Sires With Winners - Friday January 5

Coolmore shuttler Wootton Bassett (GB) has been doing a lot of amazing things this year and he might just have a Melbourne Cup contender with the Joseph O’Brien trained Al Riffa putting himself in the picture with a facile five length win in the Group II Curragh Cup (1m6f) overnight.

Progressive colt El Vaquero completed the southern juvenile season on a winning note at Oamaru on Sunday, outclassing his rivals to claim the One Smart Coffee (1200m).

Not seen since winning the Group I Epsom Oaks (1m4f) at the start of June, the Aidan O’Brien trained Frankel filly Minnie Hauk started favourite in the Group I Irish Oaks (1m4f) at The Curragh overnight and duly saluted.

The Hong Kong racing season is over for another year, so a look at their sire tables by earnings and winners is always interesting and there is no surprise at the top with now pensioned Deep Field claiming his fourth consecutive champion sire title, but given he is now out of the picture the big question is what sires will replace him?

Mulberry Racing are looking to make an impression with a string of lovely yearling purchases this year and the acquisition of an Everest slot and their colours were in the frame at Hawkesbury on Sunday carried by a 2YO son of Pierro.

When Churchill (IRE) gelding Robusto was offered on Inglis Digital last September he was a solid Saturday class horse that had claimed a Benchmark 88 event on July 20, fast forward 12 months and he’s a $2.1million earner with the Listed ATC Winter Challenge (1500m) on his resume.

Kia Ora Stud’s Farnan added a new winner to his tally on Sunday at Seymour where Blethyn saluted as a short priced favourite.

A quality cast of four-year-olds will clash in Malaysia’s richest race this weekend, with a significant NZB influence throughout the 16-horse field.

One of the big ticket purchases for Godolphin at the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale last year was the half-brother to triple Group I winner Perfect Power by Mehmas and this 1million guinea purchase opened his stakes account overnight in the UK.

Darby Racing celebrated another feature race win with their savvy $160,000 Inglis Digital purchase Robusto in the Listed ATC Winter Challenge at Rosehill on Saturday and in his post-race interview Bjorn Baker revealed they had purchased two new tried horses last week, so who are they?