Cover image courtesy of Racing Photos
Thoroughbreds run in the blood for Birdsville born-and-bred David Brook, president of the Birdsville Cup committee and breeder of G1 Thousand Guineas Prelude winner Ferivia (Astern). But the journey to producing Ferivia only begins in earnest 13 years ago with the purchase of a mare named Serene Lass (Not A Single Doubt), who cost just $2000 in 2012.
Serene Lass was unplaced on the track, but her dam was a winning half-sister to stakes-performed juvenile Trustful (Luskin Star), and her third dam was the multiple Group winner With Respect (Rego {Ire}). For $2000, bearing in mind the rise of her sire's star since, she was worth the punt.
“We bought a mare called Serene Lass from the Patinack Farm dispersal,” Brook said. “She was not supposed to be in foal, but she was, and she produced three or four winners for us after that.”
David Brook | Image courtesy of OBE Organic
The surprise foal Gracena (Monaco Consul {NZ}) won four races for the Brook family before joining the broodmare band, and her first foal Stecara (Terango) is already a winner. Serene Lass also threw Terbium (Terango), who beat Zousain home to win in the G3 Zeditave Stakes, and his eight-time winning brother Neodium, twice the winner of the Birdsville Cup. After such success from a daughter of Not A Single Doubt, Brook had to have another.
“Serene Lass got me a bit excited,” Brook said. “She was a Not A Single Doubt mare and she had produced winners, so we just kept going down that path.”
“(Serene Lass) was a Not A Single Doubt mare and she had produced winners, so we just kept going down that path.” - David Brook
A taste for pedigree
Ferivia’s dam Streetcar Express (Not A Single Doubt) was acquired privately in 2019 and dutifully visited Terango, a stallion owned by Brooks and his family, as well for her first foal. The resultant foal Effline (Terango) was a winner on debut - another strike for the cross of Not A Single Doubt and the Danehill (USA) line stallion Terango.
Placed several times at Group level, Terango was the victor of seven races from 46 starts for Brook, who paid just $6000 for the stallion as a yearling at the Magic Millions Adelaide Yearling Sale in 2004. His quiet demeanour meant that gelding him was never at the forefront of mind for Brook, who sent him to stand at Strathwood Park at the end of his racing career. Most of his 30 foals on the ground have been courtesy of Brook’s mares.
“We bought the mare (Streetcar Express) for not a lot of money, I think for $5000,” Brook recalled. “She was a Not A Single Doubt mare and we served her with a stallion that we owned called Terango, then we sent her to Pride Of Dubai."
A $100,000 weanling who only recorded a pair of placings in a nine-start career, Streetcar Express’s merit is nestled in her pedigree. Her dam Streetcar Stella (Blevic) is a full sister to G3 DC McKay Stakes winner Streetcar Magic and a half to Listed Oakbank Stakes winner Streetcar Isabelle (Danerich), herself the dam of Listed WJ Adams Stakes winner Streetcar Stranger (Stratum). The potential was there to be tapped into, if Brook could find the right combination.
Brook turns to the playbook of Federico Tesio when deciding his matings. Tesio’s examination of pedigrees back to the seventh generation and his meticulous logging of family lines led the Italian master breeder to be able to boast 22 wins in the Italian Derby. Brook sometimes stretches further back, searching for links and crosses as far back as the 15th generation.
Federico Tesio
Such was Tesio's proficiency with matching pedigrees, his empire spread across seven farms at its height and his fingerprints linger on the pedigrees of elite horses today, with the presence of horses such as Ribot (GB) and Nearco (Ity). Brook's breeding empire might not have the same scale, but he still has had his share of success.
The successful mating of Astern, one of Godolphin's nine G1 Golden Rose Stakes winners, and Streetcar Express didn’t require as thorough a hunt. On the suggestion of Darley’s Head of Stallions, Alastair Pulford, Brook examined the pedigree of the son of Medaglia D'Oro (USA), and he liked what he saw immediately.
“I liked the doubling up of Rory’s Jester and Danehill in both (Astern and Not A Single Doubt's) pedigrees.” - David Brook
“The next mating was to Astern, and they’ve all had a little bit of a thought process to them - I liked the doubling up of Rory’s Jester and Danehill in both pedigrees. In a way, it was like Astern’s dam and Not A Single Doubt could be brother and sister.”
The chance to linebreed to horses like Sadler’s Wells (USA), and replicate the positions of Danehill and Rory’s Jester on both sides of the pedigree, was of particular interest to Brook. Both Not A Single Doubt and Essaouira (Exceed And Excel) had the latter combination in the same configuration; Danehill as grandsire and Rory's Jester as damsire. The positioning had ramifications further back in the pedigree, contributing to the unification of 15 lines of influential sire Mahmoud (Fr), damsire of Natalma (USA).
Brook was also attracted to the presence of the versatile Blevic on Streetcar Express’s damline to inject a bit of stamina into the page.
“That, to me, was the bonus,” Brook said. “And the extra line of Sadler’s Wells (from Astern) was going to give a bit of character to the foals.”
A perfect match
The result of the match was Ferivia, who was born at Riversdale in New South Wales, and was sent to Phillip Stokes’ Pakenham base to be trained alongside the other Brook family horses, owned under the family Saddlers Knife syndicate. Brook had known Stokes from the trainer’s early days as a jockey and had run into him several times over the years when Stokes travelled to the Birdsville carnival. The trainer has made the most of his visits, claiming back-to-back Birdsville Cups in 2023 and 2024.
“We had known him from his days as a rider, and he’s another man from the bush,” Brook said. “We’ve known his family for even longer.”
The obvious choice, when first sending Serene Miss’s offspring to be trained, was to patronise a trainer for whom Brook could feel some kinship. Stokes has trained both of Streetcar Express’s previous offspring, so the daughter of Astern logically followed suit.
Ferivia trialled twice in the tail end of her 2-year-old season ahead of shedding her maiden tag at start one in a mid-July metropolitan race at Murray Bridge. Two starts later, the filly claimed the G3 Quezette Stakes, beating juvenile Group-winning My Gladiola (I Am Invincible) by half a length.
On Saturday, the 3-year-old filly reached new heights for the Brook family - and thoroughly confirming Brook’s breeding strategy - when denying Ole Dancer (Ole Kirk) in the G2 Thousand Guineas Prelude. It was a real thrill for Brook, who watched from afar, having organised the 143rd edition of the Birdsville Cup at the beginning of September.
His praise comes heavy for Not A Single Doubt, whose presence crops up across Brook’s broodmare back.
“He’s (Not A Single Doubt) obviously one of the better broodmare sires in the country.” - David Brook
“He’s (Not A Single Doubt) obviously one of the better broodmare sires in the country, and he has produced horses that can sprint or that get up to a mile and a half,” said Brook of the stallion’s versatility. “One of the early really good ones was Miracles Of Life who won a Blue Diamond, so you know they can sprint well and they generally speaking do well up to 1400 metres.”
One of 27 stakes winners for her broodmare sire, Ferivia decisively ticked that box with her Thousand Guineas Prelude performance.
A horse to race on with
Perhaps what is most exciting is how this is only the beginning. Like Terbium, whose first racing preparation consists of four starts for four wins including the Zedative, Ferivia has hit the ground running at the first time of asking.
Ferivia | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
“It’s a big thing to have five race starts in your first racing prep,” Brook acknowledged. “I was up in Queensland when the race was on, and the mounting yard (analyst) nominated her as her pick of the yard. So I can only judge on what I'm told and hear that she's doing well, but I hope that she might hold together (for the Thousand Guineas).”
“I can only judge on what I'm told and hear that she's (Ferivia) doing well, but I hope that she might hold together (for the Thousand Guineas).” - David Brook
Should she go forward to the G1 Thousand Guineas in three weeks’ time, Brook is confident that Ferivia can reproduce the same calibre of performance.
“I think Caulfield is a nice track for her,” he said. “She’s had a win there (with the Quezette Stakes), so she’s familiar with it. We probably would not want a wet track for her, so as long as the track is good, I think she'll hold her own.
“Then she will definitely go for a break and come back in later in the spring. (The intention is) we will continue to race her on (as an older mare), as we are breeding to race our own, but I can’t comment for now on what the future will hold beyond that. You don’t get hold of these mares very often.”
“You don’t get hold of these mares very often.” - David Brook
Inevitably, Ferivia will join Brook’s broodmare band at the end of her racing career, but Brook is in no hurry to get to that stage. He has yet to watch his filly race in person, and hopes that it’s not far into the future before he gets the opportunity.
“I would like to do that,” he said. “We have another handy horse called Matahga, by Tivaci, who has won a stakes race already. He'll start running again later in the month, so if we can plan their runs to coincide (at some point), we might find a way down there.”
The trek from Birdsville to Caulfield is a long one, but for a filly like Ferivia, it may be well worth the trip.
