'Thank God this filly is quiet because she’s too big to be naughty': Dance hopeful of Velvet's future

Cover image courtesy of Racing Photos

Exciting filly I Am Velvet (I Am Immortal) was wayward but still too classy for her opposition on Saturday at Caulfield. The Philip Stokes-trained 2-year-old maintained her unbeaten record, making it three wins from three in the $175,000 VOBIS Gold Ingot.

Co-bred by Darren Dance’s Esker Lodge Australia and partners, I Am Velvet is raced by Dance’s Australian Thoroughbred Bloodstock. A seasoned owner and breeder, Dance is hopeful about the filly’s prospects but also understands the realities of the industry and the chances of being involved in a Group 1 winner.

The Thoroughbred Report chatted with Dance about the daughter of Swettenham Stud’s first-season sire I Am Immortal and some of his broodmare band's plans for the upcoming season.

A bit of fun

I Am Velvet is the third foal out of the Domesday mare Black Velveteen. Bred by Darren Dance and his wife Liz, alongside B Stokes, P Larkin, P Brittain, and M Chouiefate, Black Velveteen was lightly raced, securing a win at Sandown-Lakeside before being retired.

“We bred I Am Velvet and raced her dam Black Velveteen. She only had four starts for Michael Kent but ran a ripping race at Sandown-Lakeside, where she won and posted a pretty good time” Dance explained.

“We thought we had a stakes horse on our hands, but she went in the wind, so she was retired. Normally, I wouldn’t keep a mare like Black Velveteen due to her moderate pedigree, but she was such a lovely animal and a good type.

“I decided to keep Black Velveteen and use her as a ‘breed to race mare’. The idea was to race all her progeny with our clients. Most of the clients who raced her stayed in, and we would have a bit of fun racing them rather than aiming them towards the yearling sales, as we had plenty of those types of mares.”

A+ for Invincible Spirit Line

Dance had an inkling the Invincible Spirit (Ire) sireline would click with Black Velveteen’s sire, Domesday. With that in mind, he set out to find a stallion or grandson of the Irish National Stud-based veteran.

Dance settled on Cable Bay (Ire), who was shuttling to Woodside Park Stud at the time. “I thought personally that the Invincible Spirit sireline across Domesday and Red Ransom was a good cross.

“I had been using Group 1 Goldmine for years, and I looked for the Invincible Spirit line and saw Cable Bay. He was only an hour up the road, and we got Tobaysure. He has recently been retired but won over $250,000.

“We went back to Cable Bay and ended up selling that yearling colt at the Inglis Premier Yearling Sale. The colt didn’t have much luck; from memory, he won a trial at Seymour but had a fatal injury before racing.

“The idea of selling was to try and square up with the money we were spending on service fees, but that didn’t work out in this case. So, I was then looking for another Invincible Spirit stallion and came across I Am Immortal.”

I Am Immortal was a precocious son of I Am Invincible, winning the G3 Blue Diamond Prelude (Colts and Geldings) and the Listed Blue Diamond Preview (Colts and Geldings). He was retired to Swettenham Stud, and his oldest runners are rising 3-year-olds.

He has made a promising start to his stud career, siring four individual winners, including the stakes-placed Immortal Star. I Am Immortal’s latest winner came on Monday at Albury, when the Gary Colvin-trained Southern Dancer broke her maiden.

“I Am Immortal was a pretty fast horse, good size. He obviously had a bit of talent and was standing at Swettenham Stud. He matched up well through that same cross. I went there and got I Am Velvet.”

It hasn’t been smooth sailing for Black Velveteen since foaling I Am Velvet. “So, we then went to Magna Grecia at Coolmore. The fetus got its foot around the umbilical cord and unfortunately slipped. It was just bad luck, not her fault, just bad luck.

“Black Velveteen got travel sickness and nearly died. We couldn’t get her in foal to Shalaa, who was at Arrowfield at the time. It cost us a fortune because we had to get her home over a three-day period with just short trips in the truck.

“Then Shalaa was moved to Woodside, just up the road. Once she had recovered, she was served by him and is in foal, but she’ll go back to I Am Immortal this year.”

Talent not obvious

Dance admits I Am Velvet’s talent wasn’t immediately obvious. “It wasn’t obvious. I bred two I Am Immortals that year, and the other one raced at Pakenham on Monday.

“They were both big foals, correct and athletic but big. I remember we used to say, ‘Thank God this filly is quiet because she’s too big to be naughty.’ But I Am Velvet was always quiet; her mum was like that.

“Nothing really showed. When they are running around the paddock, they are only foals and yearlings. She was always a little bit above herself out there and she was the boss of the weaners paddock.

“If she didn’t want to get caught, she didn’t get caught. She knew she was big, but I suppose now maybe she knew she was good?

“The first real inkling I got was from the pre-trainers: Steven and Amanda Hill, who operate a pre-training complex called Rosehill Park.

“Amanda actually said to me, ‘I want a share in this filly. She rides beautifully.’ That was unusual, as I’ve always got half-a-dozen in pre-training there and they’ve never asked me that question before.

“So, I thought she must be showing something. They don’t do any fast work, but obviously, they liked I Am Velvet and how she went about things. That was the first time I thought she might be alright, not that you take too much notice or get too ahead of yourself.”

1000 Guineas contender?

I Am Velvet was sent into training with the Pakenham-based trainer Philip Stokes. “He said to me we’ll give her a little preparation and tip her out. The next minute she had a trial and improved, so we repeated it and she went to the races at Pakenham and won first up.”

That maiden victory was followed by another success at Pakenham on the synthetic track before Caulfield’s romp.

“I’ve been in racing for 30 years and we know not to get too carried away. When Tobaysure won at Moonee Valley and started going well, I thought we might have a chance with the mare. We didn’t want to push I Am Velvet too hard early.

“We gave her some time before she started again, and it’s been amazing really. I Am Velvet will have a freshen up now. She’s back in the paddock and will probably have three weeks out there, then maybe a week or 10 days of dressage work just to get her to calm down a bit with the bridle.

“She’ll have a lead-up race to the Thousand Guineas Prelude and then we’ll just take it from there.”

Paddington on the list

Dance also shared some plans for other mares in his broodmare band. Proven mare Thai Noon (Ire) (Dansili {GB}), who is the dam of the G2 Peter Young S. winner Steinem (GB) (Frankel {GB}), also won the G3 Summoned S. and was third in the G1 Northerly S.

Thai Noon is in foal to Zoustar and set to head to Home Affairs. “Thai Noon, the dam of Steinem, is our number one ticket holder. She’s about to foal to Zoustar and she’ll go to Home Affairs.

“We were going to go to Too Darn Hot, but obviously he’s not coming back, so she’ll head to Home Affairs instead.”

Also in the Esker Lodge broodmare band is Sixtyfourth Street (Street Boss {USA}), a full sister to the Group 1 winner Elite Street. Her first foal is a rising 2-year-old by North Pacific named Pacific Paradise.

She is in foal to Farnan and set to return to the G1 Golden Slipper winner. “She’ll go back to Farnan. Golden Slipper winners rarely fail at stud, and I’m sure Gai (Waterhouse) and Adrian (Bott) will have quite a few Farnans up running early.

“I’ve also got a mare by Shamardal, who I bought in Ireland, named Mrs Bannock, who will go to Farnan. She’s got a 2-year-old by Camelot colt in work with the Hayes boys. She was served by Best Of Bordeaux, so we’ll just wait and see.”

Dance plans to send his Japanese-bred mare Rewrite The Stars (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}) to Windsor Park Stud’s shuttler Paddington (GB). The mare has a colt by Kizuna (Jpn) and was served by Anamoe last spring.

“Our other good mare Rewrite The Stars will head to New Zealand to visit Paddington. I bought her in Japan. We’ve got a Rulership from her with Lindsay Park and she’s got a Kizuna colt on the ground.

“She was served by Anamoe but is empty, and now we’re going to Paddington. We’ve cut back a bit, like everyone in the game, but we just want to breed some nice horses and continue to race them.”

Table: Mating overview of Esker Lodge's broodmare band