The Testa Rossa filly Twilight Royale has taken several sets of her connections on the ride of a lifetime after being purchased for $45,000 by trainer Bjorn Baker out of the Kitchwin Hills draft at the 2012 Inglis Premier Yearling Sale.
After winning the valuable Inglis Nursery at her career debut back in December 2012, Twilight Royale added another rich Inglis bonus at Mornington before putting herself in line for a $2.4 million payday after winning the 2013 Group II VRC Sires’ Produce Stakes in which she defeated subsequent Cox Plater winner Shamus Award.
All Twilight Royale needed to do to claim the multi-million bonus was win the Inglis Guineas at Scone at three. By the time that race came around, the daughter of Testa Rossa was sadly out of form and she trailed the field home behind the high-class winner Cosmic Endeavor.
Sadly, that was to be Twilight Royale’s swansong, however her connections were not done cashing in just yet.
Sent to the 2014 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale, Twilight Royale was knocked down to James Bester for $580,000.
Joining the star studded broodmare band at Kia Ora Stud, Twilight Royale visited the champion Snitzel in her first two seasons. She produced two colts that would sell for $420,000 and $130,000 respectively.
But Twilight Royale’s biggest payday came when her I Am Invincible colt was hammered down to Tom Magnier for $1.4 million at this year’s Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.
The first foal, Royal Hale has won three of his nine starts to date for Tony Gollan but it is the $130,000 Royal Banquet who is turning heads in Sydney.
Racing in the colours of Matthew Sandblom’s Horse Ventures, Royal Banquet ploughed through the mud under Lee Magorrian to trot up by five and a quarter lengths over 1400m at Warwick Farm on Wednesday to credit his young, Newcastle based, trainer Nathan Doyle his first metropolitan winner.
The gelded son of Snitzel has run up a sequence of four consecutive wins since debuting with a third in a 2yo maiden at Gosford back in January 2019.
After opening his winning account at Bathurst in October last year, Royal Banquet was transferred to Doyle.
"Every time we step him out he keeps improving," Doyle told Sky Racing.
"He was quite an anxious horse when he first got to us and he's still very raw and new, you saw the way he ran out at the post there.
"It's just such a relief to get the first city win on the board ans for Matthew (Sandblom) as well who has been a good supporter of the stable.
"There were offers coming thick and thin for this horse and he stuck by us, kept the horse and I'm glad he did.
“He showed us at home he could handle it (the heavy track) and he was pretty effective there today, so we will just keep raising the bar and see how far he can get.”
Few mares have been given a better chance to succeed than Twilight Royale and there is promise of more to come.
Following the $1.4 million I Am Invincible colt comes a filly by the Yarraman Park champion and last season it was a trip up the road again to Arrowfield Stud for another date with Snitzel.
