Cover image courtesy of Ashlea Brennan
Written by Kristen Manning
Back in the spring, TTR AusNZ ran a feature on the background of Joliestar (Zoustar) - her trainer, owners and vendors all expressing great confidence in the filly who had just won the G1 1000 Guineas. Fast forward to the autumn and the 3-year-old again has everyone excited.
“One of the nicest horses I've ever seen,” renowned judge Henry Plumptre told her owners, Cambridge Stud's Brendan and Jo Lindsay.
“All quality, Nefertiti, Cleopatra - whatever you want to call her... as good a filly as I've ever seen, an absolute superstar,” enthused Segenhoe Stud's Peter O'Brien.
High praise indeed and it looks justified on the back of Joliestar's extra smart win in last weekend's G2 Arrowfield Sprint at Randwick.
Having her first run since her Classic success at Caulfield in mid-November, the Chris Waller-trained bay settled nicely back in the field for Jamie Kah, taking the gaps when they came to take over from the 300-metre - finding plenty over the final stages.
“She was fresh today and quite strong,” Kah told the media.
“She just overdid it a touch so it was a really, really good win.”
“I thought that she'd be better over further, but she feels like a sprinter - she's got a really sharp foot.”
“I thought that she'd (Joliestar) be better over further, but she feels like a sprinter - she's got a really sharp foot.” - Jamie Kah
Chris Waller was full of praise for Joliestar, already labelling her “a star.”
“She did it as a 3-year-old in the spring,” he reported post-race, “and has come back and probably gone to a new level - racing quicker over shorter and beating the boys.”
“She (Joliestar) did it as a 3-year-old in the spring... and has come back and probably gone to a new level - racing quicker over shorter and beating the boys.” - Chris Waller
X-rayed after her spring campaign, Joliestar was found to have a small bone chip, one which was not bothering but which connections thought of as a case of 'better out than in.'
Precautionary post-campaign x-rays are carried out on Cambridge horses (and many others) - this process in the news recently regarding the retirement of I Am Invincible's star daughter Imperatriz - and further tests have been conducted since Saturday.
With good news: “clean as a whistle!”
Joliestar, winner of the G2 Arrowfield Sprint at Randwick on Saturday | Image courtesy of Ashlea Brennan
Bart Cummings always liked to send horses to a break when they still had more to give and Joliestar heads to the paddock after just that one run with Plumptre having a good look at the Queensland carnival and, “not finding anything that jumped out for her.”
Which he was not at all disappointed about, looking forward and “focusing on the spring.”
A thought-process shared by Chris Waller who said, “we are looking after her now - and we will see some great things from her as a 4-year-old, it is pretty good to think about it and dream.”
Almost a perfect score
Joliestar, a daughter of Jolie Bay (Fastnet Rock) is a horse who has had people in her fan club from day one, Peter O'Brien noting that “she stood herself out from the time she was foaled.”
“She was quite nuggety when she was young, a lot of her dam's foals can be like that, but when she got to the spring she just blossomed.”
“We were originally thinking of the Magic Millions for her but she started to grow and lengthen we decided to give her that extra time for the Inglis Easter Sale.” She was secured by Cambridge Stud for $950,000, with Plumptre smitten from the first time he saw her.
Joliestar as a yearling | Image courtesy of Inglis
“I was with Henry the first time he inspected her and I remember him turning to me and saying 'this is the best filly I've seen since Probabeel'," said O'Brien.
Plumptre remembers that too and is still happy to enthuse about Joliestar's quality.
“About once every 10 years you see a yearling which just stands out, providing a 'must have' moment. I give all of my final list a mark out of 10, and I have had only three fillies at 9.5 in 30 years.”
“About once every 10 years you see a yearling which just stands out - providing for a 'must have' moment. I give all of my final list a mark out of 10, and have had only three fillies (Merlene, Probabeel and Joliestar) at 9.5 in 30 years.” - Henry Plumptre
“Merlene and Probabeel - who was knocked down to David Ellis but who was purchased by Cambridge soon after - were two, and Joliestar was the other.”
“It is a subjective process but they are the only ones to get that ranking.”
And so it was a very happy group of people in Joliestar's life story who were cheering her on last weekend, O'Brien laughing as he told us of the reaction as he cheered on from a rugby club.
Peter O'Brien | Image courtesy of Inglis
“I screamed so loudly that people thought a fight was going on!”
Which is reminiscent of the day Joliestar won the 1000 Guineas, a day in which Segenhoe's Vicky Haggar who worked with her as a young horse was lining up for a musical festival, watching the race on her phone.
“She was so loud that they nearly didn't let her in!” O'Brien said.
“Joliestar is her favourite horse, in fact she can't even talk about her without crying!”
Granddaughter of a special mare
She is also a favourite, as you may have guessed, of O'Brien's - who also has a major soft spot for her dam Jolie Bay who won the G2 Roman Consul S. for her owners and breeders Chris and Jane Barham.
A daughter of their first horse, the G3 Sweet Embrace S.-winning Legally Bay (Snippets), Jolie Bay has a personality that O'Brien is full of admiration for.
“What Jolie Bay wants, Jolie Bay gets!” he said, adding that “the good mares have a uniqueness about them.”
“What Jolie Bay wants, Jolie Bay gets! The good mares have a uniqueness about them.” - Peter O'Brien
Whilst Jolie Bay's first few foals, including the stakes-placed city winners Emperor (I Am Invincible) and God Of Thunder (More Than Ready {USA}), inherited their dam's temperament, as has her latest filly by Zoustar, Joliestar was always that bit different.
“She has always had a beautiful attitude, absolutely bombproof - you could lead her on a string,” O'Brien said.
Declaring that he “truly loves her,” when talking about Joliestar, O'Brien said that she signifies the reasons he got into breeding in the first place.
Connections of Joliestar after victory in the G2 Arrowfield Sprint | Image courtesy of Ashlea Brennan
“All I ever dreamed about was being involved with high quality mares and yearlings, so it is hard to put into words what is like watching a horse like Joliestar win.”
Joliestar is the fifth foal produced by Jolie Bay and all of her progeny to race so far are winners, the Barhams having in work her full sister Legacy Bay in work with Peter Moody and Katherine Coleman.
And now she is, much to O'Brien's excitement, one of the 17 Segenhoe-based mares who were part of Anamoe's first harem.
“He is an Adonis!” he said of that nine-time Group 1 winner, “and we are really looking forward to that foal.”
Anamoe | Standing at Darley
Likely to visit Zoustar again this spring, Jolie Bay is part of a great recent run for Fastnet Rock mares; the progeny of his daughters winning 25 stakes races since the start of the year.
Jolie Bay is one of the seven winners (from nine to race) for Legally Bay whose dual Group 1-winning son Merchant Navy is a resident of Kooringal Stud. By his sire Fastnet Rock she also produced the Listed winner Setanta and this is the family of Darley's young stallion Paulele.
Joliestar's latest win came on the same day as G1 Queen Of The Turf success for Zougotcha who is bred on the same cross; by Zoustar out of a Fastnet Rock mare. They are two of the six stakes winners (from 40 winners/49 runners) bred this way and also of note in regards to Joliestar's pedigree is her cross of the terrific mare Best In Show (USA) (Traffic Judge {USA}) - fourth dam of Zoustar's dam sire Redoute's Choice and grandam of Try My Best (USA) whose son Last Tycoon (Ire) is Legally Bay's dam sire.
