Cover image courtesy of Peter Rubery (Race Images)
Having overcome greenness to win stylishly on debut at Te Rapa earlier this month, Velocious made it a perfect two from two with a dominant display in Saturday’s Listed Counties Challenge S., a victory which saw her propelled to the head of the market for the R. Listed Karaka Millions 2YO at Ellerslie in January.
Continuing the excellent recent run of her owners Go Racing, whose stable star Atishu (NZ) (Savabeel) landed the G1 Champions S. at Flemington earlier this month, Velocious well and truly lived up to her name and showed a blistering turn of foot inside the final 200 metres to score comfortably by 1.5l, a margin made all the more impressive given that she had to switch across heels half way down the straight.
Marsh and Go Racing combined to win the R. Listed Karaka Million in 2013 with subsequent NZ Champion 2YO Ruud Awakening (Bernardini {USA}), and Velocious will be given the chance to follow in the Group 1-winning mare’s footsteps early next year when she lines up in the NZ$1 million juvenile feature, for which she is now the NZ$3 favourite with TAB.
Velocious (outside), winner of the Listed Counties Challenge S. at Pukekohe on Saturday | Image courtesy of Kenton Wright (Race Images)
The daughter of Written Tycoon may have made the perfect start to her burgeoning career, but the best could still be to come according to her breeder Gus Wigley, who was taken aback by the ease in which Velocious dispatched of some well-regarded rivals in Saturday’s Listed contest.
“Gee, she looked really impressive,” Wigley told The Thoroughbred Report. “She didn’t get the easiest run in the world and went past them pretty easily.
Gus Wigley | Image courtesy of Inglewood Stud
“It was interesting to hear the post-race comments from her jockey Sam Spratt. To me, she always looked like she’d be an autumn 2-year-old and 3-year-old type of filly - she’s a big filly and has plenty of length and bulk and muscle to her - so I think anything that she’s doing now is a bit of a bonus.
“... she’s (Velocious) a big filly and has plenty of length and bulk and muscle to her - so I think anything that she’s doing now is a bit of a bonus.” - Gus Wigley
“I think she’s paying something like NZ$3 for the Karaka Million now. It’s really exciting to have bred a filly like her.”
A NZ$190,000 purchase by Go Racing during Book 1 of the New Zealand Bloodstock (NZB) Karaka Yearling Sale, Wigley had hoped Velocious would fetch slightly more at auction given the impression she had made on everyone at Inglewood, which he operates in conjunction with his wife Bianca.
Velocious at the 2023 New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka Yearling Sale | Image courtesy of Inglewood Stud
Such was Velocious’ impressive size and strength, the well-related filly was switched to one of the farm’s colts paddocks, where she was keeping good company with her new paddock mate.
“She was always a lovely filly right from day one and was always a bit of a star on the farm,” Wigley recalled.
Parmalove with Velocious at foot | Image courtesy of Inglewood Stud
“She was a big, powerful, confident filly. We actually had to pull her out of the fillies' paddock over the winter and paddock her with a colt, because she was beating the fillies up.
“She’s a lovely looking filly and probably looked like a colt. Ironically the colt that we put her with over the winter was the Harry Angel that made NZ$800,000 and topped day one of the (NZB) Ready to Run Sale last week, so it was a bit of a star paddock between the two of them.
Velocious shortly after weaning | Image courtesy of Inglewood Stud
“She was a star up at Karaka as well, we were hoping for a little bit more for her up there but we were very pleased that Go Racing got hold of her and she went to a very good trainer like Stephen Marsh, who is such a nice guy.”
Magic mare
Velocious is the third foal and third winner to emerge from the winning Snitzel mare Parmalove, who at $230,000 was the most expensive of four mares secured by Inglewood Stud at the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale in 2018. That quartet also included the $8000 purchase of Artesian (Hard Spun {USA}), whose page received the most significant of updates when her half-sister Kiamichi (Sidestep) won the G1 Golden Slipper S. the following year.
Parmalove has not only produced three winners from her first three foals to race, but that trio have all proven to be competitive at stakes level as juveniles, with her first foal, Mozzarella (NZ) (Capitalist), fourth in a Listed race at two and her second foal, Penvose Lad (U S Navy Flag {USA}), beaten by just a short head in the Listed Champagne S. at Riccarton earlier this year.
Parmalove was purchased for $230,000 by Inglewood Stud at the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale in 2018 | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
It has been a dream start to life at stud for the daughter of Snitzel, who counts Listed scorers Liesele (Exceed And Excel) and Loved Up (Nicconi) among her seven winning siblings.
“We actually sold a quarter of our stallion Zacinto to Valachi Downs and one of the things we did with the proceeds was head over to the Magic Millions Broodmare Sale and buy four nice, young mares,” Wigley recalled.
“Parmalove was one of those and we bought her in foal to Capitalist. She left a lovely filly, Mozzarella, who wasn’t great in front, so we decided to keep and race her. She had a tonne of ability and was stakes class, but in the end the legs got to her.
“Mozzarella is now a mum and she has the most magnificent colt foal by North Pacific at foot. He’s the most correct foal on the farm, so that’s breeding for you. Mum’s very pigeon toed but the colt is straight as a die!
“Parmalove also has a pretty smart 3-year-old that is stakes placed and was probably the best 2-year-old in the South Island last year, called Penvose Lad. I think he’s aiming for the Guineas races down here in the South Island, so she has been a really good mare for us.”
Much to Wigley’s delight, there appears to be plenty more to come from Parmalove, who has a yearling filly by Arrowfield Stud’s classy stallion Dundeel (NZ) and a filly foal by Little Avondale Stud’s multiple Group 1-producing sire Per Incanto (USA) to look forward to.
“We have a lovely Dundeel filly out of her to take up to Karaka, she’s beautiful,” Wigley revealed.
“The Per Incanto is a lovely filly as well and we’re excited about her. I haven’t seen her for about a month because she’s in the North Island with the mare being at stud, but she is very much in the mould of Velocious. She’s a big, powerful filly with plenty of size and muscle about her, and one of those big, strong bums like a peach.
“The Dundeel is a bit different, she’s got a bit more length to her and has a bit more Dundeel in her. She doesn’t quite have that muscle and bulk that the other two have, but she’s a classy filly all the same.
Parmalove with her Dundeel (NZ) filly at foot | Image courtesy of Inglewood Stud
“We are very pleased with her and Parmalove is back in foal to Satono Aladdin this year. We’ve given her every chance so far and she has accepted the challenge.”
The perfect match
There is no finer example of Wigley’s faith in Parmalove than the decision to send the daughter of G2 Sunline S. placegetter Love’s Here (Dehere {USA}) to Written Tycoon, whose then fee of $77,000 (inc GST) represented a huge increase from that of her previous suitor U S Navy Flag (USA).
Now based at Yulong Stud in Victoria, Written Tycoon’s 57th stakes winner Velocious was conceived during his sole year spent at Arrowfield Stud in the Hunter Valley, with the Champion Sire identified by Wigley as the perfect match for Parmalove based on her physical attributes.
“We’ve always been a fan of Written Tycoon and I think it was the year that he was up in the Hunter Valley and standing for $77,000, which I thought was outstanding value,” Wigley said.
“We’ve always been a fan of Written Tycoon and I think it (the mating with Parmalove) was the year that he was up in the Hunter Valley and standing for $77,000, which I thought was outstanding value.” - Gus Wigley
“It was all about finding a mare that would really suit him. Even though he can be a precious stallion, he can leave yearlings that are a little bit weaker, and Parmalove is a very big mare with plenty of length and plenty of strength to her.
“She’s probably not a typical Snitzel, there’s probably a bit more of her damsire Dehere in her, so it was a mating on type more than anything, just to add a bit of size, bulk and muscle to Written Tycoon.
“We’re a smaller operation over here, Parmalove was a big purchase for us and when you spend that sort of money you want it to be successful. I thought she’d leave a really nice type by Written Tycoon and we got exactly what we were hoping for.”
Wigley is also getting exactly what he hoped for from Inglewood’s resident stallion War Decree (USA), who has enjoyed a real purple patch of late.
War Decree (USA) | Standing at Inglewood Stud, NZ
Fresh from siring a trio of winners at Riccarton last month, War Decree, whose oldest crop are 4-year-olds, was handed his second stakes winner on Melbourne Cup Day when progressive 3-year-old Warmonger (NZ) landed the Listed Tab Trophy at Flemington, meaning that the son of War Front (USA) now has a stakes winner in each of his first two crops.
Purchased to fill the void left by former Inglewood resident Zacinto (GB), who currently sits atop the New Zealand Sires’ Premiership courtesy of his unbeaten NZ 2000 Guineas hero Crocetti (NZ), War Decree has made a solid start to life at stud from limited numbers, with his progeny to date spearheaded by this year’s G2 Lowland S. winner Val Di Zoldo (NZ).
Just like Inglewood managed to do with Zacinto, Wigley is confident that War Decree can continue his rise through the New Zealand stallion ranks over the coming years, and the recent late influx of mares off the back of Warmonger’s stakes success earlier this month certainly hasn’t hindered the cause.
“It has been a great spring for the stud,” Wigley said. “Our stallion War Decree had a good winner on Melbourne Cup Day, which was a great thrill for us, and he had a hat-trick of winners the other day on a big day here in New Zealand.
“He’s a bit of a talking horse over here in New Zealand coming from a lower service fee, so it has been really exciting watching his progress over the last few months.
“Hopefully there’s more to come and we’ve got a couple of nice ones to take up to Karaka, so hopefully they sell well.
“I think we had another 15 mares added to his book since Warmonger’s win, which was pretty late in the season. There’s not a huge number of mares in the South Island and we don’t breed the numbers like they do in the Hunter Valley, but to get an extra 15 bookings so late in the season was a great boost for him.”
A team effort
War Decree has once again received good support this year from within Inglewood’s 30-strong broodmare band, which has increased in size over the past few years as Wigley seeks to add both quality and quantity to the farm’s paddocks.
The North Canterbury-based operation will also support a number of outside stallions on both sides of the Tasman this year, and Wigley was quick to thank all those that help enable Inglewood to achieve the sort of results that the past few weeks have brought.
“We breed from 30-odd mares and we send around 10 to War Decree here, we send 10 to the North Island and around 10 over to Australia,” he said.
“We pride ourselves on having fresh, young mares in our broodmare band and we are constantly trying to improve it.” - Gus Wigley
“We’ve built that up over the last few years, we were breeding from a lot less than that, but the last couple of years we’ve been breeding from around 30 and it works well. We pride ourselves on having fresh, young mares in our broodmare band and we are constantly trying to improve it.
“Nick Hodges looks after our wet mares over in Australia at Riversdale. He did a lot of work on Velocious when she was a bit younger and by the time she came home she was straight as a die in front, so we owe a great deal of thanks to him over there.
“We also have two staff members, Kayla Milnes and Jo Boakes, who both do an outstanding job. They do everything, from serving the stallions and foaling, to prepping them for the yearling sales and riding trackwork. They’re a big part of the operation and jeez I hope they got as big a buzz out of the whole thing as I did.”
