Cover image courtesy of Racing SA
Morphettville: G2 Adelaide Cup, $350,000, 3200m
Feature two milers are always exciting to watch and this running of the G2 Adelaide Cup was no exception - a close finish between Jamie Kah and Harry Coffey seeing the latter get the in-form 7-year-old Excelleration (Excelebration {Ire}) home.
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 Adelaide Magic Millions Yearling Sale where Riverina Downs sold him to Emma Scott for just $6000.
A member of the Ballarat stables of Richard Cully, Excelleration is one of the 17 stakes winners 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}).
It was a fourth "Cup" for Excelleration who won the G3 Launceston Cup last time out, also having on his resume the Great Western Cup and the Kerang Cup. It was a second feature Cup for the recently retired Exceed And Excel as a grandsire - Gold Trip (Fr) (Outstrip {GB}) the other.
Listed Morphettville Guineas, $120,000, 1600m
Giving a nice kick halfway down the straight, Air Assault (Justify {USA}) was in stakes-winning form for the third time having won last year's Listed Hill Smith S. and the G3 SAJC Sires Produce S.
Raced by a group led by her breeder Harry Perks who passed him in for $100,000 at the 2022 Inglis Premier Yearling Sale, Air Assault is one of the 26 stakes winners for his Coolmore Stud-based, US Triple Crown winning shuttling sire whose son Storm Boy is the G1 Golden Slipper S. favourite.
Air Assault is one of the three stakes winners for the dual city winner Elegant Eagle (NZ) (Zabeel {NZ}) who has also produced the G1 Champagne S. winner Go Indy Go (Bernardini {USA}) and the G3 DC McKay S. winner Essay Raider (Bernardini {USA}) as well as the Group 3 placegetter Battle Brewing (Medaglia D'Oro {USA}).
Retired after foaling an Omaha Beach (USA) colt in 2022, Elegant Eagle hails from a terrific local family, one which has produced the big race winners Ha Ha (Danehill {USA) and Rory's Jester and Southern Speed (Southern Image {USA}) whose son Cosmo Kuranda (Jpn) (Al Ain {Jpn}) just recently won the G2 Deep Impact Kinen.
One of the strengths of Justify's pedigree is his 5 X 5 cross of Narrate (USA) (Honest Pleasure {USA}) who hails from the same family as Round Table (USA), damsire of Sir Tristram (Ire).
Air Assault is one of his five stakes winners (Storm Boy amongst the others) out of a mare carrying a Sir Tristram (Ire) strain... a cross which has seen 19 of 24 to race being winners.
Listed CS Hayes Memorial Cup, $120,000, 1600m
Racing in Queensland, Victoria and South Australia this campaign, Meridius (Extreme Choice) recorded a well-deserved stakes victory on the back of consistent form.
The 12th stakes winner for his Newgate-based sire who boasts outstanding statistics (61 winners/86 runners - 13.9 per cent stakes winners to runners), Meridius was bred by KS Griffiths and RN Ham and sold by Grandview to Kennewell Racing/Group 1 Bloodstock (FBAA) for $170,000 at the 2021 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
He is the first foal for the placed Jardine (Stryker) who was bred by Debbie Kepitis and raced by Griffiths and Ham. Her second foal Miss Ellyse (Top Echelon) is yet to race, nor has her third - the 2-year-old Lloyd Kennewell and Lucy Yeomans-trained Regina D'Italia (Dracarys) who finished first and fifth in Cranbourne jump-outs in January.
Jardine - who was served last spring by Tiger Of Malay after losing a foal by that same stallion - is a granddaughter of the unraced Unspoken Choice (Giant's Causeway {USA}), half-sister to Extreme Choice's grandsire Redoute's Choice.
Giving Meridius a 4 X 4 cross of his own fourth dam Shantha's Choice (Canny Lad) - and he is that wonderful mare's 19th stakes-winning descendant.
Listed Manihi Classic, $120,000, 1100m
Godolphin homebred Austmarr (Exosphere) rounded off a good weekend for the James Cummings/Jamie Kah partnership with this dominant performance.
Recording her fourth win from just nine starts and her first at stakes level, she became the 10th stakes winner for Oaklands Stud-based sire, a G1 Golden Rose S.-winning son of the mighty Lonhro.
She is the second stakes winner for the city-placed winner Itameri (Exceed And Excel), also dam of Rosemont Stud's G3 Blue Diamond Prelude and dual Listed winner Hanseatic, the Group 3-placed Frost Flowers (Frosted {USA}) and the dam of the G3 Maribyrnong Plate winner Krakarib (Ribchester {Ire}).
Sadly she is the final foal for her dam who died in 2020. Austmarr has as her third dam the speedy dual Group winner Scandinavia (Snippets) - dam of the G1 Galaxy-winning successful stallion Magnus, the dual Group winner Wilander, the Listed winner Arctic Flight (Flying Spur) and the G2 Magic Night S. winner Scandiva (Fastnet Rock), in turn dam of the G3 David Coles S. winner Maximillius (Written Tycoon).
Scandinavia is also the dam of Helsinge (Desert Sun {GB}) who is of course dam of the multiple Group 1 winners Black Caviar (Bel Esprit) and All Too Hard and grandam of Vinery Stud's Ole Kirk.
Austmarr's pedigree brings together two Godolphin stalwarts, Lonhro and Exceed And Excel who have combined in 275 runners, 181 (65.8 per cent) of whom are winners including 23 stakes winners.
