Cover image courtesy of Dare To Dream/Racing SA
James and Jessica Tzaferis reaped a big reward from a small investment on Saturday when 3-year-old filly Kalosyni (Magna Grecia {Ire}) surged home to break her maiden on debut at Morphettville, scooping a $27,300 winner’s cheque in the process. That equates to almost exactly five times the filly’s auction price and is proof that you can find a diamond in the rough, if you know where to look.
Exception to the rule
Purchased from Gooree Park Stud for $5500 on an August Inglis Digital auction in 2023, Kalosyni is a first crop daughter of former shuttler Magna Grecia (Ire), which was the lynchpin in dual licence holder Jessica Tzaferis being drawn to her.
“I loved Magna Gracia as a racehorse, and would have loved to have always bought one at the sales,” she said. “But at the time, it wasn't really that achievable for us.”
The son of Invincible Spirit (Ire) averaged $82,132 at the sales with his first Southern Hemisphere foals, including the top-priced Jaddaf, a half-brother to G1 TJ Smith Stakes winner Chain Of Lighting (Fighting Sun), who was knocked down for $375,000 to Freedman Racing and Julian Blaxland Bloodstock (FBAA).
Tzaferis’ smaller budget led her to scanning the online sales, where she spotted a filly out of Smart Missile mare Extreme Measure, a half-sister to G2 Shannon Stakes winner Rock Sturdy from the close family of Newgate Farm-based, Gooree-bred stallion King’s Gambit.
Kalosyni as a yearling | Image courtesy of Inglis Digital
“We saw her online beside another Magna Grecia filly, but I liked Kalosyni in particular on type. So we monitored her, and we were able to pick her up very cheap. I thought it was a pretty good buy at the time.”
A dual Group 1 winner over a mile, Magna Grecia shuttled to Coolmore’s Jerry Plains property for three seasons. Tzaferis found him an impressive racehorse, but recognised that he wasn’t quite hitting the right beats with Australian breeders.
“Unfortunately he hasn't really made it as a sire,” she said. “I think Coolmore sent him back because St Mark's Basilica was a lot more commercial, being his half brother. I’m hoping that Kalosyni can be one of the exceptions to the rule in his crops.”
Magna Grecia (Ire) | Standing at March Hare Stud, UK
St Mark’s Basilica (Fr), who is by Siyouni (Fr), counts the stallion-making G1 Dewhurst Stakes amongst his five topflight wins, and has proved far more popular in his three seasons visiting the Southern Hemisphere, with his first yearlings selling up to $700,000 at auction. He returns in 2025 for a fee of $38,500 inc GST.
Tzaferis was also pleased to secure her filly from a top farm.
“I think we're pretty lucky to pick her up in the circumstances that we did,” she said.
Putting the work in
“I sent her to Jess Pattinson in Bendigo to get broken in,” Tzaferis said. “That was a slow process for her - they took their time with her, which we’re very grateful for. We weren’t in any rush to get her up and going, but just in terms of handling pressure and being a racehorse, she has really struggled.
“It’s been a long, slow process getting her to the races yesterday, and she's had a lot of hiccups in between.”
Kalosyni trialled twice in May of this year prior to her debut this weekend and put together two nice performances, but Tzaferis said that it has been a lot of work managing the filly’s ability and mood to get her to her first race.
Jessica Tzaferis | Image courtesy of Racing Photos
“We’ve had to be patient with those hiccups, there were definitely times where we had concerns and doubt that she'd ever make it to the races. But fortunately, she did.”
Tzaferis wasn’t going to give up on her Magna Grecia filly, even if she had to work a bit harder to bring out the best in her. The spark was there early on that Kalosyni had a lot to offer, if only she could coax it out of the filly.
“I’ve always loved her action in the way she moved, but every time I really asked her to do anything fast, she really struggled to cope with that. So it was really hard to put her under a lot of pressure, and even leading into race day, we still hadn't put her under full pressure. All her trials were still under a hold, just to really nurse her through.
“So we've definitely been hopeful because of the way she could move, but we certainly weren't quite sure what exactly was under the hood.”
“So we've definitely been hopeful because of the way she could move, but we certainly weren't quite sure what exactly was under the hood.” - Jessica Tzaferis
With Tzaferis in the saddle, Kalosyni motored home for a half-length victory over Aramoso (Mikki Isle {Jpn}) in the 1050-metre event, lunging forward from fourth position at the 400-metre mark. The result has more than made the hard work worth it.
Tzaferis is hopeful that Kalosyni can stand up to staying in work after her barnstorming debut and race through the rest of the winter.
“It'd be ideal if we can keep it going for a little bit longer, because I think off the back of her Strathalbyn trial, she's going to really handle wet tracks quite well,” Tzaferis said. “She might need three or four weeks between runs just to keep her happy and in the zone, but it would be great to give her another chance to go around.”
Support for success
As well as training and riding on race day, Tzaferis performs most of her own trackwork, with occasional help from other riders at Murray Bridge, and her biggest supporter has always been her journalist husband James.
“You need good people around you to help support you and do what you need to do. James certainly takes a big workload off me and helps bring horses to the racetrack so I can still ride for other trainers to maintain those race day rides, but it also helps having the land at home, where we can exercise horses slowly in some heavy sand to help tick them along without having the pressure of getting horses to the racetrack every day.”
Kalosyni isn’t the first Inglis Digital horse they have struck gold with; Royal Fox (Foxwedge) cost just $8000 when purchased in November from Reece Goodwin, and the rising 7-year-old has since picked up nearly $39,000 in prizemoney, including scooping a metropolitan win at Morphettville Parks.
“I think there's always great opportunities there, and we have been lucky with horses like Royal Fox that we've picked up for okay prices and been able to get a good return on them,” Tzaferis said. “But there's definitely really good opportunities there, you just got to try and find that diamond in the rough.”
