Popular Perth trainer Dan Morton was already having a great day out at Ascot after his undefeated gelding King Of Light produced an extraordinary finish to win the Listed Fairetha Stakes and half an hour later his day got even more fabulous.
Morton stablemates, race favourite Super Smink (Super One) and the unheralded In Good Order (American Pharoah) at odds of 100/1 finished one/two in the feature race of the day, the G2 Lee Steere Stakes!
Top class mare Super Smink (Super One) is on track for another grand showing in the upcoming G1 Railway Stakes- in which she placed last season - producing a strong second up performance to win the 1400m WFA contest.
This was Super Smink's second G2 victory - the first was her Karrakatta triumph as a juvenile - and her sixth stakes win in just 23 starts.
All but two of those runs have been in black type company, and many have been in open WFA races.
Morton's five year old stable star travelled to Melbourne in the Autumn for a hit and run mission, where she took on the cream in the G1 Orr and Futurity Stakes.
Now she's back from a lengthy spell and looks to have returned in tip top order!
Punters installed Super Smink as 7/4 favourite for the 1400m Lee Steere following her slashing first up third in the Belgravia Stakes.
Due to prevailing wind conditions, Ascot was having one of its leaderish days - ideal for the front running veteran Comfort Me (Playing God) who attracted his share of support.
Classy customer and rejuvenated galloper Western Empire (Iffraaj) from the powerful Williams stable was resuming from a successful winter campaign with W Pike on board, and installed as second favourite.
Magnificent Andy (Magnus) is a marvel - he just keeps on trucking and the old boy is never far away from the action! The inaugural Golden Saddle hero had run a good 4th in the Belgravia and was primed for a big showing in the Lee Steere having run third to Casino Seventeen last year.
Neville Parnham's Bustler (Playing God) was second in 2024, but the G1 Railway winner of 2023 has only shown the odd glimpse of form since then and was friendless in the market - as was every other runner in the 11 horse field, with the exception of consistent mare Yonga Lass (Universal Ruler), who was specked at double figure odds.
On jumping Comfort Me and Holly Watson cruised to the lead and set a nice steady tempo ahead of Bustler (S Parnham) and In Good Order (Sean O'Donnell), with Super Smink and Chris Parnham dropping comfortably into fourth on his inside.
Magnificent Andy (B Parnham) and Yonga Lass (S McGruddy) raced side by side midfield.
Holly rated Comfort Me perfectly throughout the race, and when they approached the home turn she let him roll, as Super Smink moved into third travelling strongly.
Western Empire and Pike had it all to do but were attempting to make ground around the field.
Into the straight and Comfort Me had a kick! but Super Smink had switched off his heels and smoothly moved into top gear.
Far from dropping away, the big and imposing In Good Order was still right there beside her fighting - but little Super Smink darted between her stablemate and Comfort Me to put the result beyond doubt in a couple of strides.
The bonny mare won by half a length from a gallant In Good Order, with Western Empire and Magnificent Andy flashing home late in a great go for third!
Comfort Me had stayed on strongly and was able to hold them off and take the placing.
Jubilant trainer Dan Morton could not have been happier with the result.
“She’s the stable favourite, so it means a bit,” he said after the race.
“It’s all tempo-related. If they’re going too quick, then you don’t need to be there (on pace), but they went steady enough that it worked for her today.”
Bookies shortened Super Smink into $6 for the G1 $1.5 million Railway Stakes on November 22 after her impressive victory.
“She’s at a good level of fitness, so it’s just our job to tick every box and be super careful, and probably not sleep much” joked the trainer.
“We were aware coming into today that you might gain half a kilo (impost) or something but these races are here to win - they’re worth proper money - and if she’s got a little penalty, so be it.
She’s going super and we’re looking forward to the Railway”.
“She’s a magnificent mare now” said jockey Chris Parnham, who has partnered Super Smink throughout her career.
“From what she did early and to still be going at this age, she’s done a tremendous job.
"She can settle closer as long as we’re not going at a fast speed. Today, we went pretty steady, as I thought we might.
"She’s a pretty genuine type of mare; she knows where the winning post is.
"She’s the sort of mare that’s capable of winning a Group 1, so fingers crossed she can do it in the Railway. I think she’s good enough.”
The Lee Steere Stakes win advances Super Smink's record to 23 starts for 6 wins and 10 placings which have netted over $1.5 million in prize money.
The daughter of Super One was a modest $45,000 purchase for Morton Racing from the Forest View Farm draft at the 2022 Magic Millions Perth Yearling Sale.
Her dam is the Snitzel mare Sminky Shorts, unplaced at her only race start.
Sminky Shorts may not have worn any hotpants on the track, but she is a member of a family that has performed with distinction in the West!
Sminky Shorts is a three quarter sister to Listed stakes winner and G2 VRC Sires' Produce Stakes / Listed ATC Breeders' Plate runner-up Detective (Snitzel)
She is one of three winners from the unraced Viscount mare Most Joyous, a half sister to four stakes winners produced by the incredibly fast 3 x stakes winning juvenile Most Secret.
A prolific breeder of both quality and quantity, Most Secret left thirteen named foals and ten were winners.
They included the G1 Railway winning heroine Covertly by Metal Storm (the dam of abovementioned stakes winner Detective and stakes placed Bourne Detective, both by Snitzel); Listed WATC December Stakes winner Secret Link (Encosta De Lago), and her final foal - a 2015 I Am Invincible filly named Crack The Code who was an impressive winner of the G3 Kevin Hayes Stakes at Caulfield.
Most Secret's G3 Colonel Reeves winning colt So Secret (Danetime) went to stud in WA and sired winners of the Karrakatta Plate and Bunbury Cup!
Super Smink's interesting tail female line goes back to the Irish-bred Ankaret, winner of the Coronation Stakes and runner up in the Oaks at Epsom.
Ankaret was a half sister to Stardust - the sire of Australasian breed shaper Star Kingdom.
This family is a branch of 16 (Agnes) descending from her daughter Lady Alice - also the ancestress of another sire who shaped the breed in North America, the mighty Broomstick.
Sminky Shorts has a gelding by Sessions named No Short Man who has raced twice to date.
She has a yearling filly by champion sire Playing God, and the mare missed to Gingerbread Man last season.
Super Smink is bred
Danzig 5m,5m x 5m
Canny Lad 4f x 5f
Storm Bird x 5m x 5f sex balanced
There is no doubt Super Smink's double cross of legendary broodmare sire Canny Lad, who placed in a Cox Plate, has played a key role in her ability to carry her scintillating speed up to 1800m.
Particularly as his sire Bletchingly is a relative of her linebred ancestor Danzig and of Blue Hen Rafha, the dam of her great grandsire Invincible Spirit.
She is also linebred to the 2f (Alope) family via Tale Of The Cat, to Round Table x4 sex balanced), to Blue Hen Somethingroyal, and to the mighty Nijinsky also sex balanced via his Blue Hens State and Dancing Show and - through her dam - his Classic sons Green Dancer and Caerleon, another important foundation for the Super One speed.
Super One has been a journeyman sire since he began his career at Newgate Farm, relocated to Newhaven Park, then was installed at Lincoln Farm before finally crossing the Nullabor to take up residence at Roselee Park Stud in Serpentine WA.
The good looking son of super stallion I Am Invincible won the very same G3 race - the D.C Mackay Stakes at Morphettville over 1100m - as his famous sire, and like “Vinnie” it was his only Group race win.
Super One – the first foal of Tale Of The Cat (Storm Cat) mare Tails Wins – had a brief career which began in Singapore where he won his first four starts, the last two at Listed level
That earned him a trip to Australia and a tilt at the G1 Coolmore Stud Stakes where he was outclassed.
Returning from a spell Super One was dropped in grade and won his G3 McKay Stakes, before again finding G1 level a little too rich in The Goodwood sprint.
As the saying goes, lightning doesn’t strike in the same place twice!
While I Am Invincible went on to carve out a stratospheric stud career from (relatively) humble results on the track, Super One has not been able to replicate that rare feat.
But he can get a good horse.
While Super Smink is the flag bearer among his progeny, Super One has also sired Listed Canberra Sprint winner Another One, stakes placed Superazi, brilliant speedster Alpha One (second in the Vain Stakes to Giga Kick!) and G3 placed Tasmanian Embeller.
At the end of his second season at stud Super One was sold to Hong Kong breeding concern All Winners (based in QLD and backed by HK owner K F Cheng) who had identified the stallion as one they believed would sire ideal types for the hard, fast tracks in Hong Kong and other Asian racing jurisdictions.
But it seems he has finally found his place siring gallopers that enjoy the hard and fast tracks of Western Australia - and Super Smink is proof that he can throw an exceptional racehorse, with stamina as well as speed - from the right mare.
Super One stands at Roselee Park Stud on a fee of $8,000.
