The spring carnival might be over, but the G1 action is now in Perth and a Queenslander took the top prize and we are also looking at a few other stakes-winners that hold the promise of more to come.
The $1.5million Group I WATC Railway Stakes (1600m) is the first G1 of the summer in Perth and the winner Port Lockroy, a four year-old stallion by Better Than Ready proved the strength of the Golden Eagle form when bouncing off a last start sixth in that race to score his first G1 win, read about him here.
Bred and sold by Yarramalong Park in Queensland, Port Lockroy becomes the 14th SW and second G1 winner for his sire Better Than Ready and first G1 winner and third SW for his damsire Freeze, whose other two SW’s as a broodmare sire are also by Better Than Ready and include Port Lockroy’s full G3 winning brother Alpine Edge.
His dam Freezethemillions was a stakes-placed juvenile winner and her dam Mortal Chase is a sister to another juvenile SW in Golden Fox, but the reality of this pedigree is the first three dam sires Freeze, Foxhound (USA) and Humam (IRE) would all be considered very average sires if we were being kind.
Back track a bit and the next dam is by the great Luskin Star and Sweet Something was a half-sister to one of the great blue hens in Summoned, who gave us champion racehorse and outstanding sire Zeditave as well as a myriad of stakes-winners o there is plenty of class in this family if you go looking for it.
Port Lockroy comes from the fifth crop of foals sired by Better Than Ready, who spent his first four seasons at Lyndhurst Stud at a fee of $9,900 before rising to $33,000 in 2019 when he was conceived, so he is from that pivotal first crop of ‘in theory better bred foals’ and so far it has produced four stakes-winners which is the best of any of his crops so far.
The $500,000 Group II WATC WA Guineas (1600m) was the other big money race at Ascot and went to the progressive filly Storyville, a homebred for her trainers Grant and Alana Williams, read about her here.
She is the second stakes-winner for I Am Invincible’s bargain priced son Overshare, who went to stud originally at Spendthrift Farm off the back of a pretty modest race record where he won three of 12 starts, two of them in G3 or Listed races beating nothing of note.
His other SW is Lady Laguna, who surprised everyone including her trainer Annabel Neasham when she made a meteoric rise through the ranks last autumn to eventually win the G1 ATC Canterbury Stakes and finish second in the G1 ATC George Ryder Stakes, so what that tells me is that if Overshare gets a good filly she might be very good, so on that basis am happy to keep a close eye on Storyville, who comes from a top class Kiwi female family.
Her dam might be an unraced daughter of a pretty average sire in Time Thief, but she’s already had four winners from five to race with two other stakes placed horses in addition to Storyville, so the quality of her female family is coming through. Her fourth dam is G3 placed Habaine, a sibling to a bunch of SW’s and stakes-placed blue hen Escada, the dam of G1 winners Glamour Puss and Vision and Power.
She is the 15th SW to carry a double cross of Redoute’s Choice and there have been four this season and the other three all involve Zoustar – Growing Empire and Schwarz are by him and Amelita by his son Zousain.
The $1million The Gong (1600m) at Kembla is one of the controversial races upgraded by Racing NSW to G3 status, but not yet ratified by any international committee so unrecognized for carrying Black Type, but in the case of the winner Gringotts (NZ) it’s irrelevant as he is already a genuine SW having beaten Melbourne Cup winner Knight’s Choice in the Listed BRC Members Stakes during the winter, read about him here.
Gringotts is the latest slow burn star to step up for his sire Per Incanto (USA), an American bred son of Street Cry that won his stakes races in Italy and ended up at stud in New Zealand where he has been a real over achiever. His unraced dam Miss Bluebell is by champion sire Savabeel and her dam Operavega was also unraced, but is a half-sister to SW Vegas Showgirl, who has gained lasting fame as the dam of the world’s best racehorse Winx.
Per Incanto, who stands at Little Avondale Stud does not get an awful lot of mares by Savabeel, who stands at Waikato Stud, but the stats are encouraging with 14 winners from 17 starters including four SW’s which equates to 23.5% SW to runner.
The Listed Counties Challenge Stakes (1100m) for juveniles in New Zealand generated plenty of Aussie interest with the debut winner Return to Conquer, a $1.3million Magic Millions purchase for David Ellis, read about him here.
He’s the 153rd SW for champion sire Snitzel and the 76th for another champion sire Lonhro as a broodmare sire. The nick between the two sires has produced 11 winners from 19 starters including four SW’s which equates to 21% SW to runner.
The female family is an elite one and while his dam Vaujany was unraced, she is a sister to G2 winner Ghisoni from G2 winner Portillo with third dam Snowdrift (FR) a blue hen that left an impressive 10 winners headed by G1 winner Snowland with another of her stakes-placed offspring being Freeze, the sire of the dam of Port Lockroy.
It’s become a very popular and prolific commercial family and features several times in upcoming sales when you use Breednet’s Family Search to find them.
