Father, Neville and son Steven Parnham, celebrated a milestone in history when their former Group 1 winner Playing God became the first horse to win and sire the winner of the $1 million Kingston Town Classic (1800 metres).
Neville (trainer) and Steven (jockey) followed an identical path to last year’s Kingston Town victor Arcadia Queen (Pierro), when they tracked their filly Kay Cee (Playing God) through the WA Champion Fillies S. (3rd), WA Guineas (2nd to stable-mate War Saint) and the Kingston Town.
The pair celebrated their first Group 1 success, when Playing God won the 2010 edition of the Kingston Town, after claiming the G2 WA Guineas as a 3-year-old.
Steven and Neville Parnham with Kay Cee
Playing God underlined his tungsten steel toughness when he returned home from an arduous Group 1 campaign during the Melbourne spring to become the fifth horse to win successive Kingston Town Classics the following year.
Steven has something of a reputation in Australia’s final Group 1 of the year, winning it on Ihtsahymn in 2013.
Steven never spent a penny on Kay Cee taking full advantage of her draw in gate one to stick to the fence throughout.
Kay Cee underpinned Steven’s faith in her, dashing along the rail to nail veteran galloper Gailo Chop (Deportivo {GB}).
Steven had to waste hard to get down to 49.5kg this morning to ride Kay Cee at her listed weight on 50kg.
“This is a big thrill to win this race for dad and myself,” Steven said.
“To win this race on Playing God and to now win it on one of his daughters is a very special moment. I did the form for the race and I was very happy with her draw in one.
“To win this race on Playing God and to now win it on one of his daughters is a very special moment." - Steven Parnham
“She is a strong filly and the run in the WA Guineas, where she stormed home after getting a checkered run topped right off for this race.
“I felt she was the winner a long way from home.”
Neville Parnham revealed that Kay Cee was the toughest filly he had trained.
“It was a very special win today to do this with a horse I think a lot of,” Neville said.
Playing God | Standing at Mungrup Stud
“Secondly to have trained her sire Playing God to win this race twice and now her is the biggest thrill. I believed in Playing God from the start.
"We didn’t geld him because we believed he wasn’t mature enough as a 2-year-old. He came back as a 3-year-old and just kept getting better. It is great to have him as a sire in WA.”
Neville knew Steven had a pre-race plan and while I thought he was a 1l back from where I thought she would be I knew he would find the shortest way home.
Neville also replicated the routine he used with Playing God to win his second Kingston Town by taking Kay Cee to the beach.
Neville Parnham
“Most people were negative when I drew one on Tuesday, but I was very positive. She had been drawing wide gates in the past and having to go back to last and flashing home.
“She always has shown ability, but she improved out-of-sight when I put the blinkers on her.
“I said to Greg (owner) after the winter we will put her away and have a crack a couple of the good races at Ascot.”
Parnham said Kay Cee will go to the paddock for a well-earned spell.
“We have no plans for her at this stage,” Neville said. "Her owners are very patient. They were with my father and stuck to me when I started training so we have been together for a long time.”
Painstaking patience
For Kay Cee’s owners and breeders Greg and Kathy Edwards it was reward for their painstaking patience.
Edwards has been racing and breeding thoroughbreds for over 40 years and today they claimed their first success at the elite level.
The couple has been strong supporters of Mungrup Stud, where Playing God stands, for decades.
Platoon as a yearling
Kay Cee is from the second crop of Playing God, while Neville’s other Kingston Town runner Platoon (12th) was from his first crop.
Kay Cee’s dam Flirt 'N' Hope is by former Mungrup sire McFlirt.
Flirt 'N' Hope is a daughter of Edwards’ former good mare Lizzy Long Legs (Steel Glow), who ran third Old Comrade and Northerly in the running of the 2000 G1 Railway S. (1600 metres).
“We have been taking horses to Mungrup Stud for 25 years,” Greg Edwards said.
“We have been taking horses to Mungrup Stud for 25 years." - Greg Edwards
“Lizzy Long Legs was born and she is the grand-dam of this filly. We started out in thoroughbred racing in 1977 when we bought Star Boots (Star Moss {GB}) at a yearling sale here.
"She was our foundation mare and is the fourth dam on the line to Kay Cee. Lizzy was our first Group 1 runner and this filly is our second. It is incredible.
"We are in the game for the love of the horses. I go down and spend time with them – it is like meditation for me. It is great therapy for me.”
Winning Connections of Kay Cee
Flirt 'N' Hope is in foal to Playing God and is due to foal next year. Lizzy Long Legs had to be put down five years ago because of a severe arthritic condition.
“We have a 2-year-old from Flirt 'N' Hope by Red Hot Choice who has just been broke-in,” Edwards said. “She is not named as yet.
“We used to be at Lake Grace but now we have moved to Binningup where we still keep our horses. We only have a handful of horses now to what we used to have. We still have Lizzy Long Legs' daughter Zilvain and a few others.
“We have scaled down to our early days when we would breed four to five yearlings each year. It is all economics. You have good and lean times.
“We have scaled down to our early days when we would breed four to five yearlings each year. It is all economics. You have good and lean times." - Greg Edwards
“We have had a trickle of good horses, like Zilvain, Wicked Hunter and Long Over Due, along the journey to keep us going.
“When I first brought this filly home from stud I said; “This filly will be the best horse I have ever bred.
“She had the confirmation of a very good horse and she is very tough. She ran in the Champion Fillies and backed up a week later in the WA Guineas and then a fortnight into this race.
“Neville and his team have done a great job.”
Gailo Chop (Fr)
Gailo Chop gave a ton of cheek in front and went within a 0.5l of breaking a 623-day drought for the Warrnambool-trained 9-year-old.
Best Of Days (Azamour {Ire}) was again flashing home, finishing a further 0.5l away in third place.
The James Cummings-trained 6-year-old ran second to Regal Power (6th in the Kingston Town) at his only other Ascot start in the G1 Railway S. (1600 metres) a fortnight ago.
Perfect Reflection became the first 3-year-old filly to win the Kingston Town in 2015.
Arcadia Queen emulated her performance for leading breeders Bob and Sandra Peters last year.
Peters’ filly Tuscan Queen (Fastnet Rock), who was the race favourite, tried to keep the ball rolling, but managed to finish only seventh, after winning the G3 WA Champion Fillies’ S. at her prior start on November 16.
Kay Cee beat Tuscan Queen in the Listed Burgess Queen S. (1400 metres) three starts ago on November 5.
