Busuttin hopeful for Forgot You
Forgot You (NZ) (Savabeel) will look to get his campaign back on track in Saturday’s G1 Northerly S. although his co-trainer Trent Busuttin admits the prospect of facing Zaaki (GB) (Leroidesanimaux {Brz}) is less than ideal.
“If Zaaki brings his best form, he wins the race. But in horse racing it’s not that straightforward. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be running,” Busuttin told Racing.com.
Forgot You (NZ) | Image courtesy of Racing Photos
“Forgot You isn’t up to Zaaki’s class. He’s a four-time Group 1 winner, who got beaten 2l in a Cox Plate two starts ago. We are a Group 2 winner twice as a 3-year-old and a recent Listed winner. He needs to improve from last start in the Railway. There are excuses though, but he’s still got to do it. At his best Forgot You is capable of picking up prizemoney, for sure.”
Jack eyes Ingham
The Ciaron Maher and David Eustace-trained Detonator Jack (NZ) (Jakkalberry {Ire}) has enjoyed a relaxing week at the operation’s Bong Bong Farm as he prepares to try and provide the duo a first success in the $2 million The Ingham on Saturday.
“Detonator Jack had a week at Bong Bong (Farm) and that has really helped, he’s thrived doing that,” Eustace told RSN.
“Then we brought him to Warwick Farm, and he’s just had a piece of work since. He’s going two weeks, so he’s having a relatively busy time, but it will almost certainly be his last run, there will be nothing left for him anyway.”
The Ingham, held at Randwick over 1600 metres, will be the son of Jakkalberry’s (Ire) seventh start this preparation that has included a victory in The Gong and placed efforts in The Five Diamonds Prelude and The Five Diamonds.
The winner of The Ingham earns a ballot exemption into next year’s G1 Doncaster H.
Deal yet to be Dun on Cup
Co-trainer Sam Freedman advised RSN Ain’tnodeeldun’s (Dundeel {NZ}) participation in Saturday’s Listed Ballarat Cup is dependent upon track conditions.
Currently, the Ballarat surface is rated a Good 4, but thunderstorms are predicted in the area on Friday evening with three-to-200 millimetres of rain forecast on Saturday.
“He’s going super, he just needs a good track. If the track is in the early soft range, a five or six, then Ain’tnodeeldun could run,” Freedman said.
Ain'tnodeeldun | Image courtesy of Racing Photos
“He’ll run very well, but if the rain comes, we’ll pull him out again. The horse is going so well we don’t want to have him lose his confidence on a bad track.
“If he doesn’t run on Saturday, there’s BM100 races over the next month or so, or he could even run in the Lord S. We’ll just wait and see.
“We’re just trying to look after him and continue his winning streak.”
Ladies' colt chases Magic Millions berth
Co-trainer Natalie Young will be on course at Ballarat when Vianarra (Shalaa {Ire}) chases a berth into January’s R. Listed Magic Millions 2YO Classic on the Gold Coast. The son of Shalaa (Ire) is raced by a ladies' syndicate and is hopeful a win, or second-place finish in Saturday’s Magic Millions Ballarat 2YO Classic will be enough to make the trip to the Gold Coast.
Vianarra as a yearling | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
“We’ve drawn 10, but I thought his last run at Ballarat was super,” Young told RSN.
“He’s a horse that is probably looking for that little bit further, but it’s a nice race to try and get him into the Magic Millions for the lady owners and chase that bonus.”
Ross chasing Millions
Les Ross, trainer of Mike Crooks Mishani Enterprises will saddle up two runners in Saturday’s Listed Phelan Ready S., an important qualifier for next month’s R. Listed Magic Millions 2YO Classic.
The Eagle Farm feature was dealt a blow with the scratching of the race favourite Spywire (Trapeze Artist), a $520,000 purchase by Ciaron Maher Bloodstock and Group 1 Bloodstock (FBAA), leaving only a field of four that includes the Ross-trained Mishani Explorer (Top Echelon) and Mishani Hercules (The Mission).
“I reckon we will get three in the Magic Millions, the best year we had is three with an emergency but is this our best year so far on the track, it is just a matter of the right ones winning,” Ross told Punters.
“To win the Magic Millions 2YO Classic is the ultimate for us. We do 2-year-olds and that is our 2-year-old race.
“We would have been lucky to beat the expensive horse (Spywire), but there’s always a chance.”
New Trapeze Artist winner
The Ciaron Maher and David Eustace-trained Piggyback provided Widden Stud’s second-season sire Trapeze Artist with a 24th individual winner.
The filly stepped out for the second time in her career at Gosford, ridden by Ashley Morgan, she defeated Subarctic (So You Think {NZ}) and Time To Turn (The Autumn Sun).
Trapeze Artist | Standing at Widden Stud
Piggyback is from the G3 South Australia Fillies Classic victress Wowee (Choisir), who is from the family of the high-class miler Olympic Glory (Ire).
The filly was a $32,000 purchase by Louis Bloodstock from the draft of Widden Stud at the 2022 Magic Millions Gold Coast National Yearling Sale. Reoffered by the R A and J E Ferguson partnership on the 2022 Magic Millions Online September Sale, Piggyback was purchased by Dynamic Syndications and Dean Watt Bloodstock for $27,000.
Lightning to strike at Trentham?
The Peter and Dawn Williams-trained Desert Lightning (NZ) (Pride Of Dubai) is aiming to become the training duo's third winner of the G1 Captain Cook S. (TAB Classic) on Saturday at Trentham,
The Williamses scored back-to-back victories in the Trentham feature with the classy Shuka (NZ) (Bachelor Duke {USA}).
Desert Lightning returns to stakes company for the first time as a 4-year-old. However, he was one of the better 3-year-olds of his generation, winning the G2 Avondale Guineas and placing twice at the elite level.
Desert Lightning (NZ) | Image courtesy of Trish Dunell
“Desert Lightning didn’t really show a lot until he went to the races, he’d trialled but the day he won at Ruakaka was pretty impressive,” Peter Williams told TAB NZ.
“When he won that day, he beat Skew Wiff and a couple of nice horses, so we thought we had something.
“He always tries, he always runs a good race. Some of the 3-year-old races we had trouble with him over-racing and doing little things wrong, but he seems a lot better this year.
“Desert Lightning’s work on Tuesday morning was very good, I was very happy with it and that was the deciding factor for whether we’d definitely go.”
Parkes postponed
Saturday’s meeting at Parkes, New South Wales, has been postponed due to an increased and expected temperature of 39 degrees. Reportedly Racing NSW looked for other venues to host the meeting. However, there were no other suitable venues available to hold the program.
O’Shea confident with Waihaha ahead of Razor Sharp
Randwick-based conditioner John O’Shea is quietly confident Waihaha Falls (NZ) (Sacred Falls {NZ}) can make an impression in Saturday’s Listed Razor Sharp H. despite not getting his preferred soft ground conditions.
Waihaha Falls is a month between runs and arrives on course Saturday second-up, a recipe O’Shea feels is beneficial to the gelding.
Waihaha Falls (NZ) | Image courtesy of Ashlea Brennan
“The Razor Sharp has been on our radar for a while,” O’Shea told RSN.
“He would have preferred a little toe in the ground but he’s a horse that loves being three or fours between runs and he gets that on Saturday. Waihaha Falls gets a good barrier (three) and he’s taken a really big step forward from his first-up run.
“It’s a nice race for him.”
Tattersalls December concludes: 'certain sectors are facing a headwind'
For only the second time in its history, Tattersalls has accrued annual turnover in excess of 350 million gns (AU$700,067,600), while its season-ending December Sale had an aggregate of more than 100 million gns (AU$200,193,000) for the second year in a row. There is no denying the allure of the elite European breeding stock sales, and nowhere is the high drama of the sale-ring more captivating than at Park Paddocks.
The sales business is not all high days and holidays, however, as most people trying to sell a foal at either of the quieter days last week, or indeed a filly or mare on Thursday, will verify. Polarisation, whether between the top and lower tiers of the market, or in stallion fashion – those two things of course having significant crossover – has rarely felt more pronounced than it has done over the last few weeks.
In his closing address, Edmond Mahony, the chairman of Tattersalls, was mindful of all sectors of the marketplace, reflecting on the many high points of Tuesday evening's Sceptre Session in particular, while observing a final day which saw a clearance rate of just 50 per cent.
Edmond Mahony | Image courtesy of Tattersalls
“We must also recognise that the appetite for the less commercial mares and fillies has dwindled dramatically,” he said.
Figures for the closing day usually make for sober reading, but this year's Thursday session proved more challenging than ever. Sixty-eight of the 137 lots offered were sold for turnover of 413,600gns (AU$828,100) (-19 per cent) at an average of 5986gns (AU$11,900) (-8 per cent) and median of 3000gns (AU$6000) (-29 per cent).
For the December Mares Sale as a whole, the aggregate stood at 67,752,000gns (AU$135,634,800) (-16 per cent), with an average of 107,544gns (AU$215,300) (-8 per cent) and median of 30,000gns (AU$60,100) (-6 per cent). The clearance rate dropped to 75 per cent.
Waymouth fined $10,000
Victorian-based trainer Rebecca Waymouth has been fined $10,000 following a Victorian Racing Tribunal hearing on Friday into a positive for the steroid trendione.
The Waymouth-trained Maliepo (Super One) was disqualified from a BM64 victory at Moe on July 6 after testing positive to the substance. The $10,000 fine was imposed rather than a term of suspension or disqualification on the trainer as the tribunal found Waymouth had likely been misled by her veterinarian over the use of the mare’s product Ovumate.
Under rule ARR 240 (2) Waymouth was eligible to be suspended. However, Racing Victoria’s counsel Jack Anderson did not seek it, despite industry warnings against the use of similar products containing altrenogest being issued in 2018 and again in 2022.
“Racing Victoria stewards submit that although the substance in question is a steroid and one that is prohibited at all times in racing, a disqualification would not be appropriate or fair in the circumstances,” Racing.com reported Anderson said at the tribunal.
“In an interview with the trainer (Rebecca Waymouth), it was noted that the mare had, on vet’s advice, been given the product Ovumate because she was quite hormonal, was quite temperamental and handling difficulties. Stewards had taken into account the evidence and were satisfied that the finding of trendione in the horse was a result of the prescription.”
Brother to Flightline nears debut
When Olivier (USA) (Tapit {USA}) worked a half-mile in 49.80s last week at Oaklawn Park for trainer Rodolphe Brisset there was nothing special about the breeze. It was the 45th best work at the distance out of 137 horses who went the half-mile. But it was a step in the right direction, albeit a small one, for a soon-to-be 4-year-old who can't seem to get on the right path. Barring a setback, he should make his debut sometime early next year at Oaklawn.
That's the question and the only reason anyone wants to know the answer is that Olivier is a full brother to 2022 Horse of the Year Flightline (USA), who many call the horse of a lifetime. But it seems that their pedigree is about the only thing they have in common.
Olivier (USA) as a yearling | Image courtesy of Fasig-Tipton
“He's not a horse you want to compare to Flightline,” Brisset said. “There's absolutely nothing to compare. I got pretty close to Flightline a couple of times. They are totally different horses. If you were able to put one next to the other you'd never know they are brothers. I've been around a long time and I know better. I'm not going to put pressure on myself just because I am training Flightline's brother. But that's hard to translate to people. We will see where the horse takes us and go from there.”
About four months after Flightline broke his maiden, Olivier showed up at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale where he RNA'd for US$390,000 (AU$590,700). After the sale, WinStar Farm acquired a majority interest in Olivier from breeder Jane Lyon and was sent to Brisset.
Havana Grey breeding right highlights Tatts Online December Sale
A breeding right to Havana Grey (GB) will highlight 113 lots catalogued for the Tattersalls Online December Sale, which takes place Wednesday, December 13 and Thursday, December 14. The sale includes 66 horses in/out of training, 16 foals, 13 broodmares, nine breeding rights, five yearlings, a pair of store horses, one point-to-pointer and a stallion.
A breeding right to the son of Havana Gold (Ire) topped the Online November Sale at 280,000gns (AU$560,300). This season's leading second-crop sire has sired 16 Group/Listed winners and 31 Group/Listed performers in his first two crops, led by the dual Group 1-winning 2-year-old Vandeek (GB).
Havanna Grey (GB) | Standing at Whitsbury Manor Stud
Additional breeding rights on offer: Territories (Ire), sire of this year's G1 Haydock Sprint Cup winner Regional (GB), Aclaim (Ire), Alkumait (GB), Cloth Of Stars (Ire), Inns Of Court (Ire), Land Force (Ire), Le Brivido (Fr) and Time Test (GB).
Vadeni and Erevann on view
Aga Khan Studs, Haras de Bonneval’s new arrivals Vadeni (Fr) and Erevann (Fr) will be available to view during the Arqana Breeding Stock Sale from Thursday, December 7 to Monday, December 11.
Vadeni, a son of Churchill (Ire), won the G1 Prix Du Jockey Club and the G1 Eclipse S. in a fruitful career, while Erevann, by the great Dubawi (Ire), scored the G2 Prix Daniel Wildenstien and was placed in the G1 Prix Jacques Le Marois. Erevann’s dam is the brilliant triple Group 1 winner Ervedya (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}).
