The last Australian runner for Blue Point (IRE) this season returned a winner at Ballarat on the synthetic track on Tuesday to credit his sire with his ninth Aussie first crop winner from 40 runners, but what will broodmare owners make of the son of Shamardal when he returns to Darley Victoria this spring?
Centre Square scores at Ballarat to become the ninth Aussie winner for Blue Point - image Pata Scala / Racing Photos
Trained by Ciaron Maher, two year-old gelding Centre Square was making his ninth start this season having started with a pair of unplaced runs last spring in stakes races.
He’s made steady progress this year with a couple of second placings at Swan Hill and Warracknabeal before his two and half length victory today.
The first Aussie yearlings by Blue Point sold exceptionally well in 2023 (his top 10 sellers listed above) giving rise to lofty expectations that were fuelled further when his first Euro bred 2YO’s hit the ground running.
In the Northern Hemisphere in 2023, Blue Point had 113 first crop runners and 51 of them won headed by five stakes-winners including Group I winners Big Evs and Rosallion, who has trained on to further success this year at three winning the Group I Irish 2000 Guineas and Royal Ascot St James’s Palace Stakes.
Rosallion is likely to add to that success this week when he takes his place I the Group I Sussex Stakes at Goodwood, so is a serious colt in every way.
Spring racing in Australia last year proved an anti-climax for Blue Point fans with a couple of high profile favourites failing to deliver resulting in a considerable walk back in his popularity at our yearling sales of 2024 with his top 10 sellers listed below.
Blue Point returns for his fifth Australian season and remains at the same fee of $44,000, while in Europe his fee climbed to €60,000 this year.
The next 12 months will be very interesting for Blue Point and as we have seen so many times before the fortunes of a shuttle sire can change dramatically with Street Cry (IRE) a good case in point.
He had a lacklustre first season before Whobegotyou emerged as a spring three year-old star winning the Group I MRC Caulfield Guineas and from that point he never looked back.
Blue Point is currently the leading second crop sire in Great Britain by earnings and winners ahead of his barn mate Too Darn Hot (GB), who is not returning to Australia this spring.
