When Brooklyn Hustle (image below Grant Courtney) walked in the mounting yard at Moonee Valley on Saturday you could not help but be impressed and when she passed the winning post two lengths clear of her rivals despite missing the start we were even more impressed.
A homebred for Rosemont Stud, she is by Starspangledbanner (a powerhouse chestnut son of another powerhouse chestnut in Choisir) from Joint Aspiration (GB) , an imported stakes-winning daughter of Cheveley Park's hugely successful Nureyev line sire Pivotal.
Below are images of firstly Starspangledbanner and then Pivotal, so it's not hard to see why Brooklyn Hustle looks as she does.
Even more interesting is this perfect mix of chestnut power has worked like this before.
Respected pedigree guru Malcolm Campbell pointed out shortly after she won on Saturday that this particular nick had 100% success.
There have been six named foals bred this way and five have raced. All have won multiple races apart from debut winner Brooklyn Hustle and the best so far has been Spangle, winner of the Group III Doncaster Sceptre Stakes.
If we broaden the scope of the nick to look at Choisir and Pivotal we find 18 winners from 32 starters (56.3%) and another stakes-winner Sirici and stakes-placed horse in Ghazawaat.
An outstanding sire in his own right, Pivotal is still going at age 25 with his fee for 2019 listed as private. He has proven to be a remarkably good broodmare sire and has left the dams of 89 stakes-winners headed by 18 Group I winners including recent stars such as Cracksman, Hydrangea, Rhododendron, Fairyland, Magical, Advertise, One Master and Olmedo.
Australian breeders gearing up for the European Breeding Stock Sales would do well to look hard at mares and fillies by Pivotal, whose daughters have achieved great success with Sadler's Wells, Danehill and Green Desert line sires.
