Cover image courtesy of Racing Photos
Caulfield: G3 Manfred S., $200,000, 1200m
First-up off consistent spring form, the talented and speedy Brave Mead (Brave Smash {Jpn}) was always in control of this Group 3 contest.
A winner at Listed level in March last year, the son of Yarraman Park’s dual Group 1-winning stallion (his first stakes winner) has raced 10 times - winning four races and finishing in the placings on a further five occasions.
Bred by the AB Breeding Venture, Brave Mead is one of two stakes winners for the city winner Mead (Galileo {Ire}), also dam of the Listed Geelong Classic winner Solemn (Bernardini {USA}).
Paying a return visit to Brave Smash (Jpn) last spring, Mead had not had much luck at her two previous seasons at stud with her most recent foal being the $130,000 Magic Millions graduate Aemelius (Hellbent), a yet to race 2-year-old member of the Annabel Nesham stable.
Grandam of last year’s G3 Gloaming S. winner Raf Attack (NZ) (Satono Aladdin {Jpn}), Mead is a half-sister to the G1 Australasian Oaks winner La Volta (Laranto) whose grandson Mighty Boss (Not A Single Doubt) won the G1 Caulfield Guineas.
Brave Mead can also boast amongst his relations the Group winners Coastwatch (Fastnet Rock), Catch A Fire (Sebring) and Seaburge (Sebring).
G3 Blue Diamond Preview (Fillies), $200,000, 1000m
Putting in the big strides late, Hayasugi (Royal Meeting {Ire}) showed the benefits of race experience as she overhauled the well-supported debutant Tobeornottobe (Pierata).
A Cranbourne jump-out winner since running well in a couple of nice races over the spring, the bay was bred by MJ O’Donnell and Austramore and sold by Fairhill Farm to James Bester and C Mok for $47,500 at the 2022 Inglis Australian Weanling Sale.
She is a member of the debut crop of her handsome Leneva Park-based, G1 Criterium International-winning sire - and she is his first winner from amongst his first four runners.
Her unraced dam China Road (Commands) has also produced the nine-time winner Dynastic (Love Conquers All) and the four-time winner Never Say Nay (No Nay Never {USA}) who are both city-placed.
Served last spring by Jacquinot and Royal Meeting, China Road has not had a great deal of luck in recent years with Hayasugi being her most recent foal.
China Road is a half-sister to the stakes-placed, multiple city winner Bejewelled (Anabaa {USA}) out of a half-sister to the Group 3 winners Alert Me (Genghiz {USA}) and Techniques (Palace Music {USA}) who is in turn dam of the Listed Black Opal S. winner You’re Canny (Canny Lad).
Bred on the same Invincible Spirit (Ire)/Canny Lad cross as I Am Invincible, Hayasugi can also count amongst her relations the Group 1 gallopers With Me (Covetous), Accomplice (Canny Lad) and Ugo Foscolo (NZ) (Zacinto {GB}).
Listed Blue Diamond Preview (Colts and Geldings), $200,000, 1000m
A stand-out in the parade ring, the expensive colt High Octane (Deep Field) ran up to his looks - doing a bit wrong over the final stages but still looking to have a bit in hand recording an impressive debut victory.
Bred by Segenhoe and sold by them to the China Horse Club, Newgate, Go Bloodstock and Trilogy for $1.05 million at last year’s Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale, he is the 27th stakes winner for his retired sire.
His dam is the dual Listed winner Granny Red Shoes (Not A Single Doubt), daughter of another Listed winner in Shoboard (Show A Heart) from the family of the New Zealand Group 1 winner Star Satire (NZ) (Volksraad {GB}).
Served last spring by Dundeel (NZ) after foaling a colt by Capitalist, Granny Red Shoes has a yearling colt by Zoustar who goes through this year’s Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale as Lot 51.
High Octane is the sixth winner (from seven runners) by Deep Field out of a mare carrying a strain of that stallion’s relation Kaapstad (NZ) - a cross of the famed matriarch Eight Carat (GB) (Pieces Of Eight {Ire}) the result.
Listed WJ Adams S., $175,000, 1000m
Having his first run since the spring, the South Australian galloper Queman (Mint Lane {USA}) wrote his name into G1 Oakleigh Plate calculations with this smart win - his eighty from 20 starts and his first at stakes level.
The homebred for the Smith family is the third stakes winner for his Group 2-winning sire (a son of Maria’s Mon {USA}) who last served mares in 2019. A descendant of the legendary Pretty Polly (GB) (Gallinule {GB}), he never had big groups of mares visit him, but he has been represented by 68 winners amongst his 117 runners.
Queman is the first live foal produced by the lightly raced Strathalbyn maiden winner Langreen (Clangalang) who was also bred and raced by the Smiths. Not served every year, she visited Peltzer last spring with her previous foal a 2022 born filly by Denman.
Langreen is one of the four winners (from as many named foals) for the city-placed winner Nilreen (General Nediym) whose metropolitan-winning son General Mint is also by Mint Lane.
Nilreen is a granddaughter of the Listed winner Fashion Fun (Arch Sculptor {GB}), dam of the Listed winner Stitches (Alzao {USA}) and grandam of the Macau-based dual stakes winner Club House (Genuine {Jpn}).
Queman boasts a cross of the high-class broodmare La Mirambule (Fr) (Coaraze {Fr}) via her feature racing winning sons Nasram (USA) and In The Purple (Fr).
Listed John Dillon S., $175,000, 1400m
Reaffirming his liking for Caulfield, Ayrton (NZ) (Iffraaj {GB}) dug deep to record his third stakes win at the track.
One of the 96 stakes winners for his former shuttling Dalham Hall Stud-based sire, Ayrton is one of the three winners (from as many named foals) for the unraced Odessa (NZ) (Falkirk {NZ}) whose dam is the Listed Canterbury Belle S. winner Sabbatical (NZ) (Bakharoff {USA}).
Sabbatical - whose dam Secunda (Acidity) won the G3 Debutante S. - is the grandam of another stakes winner by Iffraaj (GB) - the G3 Rotorua S. winner Francesa (NZ).
Bred by G J Mccarthy who remains in the ownership, Ayrton was passed in at the 2019 New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka Yearling Sale (Book 2) Sale when prepared by Leanach Lodge.
Sadly Odessa, a half-sister to the G3 Eulogy S. winner Monterey Bay (NZ) (Kaapstad {NZ}) died in 2019.
Ayrton's grandsire Zafonic (USA) is bred on the same Mr Prospector (USA)/The Minstrel (Can) cross as Odessa who is herself line-bred to The Minstrel.
Warwick Farm: Listed Australia Day Cup, $200,000, 2400m
Proving his Listed January Cup win in smart time no fluke, Naval College (GB) (Dartmouth {GB}) was again in determined winning form.
Bred by The Queen and purchased by Sackvillle Donald for 185,000gns (AU$374,500) at the 2022 Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale, Naval College is the first stakes winner (from limited runners) for his Shade Oak Stud-based, four-time Group-winning sire, a son of Dubawi (Ire).
His stakes-placed dam Sequence (Ire) (Selkirk {USA}) is out of the Irish Champion 3-Year-Old Stayer Sinntara (Ire) (Lashkari {GB}) - ancestress of another eight stakes winners including her star son Sinndar (Ire) whose four wins at Group 1 level include the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and the Epsom and Irish Derbies.
This is a family which has already enjoyed success in Australia with the Group 1-placed Sikandarabad (Ire) (Dr Fong {USA}) winning the Listed Mornington Cup Prelude in 2019.
Naval College is - as is Mr Prospector (USA) to whom Dartmouth is line-bred - a descendant of the influential matriarch Frizette (USA) (Hamburg {USA}).
Launceston: Listed Launceston Guineas, $125,000, 2100m
Looking to be in trouble approaching the home turn, Bold Soul (NZ) (Embellish {NZ}) proved favourite supporters right as he impressively gathered up his rivals in just a few strides - storming home from the rear.
Bred by Te Keeti Bloodstock and sold by them to H.N Auret for NZ$20,000 in Book 2 at the 2022 New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka Yearling Sale, the promising 3-year-old is the first stakes winner (another three of his first 10 winners from 32 runners are stakes placed) for his Cambridge Stud-based, G1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas-winning sire, a son of Savabeel.
He is the first winner for the retired broodmare Twin Soul (Ire) (Singspiel {Ire}) whose dam is a half-sister to the G1 Dubai Duty Free winner Right Approach (GB) (Machiavellian {USA}) and to the dam of the South American two-time Group 1 winner Victor Security (Arg) (Stormy Atlantic {USA}).
Bold Soul hails from the same branch of the internationally prolific Feola (GB) (Friar Marcus {GB}) family as the great stallion Deep Impact (Jpn) who shares the same fourth dam - Highlight (GB) (Borealis {GB}) as Twin Soul.
Also from this family is Round Table (USA), dam sire of Sir Tristram (Ire) to whom Embellish is line-bred 3 X 4.
