Will Femminile sell or will she head to the Queensland Oaks?

Cover image courtesy of Magic Millions

Raised and sold by Vinery Stud, Femminile (Dundeel {NZ}) was bred by Simon Delzoppo’s Aralet Pty Ltd. Both Femminile and her dam Femme Fireball (Pierro) are catalogued for the Magic Millions Broodmare Sale, with Femme Fireball likely to be scratched while a decision on Femminile hasn’t been made yet.

Vinery's role in raising Femminile

Vinery Stud raised Femminile for her breeder Aralet, and she became Dundeel (NZ)'s first Group 1-winning filly with her victory in the G1 South Australian Derby on Saturday.

“We were ecstatic all around, and none more so than for Simon Delzoppo who bred the filly. He sent several mares to Dundeel and only got fillies, which was initially frustrating. Simon has been a loyal client (of Vinery), and it’s great to see him get the result,” said Vinery’s Harry Roach.

“At Vinery, we’ve had some luck with the Dundeel fillies. Polymnia ran third in the Oaks last week from our farm.” Vinery sold Polymnia to John O’Shea and Suman Hedge Bloodstock (FBAA) for $250,000 at the Inglis Easter Yearling Sale, and they sold Femminile in the same draft for $150,000 to Phillip Stokes and Rick Connolly Bloodstock.

“Femminile was born on the farm. She always had quality, and is a typical Dundeel who had that scope to continue to mature like that breed does, and her race record correlates that. She was a stakes winning 2-year-old in scintillating fashion and we thought she’d go on to be a top liner. She had a few excuses in the spring, on unsuitable tracks. We were there with Simon to watch her in the Victoria Oaks. She was a little disappointing that day, so it’s great to see her come back so well.”

Femminile debuted as a June 2-year-old, running second last on debut, then bounced back to win the Listed Oaklands Plate at her second start. At three in the spring, she mixed her form, but did run third in the G3 Ethereal Stakes prior to a disappointing 12th in the G1 Victoria Oaks. This autumn, she had three runs for mid-field efforts prior to her Derby victory.

“The mare (Femme Fireball) is here. She’s in foal to Anamoe and likely won’t be going to the Magic Millions Broodmare Sale.”

Winner of seven races and placed in the Listed Just Now Handicap, Femme Fireball is a full sister to dual G3 Cameron Handicap winner Rock (Pierro) who was placed in the G1 Cantala Stakes.

Delzoppo’s pragmatic view of Dundeel

When TTR told breeder Simon Delzoppo that Vinery had said he’d bred a few fillies lately, he laughed. “It’s been an interesting ride. We’ve had a lot of fillies, and the positive thing is that it was hard to sell them, so we had to do a deal and stay in Femminile to get her sold, and now we own a Group 1 winner,” said Delzoppo. She is trained by Phillip Stokes, and OTI share in the ownership group which includes 11 parties.

“I’ve always loved Dundeel but would’ve preferred to get a few colts. The colts got off to a better start.” Dundeel’s first eight Group 1 winners were all colts or geldings, and Femminile is his first Group 1-winning filly.

“I was upbeat on Dundeel’s fillies, thinking that they should come through, and we called her Femminile for that reason. We wanted people to know that the Dundeel fillies can run and they are a good investment, but we didn’t set out to race her. I enjoy the breeding side of it, and I’m not a mad racing person, but I do keep some shares in a few and I do deals to get horses sold. I wouldn’t be sitting here with a Group 1 winner if I didn’t do that.”

Delzoppo might have a pragmatic view of retaining a share in Femminile to get her sold as a yearling but it’s not a strategy he uses for all his horses.

“I’ve only kept shares in horses I think will be successful, so it’s more complex than just getting them sold. We’ve seen them since birth, and we’ve seen how they grow, and that all comes into the decision. I must have a reasonable feel for it, as the ones we’ve kept shares in have all won. I bred two other Dundeel fillies recently, both who I would call good types, but sold them for $11,000 and $75,000. I can’t afford to race them all so made the decision was made to let them go at a loss. You hope to make it up somewhere else.”

Now that Dundeel has a Group 1-winning filly, his reputation as a colt producer might begin to change. “The fillies keep improving and winning races, so it will balance out. It takes a while to change opinions (in racing) sometimes. It can be a fashion industry, as much as it’s beginning to be driven by data.”

A sneaky ride helped the win

Delzoppo stayed home due to family commitments this weekend and wasn’t on course to watch Femminile win the G1 South Australian Derby. “It was amazing to see her run home. I wish I’d gone. There was a good feeling amongst the group. We were quietly confident she’d run a place and Phillip thought she’d be top five.

“We always knew she had ability, she just had to get used to firmer tracks. It was probably why she did well on the inside where it was chopped up, as she’s more comfortable with the softer ground. She obviously handled it well and took the shortest way home.

“You can quote my Dad on that one, she took the shortest way home, sticking to the fence when everyone swept wide while she went straight for the line. But it doesn’t always work. Last week in the Oaks, she worked her way up to third before the rest of the field swept past out wide and she ended up in seventh.

“On the Arrowfield website this morning, they mentioned that the VRC Oaks and SA Derby are both run over 2500 metres, and this year were on similar track conditions. Femminile’s winning time of 2:38.26 was faster than Treasurethe Moment in the Victoria Oaks..” The quick time might assist when the ownership group take her to the Magic Millions Broodmare Sale as Lot 561.

“OTI Racing entered Femminile in the sale, which was a decision we made before the Derby. I’m interested in racing on, but we’ll have a chat with the whole ownership group before making a decision. She’s gone for a little spell, and what happens next depends on the decision about the sale. If we don’t sell, we’ll hopefully make the spell very short and press on to Brisbane.”

The decision to go to Dundeel

Delzoppo’s admiration for Dundeel’s racing style and his progeny was a key factor in sending Femme Fireball to him. “We were always impressed with Femme Fireball and felt her running style matched with Dundeel. There’s the genetic side too. We felt it was an excellent match. Femme Fireball was strong type, a steady runner who came home strong, and that’s shown in the way Femminile has won too, weaving through the field and finishing strongly.”

“Neil Jenkinson has worked with me for a long time and guides a lot of our matings with me. He was an advocate for Dundeel and a driver for us going to him three times, but then we had a run of fillies that you wouldn’t believe.”

Aralet, Delzoppo’s breeding operation, has been slowly growing. “We have seven mares at the moment. It’s a smaller operation that began from owning a couple of racehorses. Neil was the conjugate. We had some success on the track and when we retired (those fillies) we were encouraged to have a crack at breeding. We had early success, selling some nice stock at Magic Millions and now class ourselves as breeders, more than racing owners.”

Delzoppo caught the breeding bug and has been investing in broodmares over the past few years. “We bought a few more mares, and a lot of our mares have Pierro and Lonhro bloodlines which we really like. Three of our mares live with Dan at Telemon Stud. He’s a fantastic guy, a true horseman, and the others are at Vinery who produce fantastic racehorses.”

Femme Fireball’s second dam is Group 1 winner Credit Account (Imposing), and Femminile is her first foal. She has a Bivouac 2-year-old filly named Fireball Miss who Vinery sold to Bennett Racing for $140,000 at the Inglis Easter Yearling Sale, and a yearling filly by Pinatubo (Ire) who was sold to Laurel Oak Bloodstock (FBAA) at this year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale for $250,000.

And in keeping with the filly theme, Femme Fireball has a So You Think (NZ) filly foal born in 2024. “She’s been a great mare, she’s had four foals, and I put her in the sale as I thought I’d get a good price for her (as the dam of a juvenile stakes winners), but it’s worth keeping her now. It’s very hard to buy a Group 1 producing mare.”

Femme Fireball is in foal to Anamoe. “We also have Electric Girl, who we bought at the Chairman’s Sale last year and she had a nice Anamoe filly at Vinery this year. Femme Fireball is in foal to him, so let’s hope she produces a nice foal too.”

Dual Group 2 winner Electric Girl (Declaration Of War {USA}) was purchased by Neil Jenkinson (FBAA) for $520,000.

“With all the analysis and vet checking (at the yearling sales), it’s leading buyers to the same set of horses at the sales. It’s now reasonably statistically easy to identify the top horses, which is why we are seeing higher prices for a limited group of horses. It’s the same groups of buyers targeting the same horses. It’s great if your horse fits that category, but if it doesn’t, then it very hard to make a profit, and we all know that most horses don’t sit at the top of the market.”

A love of Dundeel started it all

Neil Jenkinson, who Delzoppo credits with the mating for Femminile, is a huge fan of Dundeel. “I’m only a part timer when it comes to genetics,” Jenkinson laughed.

“It was my mating and when I bought the mare, Dundeel was the mating I wanted to do. I’d seen a bit of Femme Fireball at the races in Queensland, and when I talked to Rob (Heathcote) about her as a broodmare, he promised me he’d ring me when she was retiring, which he did and we did a deal subject to Simon liking her.

“I wanted to send her to Dundeel to set her up as a broodmare. It looked like a nice clean mating to me. There’s obviously risks breeding to Dundeel with getting a filly, and we’ve only managed to get fillies, but the truth to it with him is that his fillies are like the High Chaparral fillies where they can be lean and lack bone, but (Femminile) had plenty of bone and substance.

“He’s a seriously good stallion. There are certain things I like about matings, and physically more than anything, Femme Fireball suited Dundeel. He gets more than his fair share of Group 1 winners, so he’s an elite stallion, and there’s so much Fastnet Rock in Femme Fireball which is hard to believe given she’s a Pierro.”

Femme Fireball is out of winning mare Subtitle (Fastnet Rock). “For a first mating, I felt Dundeel was a good way to set her up for the future. She’s got two very good stallions (in her pedigree with Pierro and Fastnet Rock), and Dundeel is on the way to being very high class.”

Dundeel is a son of High Chaparral (Ire), who Jenkinson deems as “probably the best Epsom Derby winner to stand here with the legacy he’s left through So You Think and Dundeel.”

And of Femminile herself? “That filly was a lovely filly when she was born, and she’s almost never had a vet bill. Yesterday Lachlan (Neindorf) gave her the best ride, just 27 out of 10. She’s also improved since the spring too. It’s exciting, and she’s better on wet ground and it hasn’t stopped raining up here. I can’t wait to see her run in Brisbane.”