There were seven G1 races in Australasia on Saturday, plus the lucrative Hong Kong Derby on Sunday that featured five horses winning at the elite level for the first time and they included two horses and very nearly three from the revered Dancing Show (USA) female family, plus a close relation of Winx.
The $5million Group I ATC Golden Slipper (1200m) is the world’s richest race for juveniles and produced a third winner of the race for champion sire Snitzel in Emirates Park homebred Marhoona, read about her here.
The 23rd G1 winner for Snitzel and is his third Golden Slipper winner joining Shinzo and Estijaab, who was also raced by Emirates and was purchased from Inglis Easter for $1.7million, so Marhoona has delivered the same result for them and came straight out of their own paddock!
Marhoona claims Dancing Show as her fourth dam and has a 4 x 4 double cross as her grand-sire is Redoute’s Choice, who also traces to the celebrated mare. She is bred on a well proven nick, Snitzel over daughters of Encosta de Lago that has produced eight SW’s from 89 starters so runs at nearly 9% SW to runner, but tellingly four of those SW’s are G1 winning juveniles - and the other three Sword of State, Invader and Summer Passage - did not train on to repeat that success as older horses and realistically Marhoona probably fits that profile.
The $1million MVRC William Reid Stakes (1200m) was won by Zoustar stallion Schwarz, who put the seal on his future stud career with his first G1 win, read about him here.
Schwarz claims Dancing Show as his fifth dam and he has three lines of her star daughter Shantha’s Choice 4 x 4 x 4 which is sure to excite pedigree nerds the world over! He is the tenth G1 winner for Zoustar and is the first G1 winner for his sire that has the double up of Redoute’s Choice.
Another interesting observation is the colour of Schwarz, all 10 of the G1 winners by Zoustar to date are bay / brown.
The Group I New Zealand Oaks (2400m) was won by the dominant Kiwi filly Leica Lucy (NZ), but she had to earn the win over Dubai Gold, so we’ll show you both pedigrees as the latter may well be a future G1 winner and also has Dancing Show as her third dam, read about the race here.
Leica Lucy is the first G1 winner among four SW’s by Hinchinbrook’s fast sprinting son Derryn, who was retired to stud in NZ and she gets her stamina from dam sire Sir Percy, who won the Epsom Derby in 2006. Her female family is largely an old school Kiwi family with dual G1 winner Elevenses the best horse on the page until Leica Lucy came along.
Pedigree nerds will also spot the double cross of Snippets, which is also a triple for his dam Easy Date 5 x 5 x 5 as Derryn traces back to her on his tail female line.
Dubai Gold is closely related to G1 winning miler Desert Lightning, who is also by Pride of Dubai from the Twyla branch of the Dancing Show family.
The $1million ATC George Ryder Stakes (1500m) produced an outstanding battle with the Kiwi bred Gringotts (NZ) scoring the narrowest of wins, read about him here.
Gringotts is the ninth G1 winner for Per Incanto and is the sixth for champion sire Savabeel as a broodmare sire with that nick producing 14 winners from 17 runners and four SW’s with the stats an appealing 82% winner to runner and 23% SW to runner. Third dam of Gringotts is Vegas Magic, who is also the grand-dam of Winx and given she is by Per Incanto’s sire Street Cry, she and Gringotts are quite closely related.
The family produced another new SW on Saturday with Proisir filly Vegas Queen winning the Group II Wellington Guineas.
The $1million Group I ATC The Galaxy (1100m) was won by unbeaten three year-old Harry Angel (IRE) colt Private Harry, read about him here.
Private Harry is the second G1 winner for Harry Angel, who was the Champion 3YO Sprinter in Europe and has clearly stamped this colt very much in his own image. Harry Angel shuttles to Darley and has been better received in the Southern Hemisphere as reflected in his service fee. He stands for j8ust 10,000 pounds in the UK this year and covered 131 mares here last year at a fee of $38,500.
Private Harry is the first G1 winner to pop up in his female family in a very long time with the previous best horse being Arkady, who won the Group I ATC Ranvet Stakes back in 1997.
He is the seventh G1 winner among 34 SW’s as a broodmare for Congrats (USA), who struggled to make an impression in Australia when shuttling to the Hunter Valley for four seasons here, but has proven his worth as a broodmare sire on the international stage. He is notably sire of the dam of elite world performer Forever Young, the Japanese bred raider that beat Cox Plate her Romantic Warrior in that epic battle for the Saudi Cup.
The Hong Kong Derby (2000m) is not a G1 race, but as the most revered race in Hong Kong for four year-olds sourced from both hemispheres it invariably produces a great contest and was won this year by G1 placed maiden Cap Ferrat, who kept the winning run going for his champion sire Snitzel, read about him here.
Cap Ferrat is the 156th stakes-winner for Arrowfield Stud’s ageless sire Snitzel and is his very first Derby or Oaks winner. His staying prowess comes from his female family being from Bernardini mare C’Est Beau La Vie, a SW at a mile from Valkyrie Diva, a Group III winner up to 1700m and a half-sister to the legendary triple Melbourne Cup winner Makybe Diva.
Cap Ferrat is from a daughter of Bernardini, who like Congrats, is a son of AP Indy that shuttled to the Hunter Valley. He has proven to be an outstanding broodmare sire with his daughters producing 112 SW’s worldwide and 18 of them are G1 winners.
