Cover image courtesy of The Image is Everything
Every breeder hopes to one day turn out a stakes horse that performs at the highest level, and this past weekend presented one opportunity for that elusive Group 1 in the Black Caviar Lightning down the Flemington straight. To Anthony and Kristen Evans, who own HP Thoroughbreds, Saturday afternoon racing this week brought more than just a big win; it was a dream come true.
Tucked away in Hilldale on the edge of the Hunter Valley, the family behind the boutique operation followed their standard ritual whenever Skybird (Exosphere), a 4-year-old mare with the H P brand displayed on her left shoulder, is running and gathered around the television to tune in. Anticipation was at an all-time high.
The previous week at the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale - the same sale that they sold Skybird through three years ago - the team caught up with Mitch Freedman, Skybird’s trainer, who had entered the mare for her third tilt at a Group 1.
“Mitch said, ‘she is absolutely flying. She can do this’,” Kristen Evans recalled when speaking to The Thoroughbred Report. “So we had the confidence in her.”
Skybird, winner of the G1 Black Caviar Lightning Stakes | Image courtesy of The Image is Everything
Confidence is absolutely necessary. Horses don’t run in Group 1 races just to go around, and Skybird had already proved herself capable of firing at that level; she already had two Group 2 wins to her name and, as a spring 3-year-old, she ran third in the G1 1000 Guineas, roaring from the rear of the field to be beaten 2.5l by Joliestar (Zoustar). In her only other punt at the top level, she finished ninth in the G1 The Goodwood, but a victorious Benedetta (Hellbent) was only 2.8l out in front, with second-placed Stretan Angel (Harry Angel {Ire}) just 0.2l behind.
Could it be third time lucky?
Lightning strikes
The shadow of the Lightning loomed large over the Flemington race card on Saturday, and with good reason. Fillies have dominated the running for the previous 15 editions of the race, stretching back to when Black Caviar (Bel Esprit) herself took it out on three consecutive occasions, but when colts have won, they have been particularly special animals. Coolmore Stud’s Home Affairs won the 2022 edition - as did champions Fastnet Rock, Choisir, and Testa Rossa - and Coolmore yet again fronted up to the race with a serious stallion prospect in Switzerland (Snitzel). Flanking him would be the big guns from Yulong and Godolphin; Growing Empire (Zoustar) and Traffic Warden (Street Boss {USA}).
A neat little dark brown mare who hadn’t won a race shorter than 1200 metres may have been a little overlooked.
“As they (the runners) went out, the commentators were saying, ‘15 colts and geldings have won this race since 2000’, and I was just thinking, ‘oh, come on, girl, you can do it’,” Evans said.
The 2025 G1 Black Caviar Lightning Stakes field racing down the Flemington straight | Image courtesy of The Image is Everything
Coolangatta (Written Tycoon) and Imperatriz (I Am Invincible) captured the last two editions of the Lightning, both on firm Good 3 tracks, but a wet summer and storms throughout the day had rendered the Flemington turf a Soft 7 - a fact that did not slow Skybird down. If anything, the mare dug her toes a little deeper into the soil when a gap opened in the field and she launched in the closing stages of the 1000-metre contest, streaking past the leaders to cross the line first.
Evans had to quote Freedman, “what a horse!”
Stretan Angel gained herself another Group 1 placing when 1l behind - then Benedetta came home third, a further 1.75l away and just a nose in front of the favourite Switzerland, completing a trifecta for the mares. The might of the rest of the field thundering home behind Skybird - G1 Doomben 10,000 winner Mazu (Maurice {Jpn}), G1 Everest runner-up Growing Empire, multiple Group 1-placed Traffic Warden - is not lost on Evans.
“To watch her race against that calibre of horses and then just put them away, and win - it was literally a dream come true,” she said. “Mitch Freedman has done an amazing job with her. He has her looking amazing. The stable staff, the effort, and everything that they've done is just incredible. We’re feeling extremely lucky.”
Mating for success
Skybird’s dam, Real Desire (Wanted) has a special place in the Evans’ hearts. She had been a maiden winner on the track before Evans purchased her online in early 2017 with an Unencumbered filly foal at foot for $18,000, but her pedigree has a little intrigue hiding in it. Her dam Forest Finch (Waajib {Ire}) was a winner of three, but more impressively is a half-sister to 10-time winner and stakes performer Captain Bax (Snippets) and Snippets’ Lass (Snippets), dam of Hinchinbrook, Viennese (Redoute’s Choice), and Champion Sire Snitzel.
“Anthony (Evans) said, ‘I would like to put her to Exosphere’,” Evans recalled. “Real Desire isn’t a huge mare, but she is extremely strong, a lovely type of mare. Anthony thought it would be a great match. Exosphere’s race record spoke for itself, and it was off a modest service fee, which was great for us.”
In 2017, the late Exosphere stood at Darley for $27,500 inc GST, awaiting his first foals after a glittering career on the track where he won a G1 Golden Rose. His only defeat as a spring 3-year-old was finishing fourth in Japonisme’s (Choisir) G1 Coolmore Stud Stakes. And - importantly for Kristen - he was a son of Lonhro.
The late Lonhro | Image courtesy of Darley
“I’d always loved Lonhro,” she said. “He has always been my dream horse - watching him race is what got me into racing. We couldn’t afford to go to him, so we decided to go for a son.”
“I’d always loved Lonhro, he has always been my dream horse - watching him race is what got me into racing. We couldn’t afford to go to him, so we decided to go for a son.” - Kristen Evans
Real Desire’s first foal by Exosphere was a colt, who would be named Forged after selling at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in 2020 for $280,000 to Hawkes Racing. In 2022, he became HP Thoroughbreds’ first metropolitan winner.
“I was able to buy back into the horse after we'd sold him, and we raced him for a while,” Evans said. After injury curtailed Forged’s career, he was able to retire to his birthplace. “Now he lives out his days here, and I will have him forever.”
The late Exosphere | Image courtesy of Oaklands Stud
Later in 2020, Real Desire would deliver her second Exosphere foal - a little filly that would win a Group 1. Last spring, Real Desire delivered a colt by another son of Lonhro, Pierro, and visited his barn fellow, Home Affairs.
“She has a colt who is just stunning, he’s very athletic,” Evans said. “He’s only a weanling at the moment, but we have high hopes for him.
“We have had the opportunity now to go to that better calibre of stallion for Real Desire, and she deserves it. We have seen what she can produce with Skybird. She deserves to go to the best.”
Into a good stable
A modest draft of nine yearlings represented HP Thoroughbreds at the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale in 2022. Buoyed by her full brother’s metro win in January, only a few short weeks before the sale, as well as the exploits of close relation Private Eye (Al Maher), Skybird was a popular filly. At the time, Exosphere had three stakes winners from four modest-sized crops of racing age, led by Godolphin homebred filly Thermosphere, who won the G2 Edward Manifold Stakes.
“She didn't spend much time in her box, she was just incredible,” Evans said. “She just had a great walk on her. She was so chill - she just took everything in her stride. Nothing seemed to bother her when we took her down to the sales.”
Anthony Evans with a yearling | Image courtesy of HP Thoroughbreds
A filly like that caught the eye of Victorian-based Freedman, and she went home with him for $110,000.
“We knew we had a nice horse, bred off of a modest service fee. We were really happy with the result from that sale, and we were happy to get her into a good stable. The results speak for themselves.”
Freedman and the Evans have kept in touch - while the Evans didn’t remain in the ownership of Skybird, they have shared in her success every step of the way, and make sure they are home to watch her every race. They were at home to cheer her over the line in the G2 Fillies Classic and the G2 Tobin Bronze Stakes, just as they were for the Lightning on Saturday.
Mitch Freedman | Image courtesy of The Image is Everything
“I heard that Mitch was there with all of his family yesterday (Saturday),” Evans said. “The kids were involved, the grandparents, the whole family. Everyone's involved in her. She’s always been a family heart horse to us and she is to them as well.”
She is certain that there are further heights for Skybird to climb.
“I'm sure that Mitch and the team can definitely get her to win more (Group 1s). They deserve all the success and accolades that are coming their way. Mitch has been fantastic. The team contacted me yesterday and congratulated us for breeding a Group 1 winner. They're an amazing stable to be a part of.”
The greatest feeling
Sales season is still in full swing, but there is an extra spring in the step of everyone at HP Thoroughbreds this week.
“A race like that, it's just an amazing result for our small farm, and for my beautiful mare,” Evans said. “We're just extremely grateful to watch something like that with my two kids. It was life changing.”
Anthony and Kristen Evans with their children | Image courtesy of HP Thoroughbreds
The farm experienced another stellar sale at Inglis Classic last week, selling a Pinatubo (Ire) colt out of five-time winner Parraay (Excites) for $380,000 to Magus Equine. The Evans bred the colt, who was the sixth most expensive lot sold at the 2025 renewal, in partnership with their good friend Lucas Miller.
“With all the success and everything that has come from the farm recently, it just goes to show that racing is for everyone, and with some hard work and dedication, you will succeed," Evans said. "Skybird never lets us down. It was an absolutely amazing feeling to wake up this morning knowing that we had bred a Group 1 winner.”
