoe, won the G1 WS Cox Plate this time last year - and who has Pinstriped representing him tomorrow.
Bred by the Pope family and sold by Blue Gum Farm to John Foote Bloodstock (FBAA) for $180,000 at the 2021 Inglis Premier Yearling Sale, She Dances is the first foal for the lightly raced Murray Bridge maiden winner Charleston Dancer (Lonhro) whose dam is the four-time Group winner Innovation Girl (Rubiton).
Again served by Street Boss (USA) last spring, Charleston Dancer has two other foals - in 2021 and 2022 producing fillies by Snitzel.
Her dam Innovation Girl did a great job with her seven winners including the Listed winners Ideas Man (Brazen Beau) and Chloe In Paris (Exceed And Excel) and she is also grandam of the Listed winner Larimer Street (Brazen Beau).
Hailing from the family of the G1 Doncaster H. winner Soho Square (Jugah {USA}), She Dances is one of the four stakes winners from 13 winners/21 runners by Street Boss out of Lonhro mares.
