Written by Jessica Owers
Cover image courtesy of Ashlea Brennan
Warwick Farm hosted a race meeting for the first time in six weeks on Wednesday, finally emerging from a record-setting deluge that plagued Sydney for close to a month.
The first race on the card was the Ranvet Plate over 1100 metres for the 2-year-olds, and plenty of eyes were on the Chris Waller colt Basquiat (Snitzel) who, as the first foal from Bonny O’Reilly (NZ) (O’Reilly {NZ}), was a $1.9 million Sale-topper at last year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
However, the fairy-tale debut wasn’t to be on Wednesday when Basquiat’s colours were lowered by the Zoustar filly North Star Lass. Trained by Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, she beat the colt into a very commendable second in what will likely prove a good juvenile race.
North Star Lass | Image courtesy of Ashlea Brennan
Jumping from the inside draw with Tim Clark, North Star Lass was hustled early to take up a spot on the rails behind pace-setter Alpha One (Super One). Basquiat travelled along at her flank, with Chipper (No Nay Never {USA}) whipping in the leading group.
Into the straight, Basquiat was going best and he went to the lead by the 200 metres, only to be headed by North Star Lass in a good tussle at the 100 metres.
The pair got comfortably away from the field, and the final margins were 0.84l to Basquiat, with 2.53l to third-placed Chipper. The race was well-run on the Heavy 9 in 1:05.66, the last 600 metres in 35.84s.
Midweek depth
Co-trainer Adrian Bott was trackside for the result, and he said the filly was very pleasing on debut.
“I think she’s a nice filly going forward and it was a good debut,” Bott said. “There was plenty to like about the manner in which she won, and she’s a lovely, big, strong filly. Once we put the saddle on and stepped back in the parade ring, we took notice how well she looked and how she stood out, and also how well she’s been coping with her preparation.”
Gai Waterhourse and Adrian Bott
North Star Lass holds a nomination for the G2 Percy Sykes S. on the first day of The Championships, and the Sydney midweek juvenile form suggests she could be right among it.
“Those sorts of races are never out of the question coming off a midweek maiden, or any maiden really in Sydney,” Bott said. “There’s so much depth here in the quality of racing, so it’s hard for these 2-year-olds to be winning races. It certainly does open up a lot of options for us going forward.”
“Those sorts of races (stakes races) are never out of the question coming off a midweek maiden, or any maiden really in Sydney. There’s so much depth here in the quality of racing...” - Adrian Bott
Bott said the Heavy 9 surface at Warwick Farm wasn’t an issue for North Star Lass.
“I think she has the physical attributes so I thought she might handle it,” he said. “She was very fit coming here today so I wasn’t worried about that, and I had an inkling on her pedigree that she’d enjoy it.”
A Sheila’s pedigree
North Star Lass was bred in Victoria by Rosemont Stud, a daughter of Zoustar from the Snitzel mare Sheila’s Star.
Sheila's Star when racing | Image courtesy of Sportpix
Sheila’s Star was a useful horse in her career, winning five races for Mick Price and running second in the G3 Frances Tressady S. She was also twice second in Listed company, and she’s a half-sister to the stakes winning, Group-placed mare Jacqueline Rouge (Ne Coupez Pas {USA}), who was subsequently the dam of stakes-placed Special Diva (Snitzel).
There is plenty of good company in this pedigree.
Further along, there is the Listed Cap d’Antibes S. winner Celebrity Girl (Starcraft {NZ}) and her G1 Robert Sangster S.-winning daughter, Instant Celebrity (Not A Single Doubt). There is also the G3 Star Kingdom S. winner Generalife (Lonhro).
As such, North Star Lass was consigned to the 2021 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, selling to Waterhouse, Bott and Bruce Slade’s Kestrel Thoroughbreds for $260,000.
North Star Lass as a yearling | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
She was a long way in arrears of what Basquiat fetched at the same Sale, but she was almost a bargain at this point 12 months later.
North Star Lass’ Capitalist half-brother sold at the 2022 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in January, consigned by Rosemont and purchased for $460,000 by Mick Price Racing and Breeding.
Zoustar over Snitzel
Sheila’s Star, the dam of North Star Lass, was purchased by Rosemont Stud at the 2017 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale. From the draft of Rangal Park Stud, she cost $250,000.
She lived under the Rosemont banner until May 2020, when she was sold during the stud’s Exclusive Online Sale (Unreserved), where she was bought by Sandhurst Bloodstock in what is shaping as a good bargain at $90,000. She continues to live at the property.
Sheila's Star | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
The mare’s first foal for Rosemont was Ethekwini (Savabeel), who was retained and is in training in the Rosemont colours with Danny O’Brien.
Ethekwini had 10 starts for a win at Kyneton, but she is spelling after an official suspension, incurred for being fractious in the barriers in early February.
Rosemont got North Star Lass out of Sheila’s Star before the mare was sold (carrying the Capitalist colt) in May 2020. Ryan McEvoy, the general manager of bloodstock at Rosemont Stud, remembers the yearling North Star Lass as athletic and uncomplicated.
“She was a racy Zoustar filly,” McEvoy said. “She was light on her feet and there were some elements of her mum there too. Sheila’s Star is a real Snitzel, a typical Snitzel filly. She wasn’t an overly big type herself but she was neat and racy and athletic.”
“She (North Star Lass) was a racy Zoustar filly. She was light on her feet and there were some elements of her mum there too. Sheila’s Star is a real Snitzel, a typical Snitzel filly.” - Ryan McEvoy
McEvoy said that North Star Lass had several of those sought-after Zoustar traits.
“She had a good head on her, and those big pixie ears that you often see on those nice Zoustars,” he said. “I thought Gai bought her pretty well in the end because she was a filly we really liked. Her Capitalist half-brother was a really nice colt in his own right too.”
Ryan McEvoy
At Rosemont, Sheila’s Star has a Zousain three-quarter sister to North Star Lass at foot, a filly that McEvoy said was a very lovely, very forward individual. The mare missed to Hanseatic last season, but she will return to the Rosemont stallion this spring in a mating based on physical type over pedigree.
“Sheila’s Star is not the most perfect mare in front, but she doesn’t seem to put that into her progeny,” McEvoy said. “Hanseatic is an exciting mating for her because I like that Street Boss-Snitzel cross, but it was primarily a physical mating that would suit her, rather than being a deep dive into the pedigree benefits.”
