The Premier Sale includes two recommended matings, both colts. One is by Darci Brahma ex Showileo and the other a son of O’Reilly out of the Group 2 winner Star Affair. The Darci Brahma colt is a standout in terms of athleticism and I’m thrilled by the recent progress of the Danehill – Sadler’s Wells cross, Frankel being the star. The O’Reilly comes from another rock-solid family; he is a good type with an outstanding temperament. Star Way mares are always something of a challenge to mate but this one has already produced a colt and a filly by O’Reilly which have been well received in the sale ring and are showing promise in the early stages of their careers.

The Select Sale features colts by Falkirk – Baci, Bachelor Duke – Lady Cherokee, Magic Albert – Quiet Please, Strategic – Sotela and Iffraaj – Straight Lake.

The Falkirk mating had a significant conformation aspect to it; Baci is a chunky mare and Falkirk was suggested as a stallion which should provide more scope whilst retaining the mare’s speed.

Lady Cherokee is by Cherokee Run from a superb family. Cherokee Run has had mixed success as a broodmare sire but he crosses well with two stallions in particular – Seattle Slew and Mr.Prospector; Bachelor Duke has both these influences close up.

The Magic Albert and Strategic colts were in utero when their dams were purchased by clients; in both cases I felt that the unborn foals contributed significantly to the value of the packages.

As regards Iffraaj, there seems to be a very strong likelihood that his stock will represent good value. Last year his yearlings brought ridiculous prices; now that his second NH crop has not done as well as his first, the market will no doubt over-react. Buyers should remember that Iffraaj was a much better racehorse as a 4YO and a 5YO than he was in his younger days.

The Select fillies are by Pentire ex Eyes Light Up, Thorn Park – Lady Cavalier and Pins – Sheza Gem.

The Pentire is bred on the highly successful Tudor Minstrel – Star Kingdom nick with some strong Djebel influences thrown in. This is a consistent family which has produced some smart fillies over the years.

Consistency is also a major attraction of the Thorn Park filly’s family. The dam was only narrowly beaten at Group 1 level and the sire was selected to inject just a little more class into the pedigree.

The Pins mating for Sheza Gem was an obvious way of reinforcing the key Star Kingdom and Northern Dancer elements of her pedigree. It never pays to ignore the obvious.

Finally, in the Festival catalogue there are the Don Eduardo – Prangelica and the Perfectly Ready – Superbly Bred colts, both very strong matings. The former pedigree imitates that of the classy stayer All In Black; the latter is a mirror pedigree featuring some of the leading stallions and female families of thoroughbred breeding.

Incidentally, photos of the Magic Albert, Don Eduardo, Perfectly Ready and Pins yearlings can be viewed on the Totara Park Stud website.

Please feel free to contact me if you’d like further information on the above yearlings.

The Ishiguru – Poacher’s Prize (Prized) filly was selected as one of the top-ranking lots in the 2010 Festival Sale and was purchased by Donna Logan for $9000. Donna has used this Cloughmore service for several years and it has helped her to buy a steady stream of winners at very reasonable prices.

Another graduate of the same Festival Sale is the highly promising Falkirk filly Special Draw. The daughter of Summer Nymph did not make my original list but, as sometimes happens, a client phoned me saying that she was a particularly nice type and was there anything wrong with her pedigree? He also provided me with a key piece of information which completely dispelled a concern that I originally did have about the pedigree page. I was able to assure him that, in my opinion, he could proceed with confidence to bid on the filly. Incidentally, Special Draw’s pedigree has strong similarities to that of Durham Town.

(Clients who purchase a buyers’ guide for a sale are very welcome to any additional advice about any lot in that sale. This advice is available at no extra cost.)

The other exciting thing about these sales is that they contain the results of some of our recommended matings. This year there are 12 such yearlings: 2 in the Premier, 8 in the Select and 2 in the Festival.

In my next article I will focus on these yearlings. They include colts by O’Reilly, Darci Brahma, Falkirk, Bachelor Duke, Magic Albert, Strategic, Iffraaj, Don Eduardo and Perfectly Ready. The fillies are by Pentire, Thorn Park and Pins.

And for those of you following the Lucario story from my previous article – yes, he did run again yesterday at Ballarat and, yes, he did win again. Unfortunately his race was scheduled at the same time as some minor greyhound event so none of us got to see him in action.

In yesterday’s edition of the Manawatu Standard there was a short article about the impressive Awapuni winner, Nashville. The writer referred to the gelding being by Darci Brahma out of the Royal Academy mare Royal Kiss. That sounded familiar so I went to the filing system and it all came back to me.

I also remembered many interesting conversations I had with the late Bob Tait on the subject of breeding thoroughbreds. One such conversation involved Bob’s determination to send a mare to the first-season sire Darci Brahma. Should he send Royal Kiss or Key of Future? On analysing their pedigrees it became apparent that both mares would suit the son of Danehill very well indeed; I wrote to Bob and commented that “both appear to be excellent matings”. The Royal Kiss mating could “produce a racehorse with real brilliance”.

I am normally quite conservative in the way I phrase recommendations but this mating did appear to be somewhat special as it contained what I regarded as at least four major nicks. There certainly was a degree of inbreeding but the nicks were the key point I raised in my letter. It is going to be very interesting indeed to follow Nashville’s progress: if he turns out as good as I suspect him to be, he’ll be a very handy point of reference for future recommendations. I’ve long been doubtful about the wisdom of slavish devotion to inbreeding; identfying successful crosses which work well with other successful crosses seems to make much more sense.

Very much on the same theory one of my own mares, Mi Minnie, had been sent to D’Cash. Her second foal by him contracted a virus in his first few months of life and when I went to inspect my colt he was so unimpressive that I decided that as soon as he was weaned I would give him away. He wasn’t worth the expense of entering him in a sale. One had to be realistic.

Well, Lucario has yet to run out of the money. The recipients of the gift horse did a great job of making him the best he could be and after three consecutive placings sold him to clients of top Australian trainer Mark Kavanagh. After a placing and a spell Lucario was entered for a 1400 metre maiden at Ballarat on Sunday. As you’ll imagine, I watched the race with mixed feelings. Still no oil painting, he nonetheless was one of those horses which you’d describe as “big enough if he’s good enough”. On this occasion he was clearly good enough and beat his nearest rival, an expensive Encosta de Lago colt, convincingly.

Hm!

Durham Town was a yearling selection after trainer Donna Logan phoned me to say that she’d seen an outstanding Falkirk colt. What did I think of the pedigree? It didn’t take too long to figure out that, putting aside the mare’s lack of racecourse performance, there weren’t any danger sigals in the pedigree. Even better, the Tale of the Cat – Sir Tristam cross plus some more Round Table and My Babu via Marju provided a highly arractive pedigree mix. The Group 1 Railway Handicap will be a significant step up from the Group 2 Concorde, but Durham Town does appear to have a touch of class about him.

Firejet was also asked to step up yesterday: in his case it was from a Moe R68 race to an open handicap, the $50,000 Traralgon Cup. This is not an event which traditionally stops the nation, but the favourite was a Group 2 winning son of Rock of Gibraltar and the Group 1 mare La Bella Dama so one could argue that there was some substance to the small field. Firejet scored a tough win, coming from well off the pace to narrowly defeat the public elect. As mentioned in my last article, Firejet is another successful example of the Tale of the Cat – Sir Tristram cross; he also appears to have scope for further improvement.

On the theme of improvement, our homebred Amigo’s performance at Ascot Park on Saturday represented just that. For the first time he handled a firm track and showed the ability to accelerate off a strong pace. He’s still a work in progress in terms of his racing manners but Daniel Bothamley rode him expertly to score a convincing win. Hopefully, the son of Mr Nancho and Antonella, a Bassenthwaite mare from the family of Scenic Shot, will develop into a handy stayer.

Best wishes for the Festive Season to all subscribers, casual readers and anyone who finds this site by accident. I’m off to read 1400 – odd pages of yearling catalogues; let’s hope I can find another Durham Town!

The product of a recommended mating, the Tale of the Cat gelding showed impressive acceleration over the final 150m to score a facile victory. He’s a son of SW Superjet and, although he has the challenging temperament typical of the mare’s progeny, he clearly has the ability to win races in much better company.

I’ve always liked the Tale of the Cat – Sir Tristram cross and it’s encouraging to see that other examples of the cross are also showing considerable ability. A case in point is the highly promising sprinter Durham Town (Falkirk – Durham Walk by Marju out of a Sir Tristram mare). On the subject of Falkirk, isn’t he doing well? He’s got three really good ones in Hong Kong – plus some progressive types at home.

Getting back to the headline, it’s always pleasing to surpass previous achievements. October was a record month, producing ten winners, but narrowly missing a couple of black-type victories has served to keep the feet on the ground. Rising Tide finished a game second in his first start in open company, the listed Feilding Cup, and his half-brother The Jungle Boy almost won the race that, as a breeder, I’d like to win more than anything else – the Group 3 New Zealand Cup. This was just three days after Comanche Gold’s chapter of accidents in the Coupland’s Mile (Group 2). Let’s hope he used up all his bad luck in the process!

On the subject of hope, the recent results of the Horses In Training Sale are a great confidence booster. It’s particularly encouraging that the sale is producing more consistent results across the whole catalogue; it’s a significant boost to breeders to be presented with another viable means of marketing their stock.

Certainly, Showcause – last season’s Mercedes Stayer of the Year – is a proven galloper but his run in The Bart Cummings last weekend held real promise for his Australian campaign. He appears to have been thrown into the Melbourne Cup with just 50.5 kg, but the downside of that is that he’s going to have to win something significant between now and the first Tuesday in November. If he can get a firm track he must have a serious chance of a win and that vital re-handicap.

Comanche Gold’s win at Riccarton on Saturday raises the question of just how good he is. One never wants to get too far ahead of oneself in racing but I was thrilled with his win. Until now he had appeared to be a little one-dimensional, all his wins having been from the front, but his finishing burst to beat a good field of sprinters was encouraging to say the least.

The previous day, Rising Tide clearly appreciated his return to Trentham and the distance of 2100m to score a tough win against an admittedly weak field of Rating 90 gallopers. This was his third win this preparation and it’s great to see our syndicate members enjoying the ride. He will be aimed at a R90 2200 event at Trentham’s Labour Weekend meeting.

Not to be outdone, our Shinko King gelding’s older half-brother The Jungle Boy scored a strong win at Whangarei last month. I note that he is a late nomination for the New Zealand Cup; he’s certainly got the pedigree to run a strong 3200.

On the subject of pedigrees, our mares are booked to Any Suggestion (Tuscany Rose) and Duelled (Sakura Cluden). Another mare may also be bred from but this does seem to be a season to go cautiously. Some studs are really meeting the market and deserve to be supported by breeders; if you know of any good deals that can be publicised, do let me know and I’ll put together another article in a few days.

It takes a good horse to step up from Rating 75 to Rating 90 but Comanche Gold handled the class rise with aplomb – not a bad effort for a horse having only his eighth start. It will be interesting to see where Graham Eade takes him next.

The Eades have done a great job with the horse which they race on lease. They also have another of my homebreds, a four year old Mr Nancho – Antonella gelding; a big horse, he is taking time but is showing promise at this stage.

Another winner for Cloughmore at the Grand National meeting was Super Glow, an impressive winner of the maiden hurdles on the middle day. Resulting from a recommended mating, he has always looked like a jumper and I wouldn’t be surprised if he went on to show good form over the bigger obstacles.

One of the attractions of the Riccarton meeting is the excellent stakes on offer – a reminder that it can be a profitable strategy to race your own horses or lease them instead of depending on the vagaries of the yearling sales market to get a return. With the Festival Sale being a buyers’ paradise and even the Select offering breeeders an excellent chance to lose large sums of money, I suspect that broodmare owners will increasingly look at alternative means of marketing their stock.

The recently announced stakes increase from 1 March 2012 was great news and offers breeders renewed hope of gaining a return from racing. However, indications that several of our Group races may well be downgraded to bring our racing in line with international standards was anything but welcome information. Why would you deliberately downgrade your product in tough financial times?

Yesterday’s Whangarei meeting featured the Whangarei Cup and the $30,000 final of the Aussie Butcher fillies and mares series. Both were won by brave front-running performances: Ace High – a recommended purchase as a yearling – won the Cup and Highlight – the result of a recommended mating for Northland breeder Terry Archer – narrowly defeated the hot favourite Cap Eden Roc in the latter event. Incidentally, Highlight is a grand-daughter of another Cloughmore recommended yearling purchase, the SW Jetball filly, Superjet.

However, there’s nothing like one of your own horses winning at a metropolitan track. Late in the day, our homebred Shinko King gelding Rising Tide lined up in the Rating 80 1600 event at Trentham. The half-brother to Auckland Cup winner Bodie had won his previous start, a Rating 70 2100 at Awapuni but had little trouble adjusting to the rise in class and reduction in distance. Aided by an excellent ride by Buddy Lammas, Rising Tide threaded his way though the field and accelerated impressively in the last 200 metres.

Shinko King is certainly one of our most consistent sires; if you’re looking to upgrade your mare and – like most of us – are operating on a restricted budget, he’s a horse that really ought to be on your short-list, especially if you’re breeding to race. It’s especially encouraging that he’s also making a promising start as a broodmare sire: the classy 3YO filly Shez Sinsational is out of one of his mares.

As we approach the breeding season, do feel free to get in touch to discuss your plans. For once, mare owners do appear to have the tactical high ground when negotiating stud fees.

Several previous attempts at 3200 metres for no result had understandably produced the impression that the game Pentire gelding (a Cloughmore recommended mating) would always find the maximum distance just 800 metres too far. Moreover, he had previously struggled to cope with weights in excess of 56kg over any distance. Today’s field was by no means a strong one, but having to sprint twice under the impost of 58kg – and giving 5kg to the proven 3200 performer Smoking Chimneys – might just suggest that Tinseltown may still have some chance of adding a more prestigious two mile event to his record.

Whilst on the subject of stayers, I’ve been just as thrilled with the recent form shown by our homebred The Jungle Boy (Jungle Pocket – Ballina Wave). His second placing in the Kiwifruit Cup (LR) a couple of weeks ago was especially notable as the track was certainly too heavy for him to show what he is really capable of. Incidentally, his younger half-brother Rising Tide is also showing staying promise.

One mare that appears to have obvious potential as a producer of stamina- oriented offspring is Sakura Cluden (Yamanin Vital). This three-win sister to Wellington Cup winner Cluden Creek is part-owned by Cloughmore. She has a weanling filly by Bachelor Duke and is currently in foal to Guillotine. This season, my partners and I would like to send her to Thorn Park with a view to selling the resulting foal as a yearling. We are keen to spread the cost somewhat and would like to invite readers of this article to join a breeding partnership to produce and market the foal. There will be no charge for the use of the mare.

After his tough win in a $10,000 maiden at Riverton on Anzac Day, I had hopes that my homebred Comanche Gold would be competitive at Riccarton yesterday. Some of his opposition were multiple winners but he again led all the way under a heady ride by Jamie Bates to record an emphatic victory. In spite of his uncommercial bloodlines (Hawkeye – Treadgold by Festal), he seems to have inherited the best aspects of both sides of his pedigree. He’s from the family of Dignity Dancer and Miss Bailey so he does boast some handy relatives.

Good fortune was also evident in Kakapuka’s victory in the time – honoured Great Western Steeples ($25,000). Another homebred, the 7g by Kilimanjaro – Antonella (Bassenthwaite) had shown little form until today and was a clear seventh favourite in the seven horse field. His win was certainly aided by the misfortunes experienced by some of the favoured runners; on the other hand, he did jump cleanly and showed commendable determination in the closing stages of the 105th renewal of the event.

On the theme of surprises of one sort or another, the results of last week’s National Weanling and Broodmare Sale at Karaka fit nicely. Having gone through the catalogue thoroughly, I thought that there were three nice, young, middle of the road mares on offer. All multiple winners, they brought a total of $1100 – and two of them had positive tests to stallions whose combined service fees total $14,000! Sure, the market was patchy but this was ridiculous. Let’s hope the purchasers do well with their bargain buys.