Cover image courtesy of Peter Rubery (Race Images Palmerston North)
G1 Levin Classic, NZ$500,000, 1600m
It was exciting finish to this Group 1 contest and it was Quintessa (NZ) (Shamus Award) who had her nose down when it counted.
Bred by Peachester Lodge and sold to David Ellis by Wentwood Grange for NZ$170,000 at the 2022 New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka Yearling Sale, she is the sixth Group 1 winner - and one of the 24 stakes winners - for her Rosemont Stud-based G1 WS Cox Plate and G1 Australian Guineas-winning sire.
Her dam is the multiple city winner Chaquinta (NZ) (High Chaparral {Ire}), half-sister to the stakes-placed Our Heir Apparent (NZ) (Zabeel {NZ}) and to the dam of the G3 Waikato Queen Elizabeth II S. winner Dionysus (NZ) (Ocean Park {NZ}).
Her metropolitan-winning third dam Lottey (Bellotto {USA}) produced the Encosta De Lago stakes winners Besamo Mucho and Gold Lottey - both of whom have also been represented by stakes winners, the former by Essington (Redoute's Choice) and Frespanol (Choisir) and the latter by Iconoclasm (Toorak Toff).
Quintessa is the first foal for Chaquinta who was served last spring by Shamexpress (NZ) and King Of Comedy (Ire) with her two previous foals being a son and a daughter of Preferment (NZ).
G1 Telegraph, NZ$450,000, 1200m
Nice odds winning his first stakes race - doing it in style at the elite level - Mercurial (NZ) (Burgundy {NZ}) is now a six-time winner from 26 starts.
The 11th stakes winner for his late sire - a Group 3-winning three-quarter brother to Darci Brahma (NZ), Mercurial is a homebred for M Darvill, A W Flexman, C T Jones, T Myers and R Wyeth.
He is the first foal for the unraced Roxette (NZ) (Tavistock {NZ}) whose second foal Our Turn (NZ) (Turn Me Loose {NZ}) is also a winner.
Not served in 2002 having previously produced a couple of fillies by Embellish (NZ), Roxette is out of the stakes-placed Foxette (NZ) (Entrepreneur {GB}) whose son Tannhauser (NZ) (Tavistock {NZ}) is a stakes winner in Malaysia.
Foxette is a half-sister to the G3 Hobart Cup winner Zacielo (NZ) (Zabeel {NZ}) out of a half-sister to the Listed Gibson Carmichael S. winner Fuji Dancer (Fuji Kiseki {Jpn}) from one of New Zealand’s favourite families - that which produced Sovereign Red (NZ), Gurner’s Lane (NZ) (Sir Tristram {Ire}), Trichelle (NZ) (Sir Tristram {Ire}), Foxwood (NZ) (Centaine), Purple (Commands) and Mr Brightside (NZ) (Bullbars).
Mercurial sire has the relations Nureyev (USA) and Val De Loir (Fr) whilst his dam has further Val De Loir as well as Reform (Ire) from the same family - and two strains of Nureyev’s three-quarter brother Sadler’s Wells (USA).
He is the 23rd stakes winner and seventh Group 1 winner bringing together Zabeel (NZ) and Tavistock (NZ); a combination which boasts a 72 per cent strike rate.
G3 Trentham S., NZ$120,000, 2100m
Tough up along the rails recording his 11th win from 35 starts the 8-year-old Times Ticking (NZ) (Tavistock {NZ}) is now a three-time Group and four-time stakes winner.
Bred by VA Lackner and AR MacGregor (whose family race him), he is one of his late sire’s 46 stakes winners and one of two winners for the deceased (he is her last foal) two-time winner Laoghaire (NZ) (Pins).
Laoghaire is a granddaughter of the US Listed winner Avum (USA) (Umbrella Fella {USA}) who was not only a high-class broodmare but an influential ancestress with her descendants including the Group 1 winners Stephen Got Even (USA) (A.P. Indy {USA}), Artemis Agrotera (USA) (Roman Ruler {USA}), Xtension (Ire) (Xaar {GB}) and the in-form young Darley stallion Harry Angel (Ire).
Times Ticking is one of the 10 winners from 13 runners for Tavistock (NZ) out of daughters of Pins.
G3 Anniversary H., NZ$120,000, 1600m
Gamely holding off late challengers, Churchillian (NZ) (Churchill {Ire}) did a good job enhancing her already good record - this, her first stakes victory, coming at her sixth victory from 13 starts.
Bred by Pencarrow Stud and sold by them to Paul Willetts for NZ$100,000 at the 2021 New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka Yearling Sale, she is the 16th stakes winner for her Coolmore shuttling sire.
She is the first foal for the lightly raced Fond Du Coeur (Ire) (Fastnet Rock), half-sister to the stakes-placed By My Side (Ire) (Siyouni {Fr}) out of a daughter of the Listed winner Specificity (USA) (Alleged {USA}).
The ancestress of another 12 stakes winners, Specificity is the dam of the globe-trotting triple Group 1 winner Pride (Fr) (Peintre Celebre {USA}) and grandam of the G1 1000 Guineas winner Speciosa (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}).
Fond Du Couer’s latest recorded foal is the Maher and Eustace-trained 2-year-old Navy Heart (NZ) (U S Navy Flag {USA}).
Line-bred to her own Group 1-winning sixth dam Miss Disco (USA) (Discovery {USA}) - dam of the great Bold Ruler (USA), Churchillian is the 49th stakes winner combining Galileo (Ire) and Fastnet Rock. And she also boasts crosses of the terrific mares Special (USA) (Forli {Arg}), Crimson Saint (USA) (Crimson Satan {USA}) and Belle Sauvage (GB) (Big Game {GB}).
Listed Wellesley S., NZ$90,000, 1100m
Archaic Smile (Saxon Warrior {Jpn}) put this race beyond any doubt at the 200 metres, showing a nice turn of foot to get clear as others were getting into a bit of trouble.
Recording her second win from three starts, she is the ninth stakes winner for her former shuttling sire, a member of the Coolmore roster.
Bred by Bob Emery she was sold by Woburn Farm to her owner M Otani for NZ$55,000 at last year’s New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka Yearling Sale.
She is the second foal and first winner for the placed mare On The Ball (NZ) who has provided her sire So You Think (NZ) with his fourth stakes winner as a broodmare sire.
Served last spring by Ghaiyyath (Ire) after foaling a Too Darn Hot (GB) filly, On The Ball is a half-sister to the dual Listed winner Swords Drawn (Camelot {GB}) and to the dam of the Group 3 galloper Vigor Winner (Declaration Of War {USA}).
On The Ball’s grandam is the G3 Emancipation S. winner Palia (Last Tycoon {Ire}), dam of the G1 Champagne S. winner Onemorenomore and the dual Listed winner Dr Green (NZ).
Archaic Smile is bred on a 4 X 4 cross of Sadler’s Wells (USA) via Galileo (Ire) and High Chaparral (Ire) who have combined in the pedigrees of seven stakes winners (68 winners from 148 runners).
