There were five Group I races run in Australasia on Saturday that produced five brand new G1 winners, but only one of them started favourite so let’s take a look at her first as she highlights an emerging nick between two champion Australian sires, is it a good one? And also we look at the fact rather than perception of sex bias in this G1 sire.
Velocious wins her first G1 - Race Images
The Group I Sistema Stakes (1200m) for 2YO’s at Ellerslie was dominated by fillies who field the trifecta with Karaka Million winner Velocious finishing on top, read about her here.
Aussie bred Velocious is the 14th G1 winner for Written Tycoon and is the third as a broodmare sire for Snitzel, who also sired the dam of the next G1 winner we’ll look at in Celestial Legend.
The Written Tycoon x Snitzel nick has had 14 winners from 22 runners, so 63.6% winner to runner and there are two SW’s so 9% SW to runner, however you would expect the stats for this nick to explode in coming years. The other SW bred this way is this season’s G2 winning filly Captured by Love, who was third in this race.
Velocious comes from the 14th crop of foals sired by Written Tycoon and they are an interesting group of horses conceived when he spent one season at Arrowfield at a fee of $77,000 and covered 199 mares. 25 of the resulting foals have raced and seven have won that include the two fillies mentioned as well as Blue Diamond place-getters Lady of Camelot and Kuroyanagi, plus stakes-placed Satin Stiletto.
The $1million Group I ATC Randwick Guineas (1600m) was won by Celestial Legend, who has been an autumn bloomer and edged out the favourite Militarize, to give Dundeel a G1 quinella, read about him here.
Celestial Legend is the eighth G1 winner for Dundeel and as mentioned earlier is a new G1 winner for Snitzel as a broodmare sire with both sires standing at Arrowfield. The eight G1 winners for Dundeel are all colts (or geldings) highlighting what most people have come to realise in that his colts are better than his fillies, but let’s look at the stats rather than relying on perception.
Dundeel has overall statistics that read 61% winner to runner and 5% SW to runner.
If we look at those stats for colts only they read 63% winner to runner and 7% SW to runner and for fillies they are 57% winner to runner and 2% SW to runner.
Over time, most stallions that appear to be sex biased do balance up to an extent and given that Dundeel has covered significantly better mares in recent years you would be confident there’s a G1 winning filly in the pipeline and she is well overdue to appear.
The $1.5million Group I VRC Newmarket Handicap (1200m) provided an emotional win for Jamie Kah on talented Godolphin bred colt Cylinder, read about him here.
In a week when Exceed and Excel was officially retired, Cylinder became his 19th G1 winner and there is a real Darley flavour to the pedigree as he is also the 25th G1 winner for as a broodmare sire for former Darley shuttler Street Cry and his grand-dam Hexameter is a three-quarter sister-in-blood to Lonhro.
Cylinder is the second G1 winner bred on the Exceed and Excel x Street Cry nick joining September Run and the two sires also combined to give Godolphin the G2 VRC Sires Produce Stakes winner Traffic Warden, who is by Street Boss (USA) from a daughter of Exceed and Excel.
The stats for Exceed and Excel and mares by Street Cry nick are 66% winner to runner (37 winners from 56 runners) and 7% SW to runner.
The $750,000 Group I ATC Canterbury Stakes (1300m) produced a big upset when consistent mare Lady Laguna upstaged G1 stars Think About It and Espiona to score a valuable victory, read about her here.
Lady Laguna was the first winner and first stakes-winner for her young I Am Invincible sire Overshare and is also now his first G1 winner. A G3 winner, he started his career at Spendthrift Farm at a fee of $11,000 before switching to Widden Victoria and has been pretty well supported until last spring when interest waned and he covered just 40 mares.
Overshare’s sire I Am Invincible has a great record with Encosta de Lago mares with that nick producing nearly 80% winner to runner (35 winners from 44 runners) and 20% SW to runner.
Lady Laguna lacks for nothing on the female side of her pedigree as she is the 20th G1 winner for Encosta de Lago as a broodmare sire and her third dam Polly Soleil has spawned an impressive dynasty of stakes-winners that includes G1 winning mares Lucia Valentina and Danzdanzdance.
The Group I Bonecrusher Stakes (2000m) was supposed to be a walk in the park for Legarto, but nobody told El Vencedor, read about him here.
Five year-old gelding El Vencedor became the fourth G1 winner for Melbourne Cup winner Shocking, who runs at a very respectable 6% SW to runner and is the 29th as a broodmare sire for O’Reilly. Shocking has had four SW’s from mares by O’Reilly and that nick runs at 22% SW to runner.
He is the best of three stakes-winners and six winners in total from unraced O’Reilly mare Strictly Maternal, whose next two dams offer a history lesson in New Zealand breeding being by the mighty Star Way (GB) and Sovereign Red, a Victoria Derby winning sire that combined the blood of a pair of champion sires in Sir Tristram (IRE) and Sovereign Edition (GB).
