Lonhro son Sessions is riding a hot streak with two stakes winners in eight days after his three year-old filly Fancy Red lit up a gloomy day at Bunbury with an outstanding last to first victory to win the Listed Belmont Oaks (2019m) going away.
Torrential rain prior to the meeting and showers through the afternoon had brought about track downgrades and genuinely heavy conditions for the field of 14 fillies to navigate, most of whom were having their stamina tested for the first time.
That was also the case for the Adam Durrant trained Fancy Red, chasing a hat trick after two strong wins at 1400m.
The unusual preparation and the testing ground posed no problem for the quality three year old, who was sent out a hot favourite by punters as the the best performed galloper in the race by some margin.
Danger to Fancy Red loomed in the form of the lightly raced and promising Showlas (Showtime), who had run an eyecatcher in the Belmont Guineas.
The Kiwi bred, Bob Peters owned Lillian (War Decree) was kept safe by wary punters, as were My Harv (Rommel) and Kimberley Rose (Hellbent), two nicely bred daughters of noted.mudlark sires.
When the gates opened it was Showlas who speared to the lead but Natasha Faithfull had her hands full trying to get the excited filly to settle. Eventually the erratic Showlas came back to her and settled into a rolling rhythm with Lillian and My Harv nicely positioned behind the leader.
William Pike on Fancy Red had gone right back to last and stayed there as the field ploughed along without much change in the order. As they approached the home turn Kimberley Rose got into gear and quickly moved to challenge the tiring Showlas, who had run her race.
My Harv and Lillian were rallying while roughies Impressive Jewel (Playing God) and Myzoom (Russian Revolution) appeared on the scene to give their backers a momentary thrill in the straight.
But in the blink of an eye Fancy Red had absolutely motored through the fanning pack from last, under a peach of a ride by Willie Pike!
Her turn of foot was far superior to her rivals and she had the stamina to back it up, flying down the straight to win with ease by two and a half lengths in a most impressive performance.
Kimberley Rose boxed on stoutly to hold second place ahead of Lillian, with Impressive Jewel fourth.
Fancy Red was bred and is owned by her breeder Neville Duncan of Oakland Park stud, who stand her sire Sessions.
It was a case of deja vu for Duncan, Durrant and Pike who combined to win the Belmont Oaks with another Sessions filly, Ihts Closing In in 2023.
This was Fancy Red's fifth win from only nine starts with two placings, and her earnings have now advanced to $291,680.
She becomes the seventh stakes winner for Sessions and his second in the space of eight days after his exciting son Repossession won the Listed Beaufine Stakes 1000m last Saturday at Pinjarra.
It just highlights the versatility of the high quality son of Lonhro who was a brilliant sprinter and has always been a reliable source of speed, but in recent seasons has also demonstrated he can get a really high class middle distance horse over the right mare.
Despite producing a perfectly judged ride in the fillies feature, Pike was keen to downplay his own role in the victory.
“ When they said they were going this way with her I said you're mad, she's got too much speed, but what do I know”? he joked.
“ She had her knickers in a bit of a knot today and when the gates opened she actually jumped up and out of the barriers, but it's worked out well for us.
"I was able to keep her out of all the shuffling for position. From the 600m I knew we were a good chance because she’s just picked it up herself. Wherever they go next with her I don't know. I’ll leave it all up to the connections, I'm just the jockey!”
Fancy Red is a daughter of Showme Thediamonds, a winner on the Gold Coast in a brief 5 start career. Now in her nineteenth year, the daughter of Queensland’s champion racehorse, champion sire and wonderful broodmare sire Show A Heart has produced only four lifetime foals. All have won races and two are now stakes winners!
It’s a tribute to the upgrading influence of her much-missed sire, who was the last commercial Star Kingdom line stallion to stand in Australia and who died in 2023.
Showme Thediamond's first foal was a 2012 filly by Duke Of Marmalade. Named Diamond Made she won the G3 ATC Adrian Knox Stakes 2000m. Diamond Made is at stud in NSW, but has not yet had a foal to race.
Showme Thediamonds second foal came in 2014, another filly by Duke Of Marmalade - and this girl Secret Diamond won and was twice placed from eight starts.
Showme Thediamonds headed west after being purchased by Belmont Bloodstock for a modest $5,000 at the 2019 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale. She slipped her 2020 Sessions foal but safely delivered Fancy Red the following year, so the investment has been a good one.
Showme TheDiamonds was onsold again and not bred in 2021, before missing to Long Leaf, but produced another daughter in 2024 to the Commands son Rommel.
The dam of Showme Thediamonds was the gritty Queensland race mare Diamond Desire (66 starts, 9 wins 1200-2200m and17 placings!)
She was sired by the royally bred Exclusive Native son Twenty Four Karat, a three quarter brother to Mr Prospector who was exported to NZ where he became a handy enough broodmare sire.
Diamond Desire was a solid producer with five of her six foals race winners.
Next dam Routine Girl was by the excellent and versatile Luskin Star son Covetous, and was a winning full sister to the stakes placed Sydney sprinter Black Routine (5 wins).
This tough and honest family has lacked the top rank of racetrack class in recent generations, but it has maintained a very high winners to runners ratio - always an indication that the foundations are there to produce an above average horse to the right sire.
Clearly Sessions had what it takes!
And it's really interesting to look at the pedigree of Fancy Red and note some of the factors which influenced her breeder Neville Duncan to secure her dam specifically for his stallion from the vast pool of broodmares out there!
Beginning with her tail female line, it goes back to the foundation mare Lady Alice, a branch of family 16 to which belongs the great USA sire Broomstick - most influential through Native Dancer who carries his son John P Grier. Broomstock appears x 2 in Raise A Native so Fancy Red's dam is particularly strong in this blood.
Pedigrees which bring together an all time great progenitor with a closely related lesser light - as in this instance with Raise A Native's Mr Prospector and his three quarter brother Twenty Four Karat - often seem to “wake up” the full expression of the less dynamic individual.
It is also Danehill's positioning in Session's pedigree as his second damsire that is extra appealing here - with Danehill inbred to his own ancestress Natalma (by Native Dancer and descended from daughters of Broomstick and Mahmoud)
Showme Thediamond’s dam carries 3 (sex balanced) lines to Native Dancer in all, but significantly her ancestress Thrifty Princess is by Mahmoud's full brother Khan Bahadur - thus her damline closely duplicates the tail female line of Danehill himself.
This pedigree also creates many duplications of the mighty Relic by War Relic - his sons Pieces Of Eight, Vice Regal and Buisson Ardent and his daughter Coogee, the dam of Bletchingly x 2.
Two of NZs all time great broodmare sires, Hermes by Aureole and the French bred Le Filou by Vatellor are linebreeding subjects in Fancy Red's pedigree - as is Aureole's relative Round Table and Round Table himself - an interesting nick is formed with her sixth dam Red Flush by the blueblooded but obscure sire Road House. He was a good North American handicapper by the champion Hasty Road out of a half sister to Round Table.
Fancy Red's fourth dam was by Denizen - tail male to Sir Gaylord, this is the wider family of Sessions himself - to which his ancestress Ellida carries many lines and which his sire Lonhro complements so well.
There's pretty well just the tip of the iceberg as to the clever breeding of Fancy Red!
Neville Duncan knows what suits Sessions - and keeps the influence of the mighty Lonhro to the fore in WA, with Oakland Park also now standing the exciting sprinter Ingratiating, by Frosted out of Lonhro’s high class G2 winning daughter Obsequious.
Senior sire Sessions is going strong and he stands at Oakland Park in 2025 for a fee of $9,900
