Best On Breeding

Mark Smith - Friday October 18

The Group III James Squire Angst Stakes plays a minor role amidst a sea of multi-million dollar races at Randwick on Everest Day, but it presents a chance for Hinged to break a drought stretching back over two and a half years.

Hinged won five and was runner-up twice in seven starts for Michael Nolan at two. When Brae Sokolski and Ozzie Kheir made an offer that owner/breeder Kim McCasker could not refuse, the daughter of Worthy Cause was on her way south to the stables of Chris Waller.

Hinged has been winless since the 2022 Surround Stakes

Her lone win in thirty starts for the champion trainer came in the 2022 Group I Surround Stakes on a heavy 10 at Randwick, defeating  Startantes and Espiona.

There have been innumerable near misses, including seconds in the Group 1 Vinery Stud Stakes, Group 1 Flight Stakes, Group II Chelmsford Stakes, Group II Guy Walter Stakes, Group II Apollo Stakes, and thirds in the Group 1 Epsom Hcp, Group 1 George Main Stakes, and Group 1 Coolmore Classic.

Advertisement

While the wall may not be plastered with winning photographs, the $2,000,000 the 6-year-old mare has banked may offer some consolation.

Hinged provides hope for all small breeders. She comes from the first crop of Choisir's son Worthy Cause, the winner of five and placed in eight of his 25 starts for trainer John Zielke.

His career highlights came in the Group III GCTC Gunsynd Classic and Listed VRC Paris Lane Stakes, and he was a bit player at the start of the most remarkable winning run of all, when third behind Winx in the Sunshine Coast Guineas.

A great-grandson of the blue hen Pride Of Tahnee, Worthy Cause stood his first season at $5,500.

Among the first mares he covered was Tints, a hard-knocking daughter of Tycoon Ruler.

When consigned by Clear Mountain Fairview to the 2012 Magic Millions QTIS Yearling Sale, Kim McCasker purchased Tints for a modest $10,000. Tints started 47 times for Ben Currie, winning twelve and placing in ten, earning  $247,150.

In two stakes appearances, Tints finished last of 14 in the Listed Brisbane Hcp, a race she contested twice, having finished midfield the year before.

Hints is a daughter of the unraced Danzero mare Zero Colour, a half-sister to the III MRC Moonga Stakes runner-up Pink Fit (Flying Spur) and Listed WATC Placid Ark Stakes runner-up Stars Aligned (Not a Single Doubt), out of the Slew o' Gold mare, My Pink.

Hinged nosed out by Buckaroo in Chelmsford Stakes

My Pink's stakes-winning dam Pink Valley (Never Bend) is a half-sister to the 1975 Group 1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains hero Green Dancer (Nijinsky), the French champion sire of 1991. Green Dancer's sister, Val Danseur, was a multiple-stakes winner.

Their dam, Green Valley II, is a daughter of Sly Pola (Spy Song), who won the 1959 Prix de l'Abbaye de Longchamp. She is a half-sister to Polamia (Mahmoud), who won the 1957 Prix de Bois.

Polamia produced five stakes winners headed by the 1964 French champion 2-year-old male and influential sire Grey Dawn II (Herbager), and the 1966 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches (French One Thousand Guineas) winner Right Away (Right Royal V).

Brae Sokolski now owns Tints, and her last two suitors have more commercial appeal.

She has a yearling colt by Snitzel and visited Maurice (JPN) last November.  

Worthy Cause stands this season at Clear Mountain Fairview for $8,800. 

Advertisment
More Reading...
Hat-Trick for Trelawney Stud Blueblood Filly
Well-related Trelawney Stud filly Madiyya signed off her three-year-old season with a third straight win, this time over 1600m in the A$150,000 Rod Griffiths Handicap at Caulfield on Saturday.
Stakes Potential for New Hello Youmzain Winner
Late-season black type is on the radar for Platinum Diamond after an impressive upset victory in Saturday’s Full Circle Appearance Medicine 2YO (1200m) at Wanganui.
Kiwi Bred Campaldino Wins G3 for Darby
Promising New Zealand-bred stayer Campaldino passed his biggest test with flying colours at Eagle Farm on Saturday, stepping up to stakes company and adding the A$200,000 Gr.3 Living Turf Queen Elizabeth II Cup (2400m) to his winning sequence.
Hinged gets her Reward in G2 Matriarch Stakes
After winning the Group 1 Surround Stakes at her fifth start for Chris Waller, Hinged took 28 starts and 141 weeks to add a second in Saturday's Group II  Tab Matriarch Stakes (2000m) at Flemington.
Niance Overcomes Serious Injury to Claim Stakes Victory
Exciting New Zealand-bred mare Niance has bounced back from a serious injury and picked up right where she left off last spring, collecting her third consecutive black-type win in Saturday’s A$175,000 Listed Bel Esprit Stakes (1100m) at Caulfield.
Ears Back Wins Listed Stakes at Wanganui
A two-race North Island campaign has ended on a career-defining high for Ears Back and her Rangiora trainer John Blackadder, who scored their first black-type win in Saturday’s Listed AGC Training Stakes (1600m) at Wanganui.
Three Straight Stakes Wins For Cool Aza Beel’s Cool Archie
With no two-year-old currently performing better in Queensland, the Chirs and Corey Munce trained Cool Archie continued his outstanding form, taking out the $1m Group 2 BRC Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m), his third consecutive black type victory.
Another Win for Smart Exceedance Filly
Apprentice Liam Kauri has continued a winning association with the Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott stable by partnering their smart three-year-old Tristar to victory in the Ambient Group 3YO (1100m) at Te Rapa, his second victory aboard the filly from just two rides.
Bright Future for El Roca 3YO
Owner-trainer-breeder Kylie Little believes she might have a promising stayer on her hands with Eagle Rock, who left maiden ranks with an emphatic performance in Saturday’s Matt Edwards-Lime Group Mile (1600m) at Te Rapa.
When in Doubt Back a Frankel!
The $200,000 Listed ATC Lord Mayor’s Cup (2000m ) at Rosehill on Saturday attracted a competitive field of 14 stayers, the bulk of them imports and when you strike an open race like that it’s often wise to follow this piece of advice – when in doubt back a Frankel!