Looking Ahead puts the spotlight on runners of interest across Australia and New Zealand. Whether they are a particularly well-bred or high-priced runner having their first or second start, a promising galloper returning to the track or a horse which has trialled particularly well, we’ll aim to give you something to follow.
We take a look at a couple of well-bred fillies making their eagerly anticipated debuts at Sale on Sunday, one of whom descends from the family of the hugely-influential mare Marquise (NZ) (Gold And Ivory {USA}) and one whose breeder has a particular affinity with her sire Kermadec (NZ).
Sale, Race 1, 1.10pm AEDT, Sanlam Wealth Mdn Plate, $37,500, 1400m
Katerini, 3-year-old filly (Kermadec {NZ} x Oriental Lady {Ger} {Doyen {Ire}})
Darley stallion Kermadec (NZ) took his owner Neville Morgan on the ride of a lifetime, winning the G1 Doncaster H. and G1 George Main S. during a glittering race career, and Morgan is set to debut a homebred filly by the multiple Group 1 winner in the opening contest at Sale on Sunday.
Although bred to appreciate a bit of ground, Katerini, who will be ridden by Daniel Stackhouse on debut, showed enough toe to win an 800 metre jump-out at Flemington last month, a hitout which should have her cherry ripe for Sunday’s 1400-metre assignment.
Kermadec (NZ) | Standing at Darley
Katerini is out of Oriental Lady (Ger), who was purchased by Mulcaster Bloodstock on behalf of Morgan for $210,000 at the Inglis Sydney Weanling and Broodmare Sale back in 2016, having won a Group 2 in Germany and the Listed Gosford Gold Cup on Australian soil.
Oriental Lady, whose sire Doyen (Ire) is a successful sire of National Hunt horses in the Northern Hemisphere, has already produced two winners by Kermadec for Morgan. One of those, Kapakiri, rattled up a three-timer, including a victory at Randwick, towards the back end of last year and looks a progressive stayer in the making.
Sale, Race 3, 2.20pm AEDT, Carlton Draught 3YO Mdn Plate, $37,500, 1200m
Urubula, 3-year-old filly (Fastnet Rock x Faayza {NZ} {O’Reilly {NZ}})
The Anthony and Sam Freedman stable will prepare a well-bred debutante at Sale on Sunday in Urubula, a daughter of Fastnet Rock, who has already shown glimpses of ability in her three jump-outs to date.
Urubula, a $420,000 purchase by ARJB Consulting, Julian Blaxland Bloodstock (FBAA) and Anthony Freedman Racing from the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale, controlled a jump-out from the head of affairs at Sandown-Hillside in December and should have enough speed to assume a prominent position from a soft draw in barrier five on Sunday.
Urubula | Image courtesy of Inglis
Out of the unraced mare Faazya (NZ), a daughter of leading broodmare sire O’Reilly (NZ), Urubula is a direct descendant of the hugely influential mare Marquise (NZ) (Gold And Ivory {USA}), who as well as being a Group 1 winner and Group 1 producer herself, is a half-sister to successful stallions Octagonal (NZ) and Kaapstad (NZ), as well as the blue-hen mare Diamond Lover (Sticks And Stones).
In what is a prolific black-type family, Faazya is a half-sister to G1 Vinery Stud S. heroine Hiyaam (NZ) (High Chaparral {Ire}), while she is also a three-quarter sister to the dams of two very talented horses in Group 2 winner The Real Beel (NZ) (Savabeel) and G3 Gimcrack S. winner Catch Me (I Am Invincible).
Thomas Stockdale will partner this regally bred filly for her debut.
Looking Back
Saturday’s selections returned mixed fortunes, with Too Darn Lizzie (Too Darn Hot {GB}) delivering on her lofty reputation to run out a dominant winner of the Magic Millions Debut for fillies, while her Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained stablemate Barracuda (Trapeze Artist) could only manage fifth in the colts and geldings division half an hour later.
We will have to wait for another day to see the debut of Princess Kaguya (Zoustar), who was scratched from her engagement at Kembla Grange.
