Entries Tagged 'Winners' ↓
January 1st, 2019 — Horse Racing, News, Winners
Yesterday’s win by the son of Super Easy was one of my biggest thrills in racing. As many readers will know, when you are convinced that you’ve got a really good horse the anxiety levels go through the roof. You worry about his inexperience, his ability to handle the Ellerslie noise and the sheer bad luck that can defeat any animal. You think about his previous start when he bumped the smart Spring Bouquet just short of the line and got himself relegated. Would he find another way to lose a race he really should win?
Thank goodness all went well. After being tightened for room at the 1200 and losing his position, he was steadied by Cameron Lammas and encouraged to relax and keep rolling along. In the straight he had to move sideways to take advantage of a gap – and looked more than a little awkward in doing so – but when through the gap off he went to the winning post in the style of a horse who is clearly looking for more ground.
Chris Gibbs, Michelle Bradley and their staff have done an outstanding job educating Ed. In his early days he showed a marked preference for doing things his way and he’s still very much a work in progress. However, their patience and persistence has paid off and I’m sure all my fellow owners are equally grateful.
Super Gee’s win was Cloughmore’s eighth success from just twenty starters over the last eighteen days. Also noteworthy was All In Mana’s explosive victory at Awapuni. The son of Rip Van Winkle and All In Black showed too much class for his R65 rivals and appears to have a bright future. Our homebred Riviera Rock also showed improvement with a four-length win over 2000 at Gore. Trained by Graham and Michael Eade, he cruised away from his opponents over the concluding stages and gave the impression that going over more ground was not going to concern him.
Best wishes to all readers for a happy and successful New Year
November 10th, 2018 — News, Value For Money, Winners
Those of you who read these posts regularly will no doubt recall the bitter-sweet nature of our connection with yesterday’s Riccarton stakeswinner, Dee and Gee.
A yearling purchase by Shaune Ritchie, the daughter of Darci Brahma and the Jungle Pocket mare Gabana was highly rated in my Karaka Sales Analysis of 2015. Our Cloughmore Racing Partnership happily bought into the filly, who looked exceptional value at her $16,000 purchase price.
Dee and Gee raced four times as a 3YO. Although she showed some promise she didn’t meet the requirements of a majority of her owners and was accordingly leased to the South Island. I’ve written before about the wisdom of not unloading a staying bred thoroughbred too quickly, especially if it’s a late foal, but there’s no point in re-opening old wounds.
Anyway, yesterday was her day. Masterfully ridden by Cameron Lammas, Dee and Gee led for the last 2000 metres of that time-honoured contest, the Canterbury Jockey Club’s Metropolitan Handicap, and was simply too good on the day. She will no doubt take her place in the field for next Saturday’s New Zealand Cup and here’s hoping that she does herself proud.
The untarnished bright side of all this is that Dee and Gee has given credence to the concept behind the Cloughmore Racing Partnership. Buying small shares in nicely-bred and competitively-priced yearlings certainly seems to be working. Apart from our two current 3YOs, my partners and I have bought into seven yearlings. One broke down as soon as it went into work, another wasn’t much good and two others were placed, both having leg problems which shortened moderately promising careers.
The other three yearlings developed into Candle In The Wind (G2 placed, $208,805), Rikki Tikki Tavi (Listed placed, $112,187) and now Dee and Gee (SW, $109,485).
The total purchase price of all seven yearlings came to $93,000. To date our purchases have returned $430,477, with hopefully more to come. We have minority shareholdings in all our horses, so none of us have become rich, but winning 16 races and making a profit on our initial investment has been a blast.
Incidentally, the two 3YOs are Sir Ralph (Iffraaj) and Super Gee (Super Easy). Together they cost $24,000; both have won two trials.
September 22nd, 2018 — Horse Racing, Winners
One of the joys of doing what I do is to be involved with winning a significant race on more than one occasion.
Recommended matings All In Fun, Bodie and Tinseltown all won the Rotorua Cup and I was hoping that today’s edition of the Listed Canterbury Belle Stakes would produce a third success in the race for Cloughmore. Brown Eyed Grace had been successful in 2009 and La Diosa in 2016; this year Emily Margaret (Pins-Seven Schillings) faced the starter and, after her effortless victory a fortnight ago, those hopes were high.
However, as befits a black type event, today’s field was much stronger. It featured impressive Showcasing filly Wekaforce and a number of other winners. Equally daunting was the fact that Emily Margaret had drawn the ace – never an advantage if you’re a back-runner in a capacity field.
I need not have worried. Jasmine Fawcett kicked the Kevin Hughes – trained filly out of the gates. Soon Wekaforce was outside her and the two three-year olds measured strides. At the top of the straight it appeared that Wekaforce was travelling more easily but when the pressure went on it was the Pins filly that finished the stronger to record a half-length victory.
Emily Margaret is clearly anything but a one-dimensional racehorse and appears likely to be well suited by the rigours of the 1600 metres of the Group 1 1000 Guineas. You’d suspect that she’d be happier settling back and saving energy before unleashing her powerful finishing burst, but it’s a relief to know that if she has to race on-pace (and how often do on-pace runners win Guineas races at Riccarton?) she is well capable of doing just that.
Let’s hope that she can emulate La Diosa and give her trainer that elusive Group 1 prize.
March 11th, 2018 — Horse Racing, News, Winners
Well, that was a pleasant surprise! If anyone had suggested a few months ago that our Tavistock mare would win two $50,000 1200 events on successive Saturdays at Ellerslie, I would have recommended a reality check.
We had never backed her up before but she looked better yesterday than she did seven days previously, so warmest congratulations are due to the Logan – Gibbs team for their skill in managing this considerable achievement.
I’ve written before (9 December) that at the end of her first campaign I had thought that she was just a horse, but it’s nice to be proven wrong. None of our Cloughmore Racing Partnership horses have ever shown sprinting ability until now, but this mare has wheels in abundance. She has a high cruising speed but also possesses the ability to accelerate over the final stages of her races. Last weekend she ran her final 600 in a slick 33.43; yesterday she returned 33.79 over the same distance, although she was wide and had to shift sideways twice.
Although by Tavistock, RTT (no, I still am not a fan of that name) is out of a Volksraad mare and does throw to that successful speed stallion. She’s bred on the same cross as four-time Group 1 winner Volkstok’N’Barrell and has a similar action to that remarkable galloper. Her second dam is by Zabeel, and if there’s one cross that constitutes a licence to print money at the moment it’s Tavistock x Zabeel.
So where to from here? RTT does lack size, if not heart, so if she’s going to win some black type it makes sense to get her into a nice race at the minimum weight. However, racing teaches all of us not to get ahead of ourselves so let’s just enjoy the moment.
I’m off to watch the video again.
January 2nd, 2018 — News, Winners
It may only have a six-horse maiden event at the Waiarapa New Year picnic meeting but the way he dispatched his rivals indicated that the son of Rip Van Winkle and the Don Eduardo mare All In Black has potential considerably above average.
Times never tell the whole story but All In Mana’s 1:22.61 compared very favourably with the slightly slower time returned by Maltese Ruby when she was successful in the following event, a R75 contest. It’s also worth noting that the mare carried 4.5kg less than did All In Mana and that he spent most of the 1400 journey traveling three wide without cover.
All In Mana is nominated for both the Levin Classic and the NZ Derby in March. He may struggle to gain a start in the former event but he is a horse to keep in mind for the Ellerslie Group 1 contest – especially if the track is rain-affected. My theory is that whatever he achieves on a firm track, he has a strong chance of surpassing it on rain-affected going. Have a look at his trial wins and you will see what I mean.
Anyway, Ellerslie owes us. I really did think that another recommended mating, Fully Funded, was a huge chance in the Railway Handicap. When he drew a decent barrier, I was seriously confident. But there’s something inherently unreliable about Auckland, isn’t there? Think the perennial rugby under-achievers, the Blues (now there’s a well-named team!) – and if you need some more evidence, what about the ill-named Warriors? All that talent and zip to show for it.
Moving on to more cheerful thoughts, I can confirm that I have almost completed this year’s Karaka Yearling Sales analysis. Book One is very strong; Books Two and Three not so much. I’m clearly going to have to re-structure the pricing of the analyses. If you’re interested, do feel free to get in touch.
November 26th, 2017 — Breeding Theory, News, Winners
That was impressive. Racing three wide for a good part of the journey and carrying 60kg against a useful field was not enough to stop the son of Fully Fledged from scoring his first black-type success in yesterday’s Counties Bowl. In doing so, he became Cloughmore’s 27th individual black-type winner and gave us our 60th stakes race victory.
Thinking back to when I advised successful breeder Kaye Sanders to send her Maroof mare Keshava to Fully Fledged, I recall that she told me that her mare was a one-paced but handy sprinter and we agreed that finding a stallion to impart a degree of class was clearly a priority. I had recently seen Fully Fledged (Align) at Fairdale Stud and had been impressed by his physique and his temperament. Racegoers will recall that as a 2YO he ran through the Trentham running rail and I suspect that many breeders remembered that incident and had doubts about using him as a stallion. The old prejudice against chestnuts also came to the fore, I’d imagine, together with the thought that possibly Align wasn’t entirely desirable as a sire of sires.
Anyway, I always had a soft spot for Align, having been associated with Donna Logan’s selection of the impressive but ill-fated Align to Infinity, and I had long-since developed a theory about breeding sprinters. As long as the dam was quick and came from a speedy family and provided that you didn’t lose that speed by selecting a stallion with significant and dominant stamina influences, you had a decent chance of producing a fast racehorse. How much class it had was another matter but, as always in breeding, you have to give yourself a chance.
Apart from the Northern Dancer duplications, the only significant cross which features in Fully Funded’s pedigree is the Grey Sovereign x Crepello nick, but it’s a cross for which I have a deep affection. As time has rolled on, these two stallions occur increasingly further back in pedigrees (obvious statement of the year), but when they turn up in the same pedigree page it always adds to the appeal of the animal concerned.
Let’s hope Fully Funded makes it to the Group 1 Railway Handicap on New Year’s Day and that he gets a decent draw.
September 23rd, 2017 — Breeding Theory, Horse Racing, News, Winners
Maybe Miami is becoming one of my all-time favourite gallopers. The son of Iffraaj and the Waikiki Star mare Miami was one of my selections for long-time client Kevin Hughes at the 2013 NZB Ready to Run Sale and I have followed his progress with more than usual interest. Yesterday’s win in the Open 1200 event at Riccarton was his ninth success from 28 starts and took his stakes winnings over the $200,000 mark. His success is also a timely reminder that you don’t have to pay a fortune at this sale to become the owner of a decent horse.
One of the things I really liked about Maybe Miami’s pedigree was the consistency throughout recent generations of his female family. When he went through the sale ring he was the eighth foal his dam had produced; six had raced and five had won. Most of the mare’s offspring had been by reasonably-performed but not top-class stallions and most of them had been multiple winners. To me, this sort of consistency indicates two things: such a mare can produce sound racehorses and these animals have at least reasonably adequate temperaments. The pedigree was nicely balanced, with duplications of Mr Prospector, Northern Dancer, Princequillo and Dr Fager; the last-named was a brilliant USA sprinter whose influence remains strong to this day. As an added bonus, Miami traced directly to the wonder mare La Troienne.
Clearly, there was potential here. My homework also told me that the brown colt had been sold by NZB at their Select Yearling sale earlier in 2013 for $31,000 and I therefore assumed that his value at the RTR sale would be in the $40,000 to $50,000 range. When Kevin called me and let me know that he had been the successful bidder on Lot 117 for a mere $20,000, I was as thrilled as he was.
As you will imagine, I’m looking forward to the Group 2 Couplands Mile at the CJC’s NZ Cup meeting with more than usual interest. Apart from Maybe Miami, La Diosa and Nashville have also been entered.
I’m also looking forward to this year’s edition of the Ready to Run sale.
September 1st, 2017 — Breeding Theory, Winners
He’s only won a restricted maiden at Kranji after two of the favourites were withdrawn but the way this son of Darci Brahma dispatched his rivals in that event last Sunday suggests that he’s well above average. NZ Thoroughbred Marketing devoted an article to him in their 28 August edition; he clearly has some upside if his jockey and trainer are to be believed.
Metallocene was bred by long-time client Terry Archer out of the winning Galileo mare Glam Girl. Do feel free to research the purchase price: you’ll discover that Terry found himself an extreme bargain. If Australians have a fault (OK, I am just being polite) it’s that they under-rate world-class bloodlines if they haven’t set the world on fire on their own rock-hard tracks. Galileo was not rated by Australians when Terry made his purchase; which was just as well, I suppose.
Anyway, I did the mating for Glam Girl’s second foal, the Jimmy Choux mare Chambon, and when Terry intimated that it would be a good idea to spend some more serious money on his Galileo mare, I immediately thought of Darci Brahma.
I have always rated the potential of the Darci Brahma – Sadler’s Wells cross. Apart from the huge success of Danehill x Sadler’s Wells, The Sir Tristram strain in Darci’s pedigree has a strong affinity with Miswaki. Many years ago I urged Donna Logan to buy a filly bred on this Danzig x Miswaki x Sir Tristram cross; she developed into the Group2 winner Focal Point so I was confident that the Darci mating was worth trying from this point of view.
However, what about the 3×3 inbreeding to Zabeel that sending Glam Girl to Darci Brahma would produce? Would it make the progeny too dour or too temperamental? I remember talking to Terry about the risks but the mare really did need a big horse at that point in her breeding career and, at the end of the day, if you don’t take a few risks in life, where do you end up?
January 28th, 2017 — News, Winners
Those of us who have been involved in the racing industry for any length of time will be well aware of the outrageous swings of fortune that are inescapable.
The day after our promising 3YO Highway to Heaven was withdrawn from Derby contention due to his inability to win a strong maiden on a firm track we received the devastating news that our Auckland Cup hope Candle in the Wind had suffered a significant tendon injury. After her unlucky second in the City of Auckland Cup, she carried the hopes of a number of her owners that she could give them their first Group 1 victory.
And yet it was on this very same day that the Iffraaj gelding Maybe Miami deservedly won the Listed Timaru Stakes at Riccarton. Plagued by unsuitable tracks and bad draws in his previous attempts at black type events, the Kevin Hughes trained 5YO was too strong for a competitive field in an impressive 1:21.92 for the 1400 metres – in spite of the unsuitably rock-hard Riccarton track and yet another bad draw. Maybe Miami was a $20,000 purchase at the 2013 Horses in Training sale and has now won $138,485 from his seven victories to date.
There’s a lot to be said for having small shares in a number of horses. In even the worst of times, it’s generally the case that at least one of them is either racing well or promising to do so. Highway to Heaven, for example, is one of four 3YOs our Cloughmore Racing Partnership has minority shares in. The other three are Dee and Gee, a Darci Brahma filly racing at Whakatane on Monday, Rikki Tikki Tavi, a Tavistock filly with a strong trials placing at the end of her previous preparation and an unnamed Mastercraftsman – Plain Jill filly trained by Ilone Kelly. This latter filly ran a good third at the recent Foxton trials.
Best wishes to all for the Karaka Sales.
November 12th, 2016 — News, Winners
Group 1 contests are supposed to be closely contested affairs with high-class thoroughbreds stretching every sinew and finding the will to win when they are running on empty.
Today’s Gavelhouse.com 44th New Zealand 1000 Guineas at Riccarton didn’t follow this script at all. So You Think filly La Diosa settled well back in the capacity field, was near last on the turn and then unleashed a devastating sprint to cruise past her rivals to record a facile victory that was much easier than the one and a half length margin suggested.
Her name is the Spanish equivalent of “goddess” and it’s fair to say that La Diosa is certainly a stunning filly, but it’s equally true that her ability also marks her as something very special. To cover the amount of ground that she did and to accelerate so effortlessly suggests that she may develop into a stellar performer.
From a pedigree point of view, her ability is no surprise. Her dam is the Star Way mare (A) Star Affair, a Group 2 winner over 2000 metres. A daughter of The Grin (Grosvenor), Star Affair was a little on the one-paced side and some of her progeny have also had this chink in their armour. However, the physical strength and ability to accelerate transmitted by La Diosa’s sireline have clearly been responsible for the creation of a superior equine athlete.
Today’s win is Cloughmore’s seventh Group 1 success but is also the most satisfying. Top class three year-old events are extraordinarily hard to win and it’s also a great thrill that this filly is the daughter of a filly purchased by long-term client Terry Archer on my recommendation.
As we all know, there are no certainties in racing but it is tempting to look forward to this outstanding filly’s career unfolding.
