Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
Four racedays - 26 stakes races - and victories felt at every level. The 2025 Melbourne Cup carnival week has thrown up some interesting results for pedigrees at all levels of the game.
A carnival for the small breeders
The persistence of Martin Falvey paid off immensely during Cup week with the G1 VRC Oaks victory of Strictly Business (Grunt {NZ}) out of Tivoli Lass (Uncle Mo {USA}), whom Falvey just couldn’t let go.
First bought by Falvey for $600 via Inglis Digital in 2020, Tivoli Lass was again sent through the auction platform in 2023 where Falvey bought out his co-owners for another $600. The reward is a Group 1 victory - plus a G2 Wakeful Stakes second - with the mare’s second foal.
Tivoli Lass only picked up one win on the track - as a juvenile over 1400 metres at Wodonga - but what Falvey recognised in her pedigree, and the matches he has made with stallions, has paid off in spades. Her first foal, Kicking King (Highland Reel {Ire}), is also a stakes performer and one with a penchant for distance, running placings in the Listed Tasmanian Derby and the Listed VRC St Leger.
Strictly Business | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
Further back, the pedigree has serious staying merit. Tivoli Lass’s second dam is a half-sister to G1 Caulfield Cup winner Affinity (NZ) (Zamazaan {Fr}). Under the same dam is multiple stakes winner - out to 2000 metres - O’Reilly Rose (NZ) (O’Reilly {NZ}), whose half-sister Rosegarden (NZ) (Savabeel) has also produced a spring carnival star in G1 Caulfield Guineas winner Autumn Boy (The Autumn Sun).
It’s a page worth more than $600 now.
Another small but diligent breeder to see his meticulous matings pay off was David Digney, who selected Mozzie Monster (Sebring) as a yearling - paying a far higher premium of $150,000 - and sent her to John Sadler, under whose stewardship she won twice and picked up two stakes placings behind the likes of Group 1 victress Odeum (Written Tycoon).
A savvy foal share with Sheriff Iskander saw Mozzie Monster visit Written Tycoon for her first mating, and while the $32,500 paid for the resultant filly at the Inglis Great Southern Sale wasn’t a huge return on investment, the breeding would pay off spectacularly less than 18 months later.
Unbeaten in three starts, Well Written (Written Tycoon) landed the G1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas on Saturday for trainer Stephen Marsh, handing her dam a handy pedigree update that should see her back in the books of Victoria’s top stallions. Mozzie Monster’s following foals, colts by state stalwarts Shamus Award and Nicconi, have big shoes to fill.
Written Tycoon | Standing at Yulong
It would be remiss to skip over Colin and Janice McKenna, the breeders of Half Yours (St Jean {Ire}), in this segment - at the height of the couple’s breeding ventures, they bred 12 foals a year. When sire St Jean (Ire) was imported into Australia by trainer Aaron Purcell, the McKennas were part of his ownership group, and supported the Group 3-winning stallion when he retired to stud at Brackley Park for a fee of $3300 inc GST.
An unfortunate positive swab for ibuprofen as a racehorse, that prevented St Jean showing his best on Australian turf, and the nation’s penchant for early speed saw his biggest book to date number just 28 mares, and after eight years at stud, he only has 67 registered foals to his name. But one of those is now a G1 Melbourne Cup winner, after being the only Australian-bred horse in the race - and a Caulfield Cup winner to boot, becoming the 13th horse in history to make the Group 1 double.
St Jean (Ire) | Standing at Brackley Park
And while Janice no longer shares in the ownership of Half Yours, the mating is still a vindication for her and her late husband’s mating principles; the year before, they bred G1 CF Orr Stakes winner Another Wil (Street Boss {USA}) in a year where Street Boss (USA) served one of his smallest ever books. Sometimes all a stallion needs is a little faith from the right breeders.
Galileo’s presence felt throughout Cup week
The spectre of the late, great Galileo (Ire) has loomed large over the spring, and he was a major player through Cup week, kicking it off with Derby Day where he featured in the pedigrees of four feature race winners. For G1 Victoria Derby winner Observer (Ghaiyyath {Ire}), $10 million Golden Eagle victress Autumn Glow (The Autumn Sun), and G3 Vanity Stakes winner Sheza Alibi (Saxon Warrior {Jpn}), he appeared as the damsire to each one’s sire, while G2 Damien Oliver Handicap winner Warnie (Ire) (Highland Reel {Ire}) has him as a paternal grandsire.
In the G1 Melbourne Cup itself, he managed the impressive feat of appearing in the first three generations on the pages of 13 runners, from a field of 24. Six runners featured Galileo in their direct damline. The winner Half Yours became the fourth descendant of Galileo’s sireline to win the race that stops the nation, after Without A Fight (Ire), Twilight Payment (Ire), and Cross Counter (GB), all sons of Teofilo (Ire).
The late Galileo (Ire) | Image courtesy of Coolmore, Ireland
He made a further appearance on Cup day in the pedigrees of Listed Amanda Elliott Handicap winner Burma Star (Exceed And Excel), through his damsire Dawn Approach (Ire), and Listed Batman Stakes winner Different Gravy (Ghaiyyath {Ire}).
The theme continued on Saturday with the pedigrees of G2 Hot Danish Stakes winner Arctic Glamour (Frosted {USA}), G3 Queen Elizabeth Stakes winner Whisky On The Hill (GB) (Ribchester {Ire}), and, in West Australia, Listed Fairetha Stakes winner King Of Light (Earthlight {Ire}).
Of course, his crowning moment came with Via Sistina’s (Ire) (Fastnet Rock) G1 Champions Stakes victory on a testing Flemington track late on the Saturday card; Galileo appears as her damsire, and enjoyed delivering a high-flying quinella a fortnight before, where the mare denied Buckaroo (GB) (Fastnet Rock) in a thrilling G1 Cox Plate finish.
To have your presence felt in three Group 1s over eight days in a faraway land (except for three short shuttles), is something quite special. To appear in so many places on both sides of winners’ pedigrees indicates a sire with superior influence.
Via Sistina (Ire) | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
Further laurels go to Galileo’s dam Urban Sea (USA) (Miswaki {USA}), whose other prominent sire son Sea The Stars (GB) sired a Cup week winner in G2 Matriarch Stakes winner Sunset Park (GB) and appeared as the damsire of Listed Kirin Ichiban Plate victor Kingswood (GB) (Roaring Lion {USA}).
Darley: Kings of the Spring
It cannot be understated how super a Cup week was had by the Darley stallions; from 26 stakes races at Flemington, the roster’s current residents and shuttle stallions delivered seven winners.
Two of the week’s three Group 1s for 3-year-olds went the way of Darley-sired colts, with Observer claiming a maiden Group 1 for his sire Ghaiyyath (Ire) in the G1 Victoria Derby and Tentyris (Street Boss {USA}) emerging victorious in the G1 Coolmore Stud Stakes.
The latter became the 11th top flight winner for his sire, and can rest easy knowing he will join Street Boss’ popular sire sons Anamoe and Traffic Warden on the Darley roster in future.
Ghaiyyath (Ire) | Standing at Darley
The talented 3-year-old filly Point Barrow (Blue Point {Ire}) collected her fourth career victory and a first at stakes level in the G3 Red Roses Stakes on VRC Oaks day, and Tornado Valley (Too Darn Hot {GB}) continued her sire’s hot streak with juveniles by taking out the G3 Maribyrnong Plate on the Tuesday.
Calamari Ring (Street Boss {USA}) kept the juvenile momentum going on Champions Day with a slick victory in the R. Listed Inglis 2YO Banner.
World champion stayer Ghaiyyath, who was brought south with the explicit purpose of breeding Derby hopefuls, collected a second stakes winner for the week with his daughter Different Gravy in the Listed Amanda Elliott Handicap, and Burma Star broke through into black-type by winning the Listed Springtime Stakes.
Ghaiyyath has surged to the head of the second season sires' table, $500,000 clear of his nearest rival Ole Kirk.
Even beyond the carnival itself, Darley stallions struck with stakes wins in West Australia for Earthlight (Ire) and at Rosehill for Frosted (USA). As an added bonus, Godolphin were also the breeders of Matriarch victress Sunset Park at their operation in Britain.
The Godolphin racing operation has hit the ground not just running, but absolutely sprinting clear of all rivals, in their first season utilising a public training model. Both Group 1 winners and Burma Star called the royal blue silks to victory, vindicating the shift from the operation’s history of maintaining a private trainer.
Cup week coming up Rosemont
In a tremendous week for local breeders - with five of the eight Group 1 winners bred in Victoria - Rosemont Stud tied with Darley for the most Victorian-bred stakes winners over the weekend, having turned out electric juvenile Tornado Valley and G3 Hong Kong Jockey Club Stakes winner Dance To The Boom (Exceedance).
A $300,000 graduate of this year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale when selling to Bennett Racing, Tornado Valley is the second stakes performer from his breeder’s January draft, after One Day At A Time (Bivouac), who was third in the Listed Maribyrnong Trial in October.
Tornado Valley | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
The Too Darn Hot (GB) colt also ran second in the Listed Debutante Stakes at her first racetrack appearance this spring. At this early stage of the juvenile season, only three from Rosemont’s Magic Millions draft have hit the track, and Carnevale (Pinatubo {Ire}) acquitted himself well with a fourth-placed finish behind Tornado Valley.
Trainer Ciaron Maher has already floated the idea of taking the colt north for the lucrative Magic Millions carnival in January, where he could have a crack at skyrocketing his earnings in the $3 million R. Listed Magic Millions 2YO Classic.
Dance To The Boom was back to her best in the Group 3 event on Cup day, putting together her third win in a row and pushing her earnings over the $400,000 mark. Purchased for $250,000 at the Gold Coast by Cambridge Stud’s Lady Jo Lindsay, the 4-year-old is now a winner of six of her starts from nine, having previously broken through into stakes grade with victory in the Listed Gosford Guineas.
Dance To The Boom | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
Rosemont wisely recognised the mare’s talent in 2024, sending her dam Bim Bam Boom (I Am Invincible) back to Exceedance, producing a full brother this spring.
International affair in the Maribyrnong Plate
An unusual wrinkle in the results of the juvenile race on Cup day can be seen in the list of sires; the first four runners home are all sired by shuttle stallions, including the first two runners for Darley’s Pinatubo (Ire). Fellow Darley resident Too Darn Hot scored the winner with Tornado Valley from his third crop, and third-placed Luna Vega is from the second crop of Yulong’s Lucky Vega (Ire).
A resident of the Irish National Stud for half of the year, Lucky Vega’s second crop is his biggest to date, when factoring in those conceived on Northern Hemisphere time and imported to Australia in utero.
Yulong’s commitment to their young sire has been strong from the start, and they were well rewarded last season with Group 2 winner and $1.6 million earner Within The Law as well as multiple stakes performer Vega For Luck.
Lucy Vega (Ire) | Standing at Yulong Investments
The son of Lope De Vega (Ire) delivered five individual winners in Australia last season and has matched the number this season already, interestingly with five individuals who did not score last season. Within The Law’s exploits assisted his fee rise to $38,500 inc GST this season.
Too Darn Hot has picked up where he left off at the end of last season, where he was Champion Second Season Sire, having earned the equivalent first season title the year before.
He is one of only three stallions to post more than one juvenile winner so far this spring, both of whom are stakes winners; his daughter Shiki kicked off the season with a bang in the G3 Gimcrack Stakes in October. After missing last season due to a mild illness, he returned to Darley Kelvinside with a sizable fee jump to $275,000 inc GST this year, and his book capped at 101 nominations.
Pinatubo is a year behind his Northern Hemisphere results in Australia, having missed his first shuttle season due to an eye infection.
The Darley shuttler, who was the Champion 2YO Colt in Ireland and Britain and the Champion 3YO Sprinter in France during his career on the track, has taken a little longer than barnmate Too Darn Hot to get into stride in the Northern Hemisphere, with four stakes winners and a further 11 stakes performers to date.
Pinatubo (Ire) | Standing at Darley
Second-placed Tales Of Time and fourth-placegetter Carnevale were his first two runners down under, although he has also had several eye-catching triallers across the country that have yet to hit the track for him.
He has taken a small fee cut to $38,500 inc GST this season, but if his offspring can hit their straps quicker in the speed-oriented world of Australian juvenile racing, he could book his flight back down south in 2026.
