Who are we highlighting this week? - Analysis of the G1 winning 3YO’s for last season has made us realise how many horses on this list took giant strides from two to three, so we are looking into the crystal ball to find some juveniles we believe could end this season as G1 performers if not G1 winners.
Click here for the story on 3YO G1 winners for 2024/2025.
There was a filly entered for the Randwick trials on Thursday that plenty of people would have been watching out for in Apocalyptic, but with the later trials switched to the polytrack due to the deteriorating heavy conditions she was scratched.
Connections moved to Plam B and she duly took her place this morning at Warwick Farm and after settling last for Tommy Berry steamed home to be beaten half a length in fifth place.
With her single racetrack appearance to date Apocalyptic not only made an impression, she made sure to stake her claim to all the right formlines.
The Michael Freedman trained daughter of Extreme Choice debuted in a 1100m handicap at Randwick in December 2024, against proven performers of both sexes.
The youngster jumped awkwardly and had to settle for a spot well back on the rail. From there she was always making ground but was held up in the straight. With 100m to go, Apocalyptic saw clear air and charged late, finishing a length off the winner Gallo Nero (Wootton Bassett)
Memo (Capitalist) was third, followed by Breeders Plate placed colt Tempestuous (Extreme Choice) and subsequent Gold Coast Magic Millions heroine O'Ole (Ole Kirk).
Gallo Nero and Memo placed to O'Ole on the Gold Coast and back in the field was Cool Archie (Cool Aza Beel), now a Group I winner.
It's a very solid formline and with a pedigree that is all about super race fillies, we can follow this girl with confidence!
Apocalyptic was a $400,000 buy for MyRacehorse Pty Ltd and Michael Freedman at the 2024 MM Gold Coast Yearling from the Coolmore draft, as agent for her breeder Etak Thoroughbreds.
The bay is a stunning type and a standout in a race field with her wide- blazed face. She races in the MyRacehorse silks for her big owner syndicate, who are living the dream!
Apocalyptic comes from a line of elite racehorses descending from her fifth dam, the legendary Emancipation.
That flying grey daughter of another beloved turf legend in Gunsynd was an unstoppable force in the early ‘80s, racing only at three and four years when she won 19 of her 28 starts.
At three Emancipation went undefeated in her first five runs then claimed a rare scalp, beating Manikato in the George Ryder, before winning the Doncaster later that year.
At four she achieved another five G1 wins, all at WFA in Sydney. The mare was tried at a middle distance in Strawberry Road's Cox Plate, but that was a bridge too far.
Emancipation's natural habitat was the tough Randwick mile, and she ruled her turf with an iron fist. She didn't bother hiding it in a velvet glove either!
The ill-natured filly was described by her trainer Neville Begg as the best horse he ever had in his stable. His son Graham had the thankless job of strapping her, and said of Emancipation that she was “the worst tempered racehorse imaginable”.
Once retired, Emancipation founded a dynasty.
Let's look more closely at the line from her daughter Virage, which has brought forth Apocalyptic.
Apocalyptic's unraced dam Shadow was bred by Godolphin, and is a grey/roan daughter of Darley's champion Medaglia d'Oro, showing plenty of the strength and quality of her sire.
Her first foal was a 2021 colt by Harry Angel. Named Mr Markle he is a winner and has placed from six starts.
In 2022 our subject Apocalyptic by superstar Extreme Choice arrived, followed in 2023 by her full brother.
This cracking colt is a grey like so many of the family and was purchased for $1.7 million at the 2025 Inglis Easter Yearling by Chris Waller Racing / Mulcaster Bloodstock / B2B Thoroughbreds.
Not served in 2023, Shadow is due to welcome her next foal by champion Pierro very soon.
Shadow is full sister to the excellent performer Geist. That filly was a precocious juvenile, racing six times at stakes level. She never produced a poor performance and was twice stakes placed. Geist was again G3 placed at three and was a little unlucky to retire without more black type to her credit.
Shadow and Geist were the only two foals of the unraced Wraith, by Exceed And Excel. The mare died young, but fortunately left these valuable daughters.
Wraith was one of nine living foals from champion sprinting filly Virage De Fortune by Anabaa. A dual G1 winner, possibly the grey's most courageous performance came in the 2006 Oakleigh Plate when she chased home Snitzel and beat Takeover Target on a bottomless track.
Her G1 victories came in the MVRC Australia Stakes and QTC Sires Produce. The hallmarks of this magnificent mare were sustained speed and her will to win.
Virage De Fortune had six foals to race and they were all winners.
Her son by Redoute's Choice Barbados showed ability in a career cut short by injury and became a reliable sire of speedsters in SA.
Wraith had two winning full sisters Panegyria and Reverse, and two half siblings by Sepoy, Subedar (four wins, twice stakes placed from ten lifetime starts) and his talented sister Remedies.
Virage De Fortune and Avenue were two of eight winners / three stakes winners for the remarkable Blue Hen Virage, by Kenmare - the result of Emancipation's only mating to that sire.
To Vice Regal, Emancipation produced the G2 winning colt Royal Pardon.
To Palace Music, she foaled La Suffragette who visited Zabeel and gave us the G1 Caulfield Cup hero Railings.
Emancipation's daughter Principation founded a line through her daughter Vanilla Sky by O'Reilly - grand dam of top colts Stratum Star and Prague.
The taproot mare of this family is Victory Flight imported from GB in 1953.
Several of Victory Flight's daughters were infertile but from the handful that bred on eventually came greatness.
Emancipation’s line traces to her daughter Sweet Victory by the brilliant speedster Newtown Wonder - the 1971 Golden Slipper winning filly Hartshill was out of her daughter Victory Piper, and was a half sister to Emancipation's grand dam Miss Wendy.
Until Gunsynd covered Miss Wendy the family was quiet - and Gunsynd for all his greatness on the track, was by that time a forgotten sire.
The unfashionable mating produced Ammo Girl - she carried a 3f x 4f duplication of Newtown Wonder by Fair Trial, and was tail male to a minor son of Star Kingdom.
When Ammo Girl met some of Star Kingdom's most potent tail male blood through Biscay - adding another line of Newtown Wonder! - via his champion Bletchingly (who sex balanced Fair Trial and War Admiral) bingo! Emancipation.
Let's admire Apocalyptic's damsire, the champion Medaglia d 'Oro.
The son of El Prado is one of the great sires of fillies in the current era, but Medaglia d'Oro is also North America's current leading active sire by worldwide stakes winners.
From his Australian crops came G1 Golden Slipper winner Vancouver and G1 Golden Rose hero Astern, while Hong Kong legend Golden Sixty was also bred from the stallion's time down under.
This year at Churchill Downs his unbeaten daughter Good Cheer won the G1 Kentucky Oaks and became the third winner of the Classic for her sire, after Rachel Alexandra and Plum Pretty.
The US Champion 2YO /3YO and Hall Of Fame filly Songbird is another of Medaglia d'Oro's great daughters.
Medaglia d'Oro was famous for his remarkable consistency as a racehorse, only twice out of the top two in his career. He passes on that extreme determination and an exceptional constitution.
He is a beautifully made stallion and stamps his progeny with his correctness, power and near faultless Classic American type.
The crowning glory in Apocalyptic's pedigree is her sire Extreme Choice.
The dual G1 winning son of Not A Single Doubt is firmly established in the top tier of stallions carrying forward the dynasty of Redoutes Choice. Despite some well managed fertility issues, he sits right at the top of the rankings.
Extreme Choice has become the fastest Australasian sire this century to achieve five G1 winners, with a percentage of G1 winners to runners that puts him among the best worldwide!
He is one of only two stallions in history to sire a Golden Slipper winner and a Melbourne Cup winner, the other being the immortal Sir Tristram.
Though there was a level of shock factor at the time, in retrospect there was something about the finish of the 2024 Melbourne Cup which perfectly summed up the special qualities of Not A Single Doubt, passed on by his son.
Aussie-bred gelding Knight's Choice, ears pinned, going head to head with the imposing Japanese raider Warp Speed - with no quarter given, our little guy prevailed by mere inches, but he genuinely outstayed his rival.
Right there on the biggest stage was the enduring spirit of Not A Single Doubt, the “little horse that could” who far exceeded all expectations as a stallion. Extreme Choice has taken that ball from his sire and run with it!
Apocalyptic is bred:
Danzig 5m x 5m,5m
Danehill 4m x 4m
Her own wider family (3-l) is also that of Gay Mecene, damsire of Anabaa - while Exceed And Excel carries family member Citation.
Extreme Choice brings their relative Raja Baba, Hussonet's damsire - additionally there are close affinities between the damlines of Hussonet and Medaglia d'Oro.
Her three lines to Newtown Wonder were such a contributing factor to the greatness of Emancipation. His was the same taproot line as Kenmare's grandsire Zeddaan - about the best filly producing line of all - to which also belong Eight Thirty (dam of Sunday Evening), and the ever present War Admiral.
The Classic influence of Medaglia D'Oro and the fact that Extreme Choice already has a G1 VRC Oaks winner suggests that Apocalyptic may not be restricted to pure sprinting - but she has shown us a glimpse of that wicked turn of foot passed down from Emancipation!
Extreme Choice stands at Newgate Farm on a fee of $330,000
