One To Watch - Bendigo

Mark Smith - Sunday August 13

Some promising types contested Sunday's Jayco SV 3YO Maiden Plate (1300m), which makes the dominant winner Illumicon one to follow.

With three seconds from as many starts, Crystal Spirit was an important benchmark in this race but the son of Bel Esprit had no answer to the finishing burst of the Nicconi colt.

The strapping chestnut had finished a luckless fourth at his career debut at Morphettville back on July 29.

Advertisement

The Tony McEvoy-trained colt tracked the early speed set by Crystal Spirit and when Luke Currie pressed the go button Illumicon quickly collared the favourite to win by one and a quarter lengths.


It was the fourth consecutive second for Crystal Spirit who looks sure to break his maiden in the near future.

Godolphin's Exceed And Excel filly Langoustine finished well for third with another strong performance came from Darren Weir's Americain colt Amerock in fourth just two and a half lengths from the winner.

Currie said the son of Nicconi has the scope to win better races.

"He drew well, took up a nice spot and the two main dangers crossed us and were running 1-2 so we had them in our sights, Currie said.

"They backed the speed off so I elected to come out a bit early so we exposed him a little bit but it was only a matter of when I pushed the button and put them away.

"I galloped him for the first time during the week and he gave me the feel of a nice horse. Obviously, they have to take the next step but he did everything right today to say that he is on the right track.

A $130,000 purchase from the Lomar Park draft at the 2016 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, Illumicon is the second foal of the winning Encosta de Lago mare Elucidate.

A $210,000 Easter Yearling, Elucidate is out of the Deputy Governor mare Krall a sister to Group I NZ Two Thousand Guineas winner Hero and a three-quarter sister to the dam of Group I Rosehill Guineas winner Sale Of Century.

Krall is a daughter of NZ Oaks and AJC Oaks heroine Domino a three-quarter sister to triple Group I winner (Our) Westminster (the dam of four stakes winners including dual Group I winner Pace Invader) and half-sister to Group II Breeders Stakes winner Super Natural.

Nicconi covered 226 mares at Widden Stud last season at a fee of $11,000 and has earned a bump in fee in 2017 to $16,500.

 

Advertisment
More Reading...
Kiwi Breeders to be Honoured at National Awards
The New Zealand thoroughbred breeding community will come together on Saturday July 26 to celebrate another year of excellence at the Property Brokers National Breeding Awards at the Sir Don Rowlands Centre in Cambridge.
JRHA Foal Sale – Equinox Fever and Aussie Star Mares
The JRHA Select Sale continued on Tuesday with the prized foal session and while the sale-topper always looked an obvious one with the Equinox colt from Champion US Mare Midnight Bisou widely tipped to star, our Aussie bred mares still made their presence felt.
Century of Winners for McDougal
Corrina McDougal had to wait on a protest before earning her first training success, but on Sunday at Woodville, her 100th was never in doubt.
Winning Return for Zoustar Colt
Group placed during the autumn when he went around in several of the Golden Slipper lead up races, promising Zoustar colt Hillier made a winning return at Newcastle on Tuesday when resuming from a spell.
Veteran Tavis Court Keeps Winning Streak Alive
Evergreen galloper Tavis Court had won a race in every season of his career since he debuted as a three-year-old, and at the tail end of his nine-year-old year, he kept that remarkable streak alive at Hawera on Tuesday.
High Hopes for Up and Comers
Andrew Forsman is hoping the younger members of his stable can make their mark in the new season’s age group events.
2YO Spandeedo Heads Sharrock Treble
It was a red-letter day at Hawera on Tuesday for Gavin Sharrock, with the Stratford trainer posting his first treble.
Sires With Winners - Tuesday July 15
Here is the full list of 38 stallions which had winners throughout Australasia today with winners and result details.
Juvenile Trial Watch – Rosehill
There were six heats won by juveniles at the Rosehill trials on Tuesday morning and they included a couple of promising horses that have already proven their stripes in stakes company, plus an unraced youngster by in form sire Flying Artie.
One to Watch – Newcastle
The O’Shea /Charlton stable have had a lot of success this season and pivotal to that have been the Kiwi breds in the stable highlighted by G1 winning 3YO’s Linebacker and Maison Louis and the dynamic duo unleashed a promising 2YO debut winner on Tuesday with the NZ suffix.