Written by Trent Masenhelder
Cover image courtesy of Ashlea Brennan
By his own admission, David Bentata is an “old school” breeder. He looks for value when choosing stallions for his mares, and, despite having success selling some of his stock at public auction, the longtime Hunter Valley breeder primarily breeds to race horses, not to “make the cash register ring”.
In 2005, he sent Yes She Can Cancan (Canny Lad), who was bred by Basil Nolan, before winning two races for Bentata, to Mossman. The resultant foal was a filly, who Bentata named Ofcourseican. In a 28-start career, Ofcourseican won eight times and ran 11 placings, amassing earnings of $794,295. She won three stakes races, including the G1 Coolmore Classic in 2012, and ran third in the 2012 G1 All Aged S. at her final start.
Ofcourseican when racing | Image courtesy of Sportpix
In 2007, Yes She Can Cancan was covered by More Than Ready (USA). She had a colt, which was named Gimmethegreenlight (SAf). He was offered at the 2009 Magic Millions National Weanling Sale, where he was bought by well-known South African owner Hassen Adams for $155,000. In 2012, he became the first 3-year-old in 42 years to win South Africa’s most prestigious weight-for-age race, the G1 Queen’s Plate. Gimmethegreenlight has since forged a career at stud, siring 2020 G1 Cantala S. winner Yulong Prince (SAf), as well as Group 1 winner Got The Greenlight (SAf).
In 2016, Ofcourseican produced a Pierro colt, who would be named Persan. The colt fetched $160,000 at the 2017 Magic Millions National Weanling Sale, with James Bester buying. Persan has gone on to win at Group 3 level and was third in last year’s G1 Caulfield Cup.
In 2018, Bentata sent Ofcourseican to Darley Australia resident Astern, and as the record shows, it’s proven to be a nice pairing, with the resultant foal, a filly named Cinderella Days, now a winner of three of her four starts.
The Joseph Pride-trained filly notched her third victory at Canterbury on Wednesday, leading throughout in the BM68 H.
Cinderella Days faced just three rivals in the 1250-metre event, but one of those was the highly rated Cool Kaap (American Pharoah {USA}), who was impressively on debut at Eagle Farm in June. On a track that was hard to make to ground on, the filly was never headed, scoring by 0.42l, with Cool Kaap second and Surfers Royale (Casino Prince) in third.
“You can’t ask for much more, she’s doing a good job,” Bentata told TDN AusNZ.
“I’ve been in the game a long time and it’s not easy to do (breed a winner).
“Hopefully she’s like the rest of the family and gets better like a good wine.”
“Hopefully she’s (Cinderella Days) like the rest of the family and gets better like a good wine.” - David Bentata
Bentata, who also bred Group 3 winner Doubtful Jack (Not A Single Doubt) and Zizou (Fusaichi Pegasus {USA}), a Listed winner and runner-up in both the Blue Diamond S. and Golden Slipper S. in 2007, said he inspects 30 to 40 stallions a year. He revealed he opted for Astern on this occasion because he was a quality colt with a lovely pedigree and represented good value.
“It was a good physical and he was in my price range,” he said.
“He’s having a good run of late.
“I’ve got no prejudice against those stallions that aren’t at the top of the market.”
Astern | Standing at Darley
Avdulla, who has ridden Cinderella Days at her past three starts, has, “no doubt she’s got a bright future”.
“It was never really in doubt. She just had to get through the ground; I tried to help her as much as possible,” he told Sky Racing post-race.
“Once she got control (of the race), it was just a matter of keeping her happy. She was losing concentration every furlong.”
Brenton Avdulla | Image courtesy of Ashlea Brennan
Cinderella Days is likely to head to the paddock, with Pride of the opinion she will be a better filly in the autumn.
“I’m very happy she’s won two out of three this time around,” said Pride.
“I’ll have a chat to David, but we spoke about it before the run that this will do her this time around; she’s doing a great job for us, she only had a very short let-up between her win at Newcastle and coming back to run again, so maybe a nice spring spell would be the best thing for her.”
He too was lavish in his praise of the 3-year-old.
“She’s a lovely filly, she’s got a real quality about her. She’s out of a Group 1-winning mare and when they’ve got that behind them, it gives you great confidence,” Pride explained.
“She’s (Cinderella Days) a lovely filly, she’s got a real quality about her. She’s out of a Group 1-winning mare and when they’ve got that behind them, it gives you great confidence.” - Joe Pride
“I think that’s a pretty strong field; looking at them in the enclosure, particularly that horses of Chris’ (Cool Kaap), he’s a pretty impressive-looking horse. I’d say he will go on with it.”
