Hastings: G2 Lowland S., $150,000, 2100m
Meeting abandonned after Race 4 due to the state of the track
Launceston: G3 Launceston Cup, $300,000, 2400m
Sent out favourite on the back of a big win in the Great Western Cup, the sparingly raced 7-year-old Excelleration (Excelebration {Ire}) was just too strong winning his sixth race from 17 outings.
Bred by Paul Dingwall and passed in by his Caithness Breeding for $10,000 as a weanling at the 2017 Inglis Great Southern Sale, he made his way to Book 2 of the following year's Magic Millions Adelaide Yearling Sale where Riverina Downs sold him to Emma Scott for just $6000.
A member of the Ballarat stables of Richard Cully (who, like Keats' trainer Gavin Bedggood, is a former jumps jockey), Excelleration is the 17th stakes winner for his multiple Group 1-winning sire - an Exceed And Excel horse who had the misfortune of running into the mighty Frankel (GB) and who shuttled to Coolmore's Australia base on four occasions.
Excelleration is out of the metropolitan winner Rare Subject (Red Ransom {USA}), dam of another two winners including the multiple city winner Candlelight Supper (Vert De Grece {Ire}) - and her latest recorded foal (2021) is a full brother to that horse.
Rare Subject's dam is a half-sister to the Group 3 winners Hula Queen (USA) (Irish River {Fr}) and Loving Pride (USA) (Quiet American {USA}).
G3 Vamos S., $150,000, 1400m
Making it a near clean sweep by Victorian trainers (two outright wins, one dead-heat win) in Wednesday's Tasmanian stakes races, the Luke Oliver trained/Craig Williams ridden Megamea (Master Of Design) charged home to defeat the Paddy Payne-trained Jenny Jerome (Churchill {Ire}).
Bred by Adam Sangster, she was sold by his Swettenham Stud to popular trainer Udyta Clarke for just $5000 at the 2017 Inglis Great Southern Weanling Sale.
Clarke trained her to a couple of wins before ill health saw her transfer her horses - Megamea still in her ownership since having her first start for Oliver in late 2021.
The third stakes winner for her late sire - a G1 TJ Smith S.-winning son of Redoute's Choice - Megamea is one of the four winners produced by Haumea (Encosta De Lago) who ran fourth in the Listed Tasmanian Oaks.
Also dam of the handy Hong Kong-based galloper Sweet Encounter (Toronado {Ire}), Haumea is now in New Zealand - served last spring by Santos having missed the previous season to Wrote (Ire) with her most recent foal being her 2022 born colt by Tivaci.
Haumea is a half-sister to the stakes-placed Sunnah (NZ) (Zabeel {NZ}), grandam of the G3 Frank Packer Plate winner Higher Ground (So You Think {NZ}) and to the city winner Reine De Jeu (Anabaa {USA}) whose daughter Fitocracy (Denman) won the G3 Auraria S.
And another of her half-sisters is the New Zealand Broodmare of the Year Imposingly (Zabeel {NZ}) who has done a marvellous job producing six stakes winners - the two-time New Zealand Horse Of The Year Bonneval (NZ) (Makfi {GB}), the Group winners Lord Arthur (Camelot {GB}), Full Of Spirit (Flying Spur) and Lady Cumquat (Duke Of Marmalade {Ire}) and the Listed winner Frontman (NZ) (Makfi {GB}).
Listed Hellova Street S., $125,000, 1600m
The judge could not split the two Craigs - Williams aboard Keats (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Newitt on Indispensable (Akeed Mofeed {GB}), resulting in a dead-heat in this Listed 1600-metre contest.
The Gavin Bedggood-trained Keats (stablemate to last weekend's G1 Oakleigh Plate placegetter Mornington Glory by Shalaa {Ire}) was favourite in the race, kicking gamely from on pace to record his eighth victory and his second at stakes-level.
The Tasmanian-trained Indispensable was having his 50th start and it was his 10th win; a breakthrough at stakes level on the back of 19 stakes placings.
The Coolmore-bred Keats, a Listed winner in Ireland, was purchased by Armando Duarte, Ballymore Stables and Paul Moroney Bloodstock for 200,000gns (AU$408,000) at the 2020 Tattersalls Autumn Horses In Training Sale, changing hands online (Inglis Digital) for $25,000 to the bid of current owners Mailbag Bloodstock in August 2022.
Since that time he has won four races for Bedggood - including last year's Werribee Cup prior to a close-up Listed Lord S. third.
One of his legendary sire's 373 stakes winners, Keats is a son of the Great Britain Champion 3-Year-Old Sprinter Airwave (GB) (Air Express {Ire}) - the G1 Cheveley Park S. winner who will be remembered by Australians for her G1 Golden Jubilee S. second to Choisir.
Another three of Airwave's progeny are stakes winners - the four-time Group 3 winner Aloof (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), the Listed winner Orator (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and the Listed winner Meow (Ire) (Storm Cat {USA}), dam of Coolmore's four-time Group 1 winner Churchill (Ire), the Group 3 galloper Blenheim Palace (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and the G1 Cheveley Park S. winner Clemmie (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) who is in turn dam of the Listed winner Unless (USA) (Justify {USA}).
Bred by Goldin Australia, Indispensable is the fourth stakes winner for his G1 Hong Kong Cup-winning sire who last served a small group of mares in 2022. His dam is the city-winning G1 Australasian Oaks placegetter Essence (Fastnet Rock) whose dam is a half-sister to the Listed winners Victory Trump (Euclase) and Savage Attack (Made Of Gold {USA}) and to the dam of one of the very best Hong Kong gallopers - the two-time Horse of the Year Beauty Generation (NZ) (Road To Rock).
Not served last spring, Essence foaled a Pride Of Dubai filly in November and a colt by Calyx (Ire) in 2022. Her yet to-be-named 2021 son is a full brother to Indispensable.
