Not a great deal of guesswork in this week's Best On Breeding, a million colt out of a million mare, who romped home by seven lengths at his most recent start.
The Fastnet Rock colt Conqueror finished second when making his career debut at Sandown-Lakeside back in February before disappointing when finishing last as favourite in a 5-runner maiden at the hillside track a fortnight later.
He was off the scene for nearly five months before trotting up by seven lengths on the synthetic track at Pakenham where he was again sent off favourite as the only 2yo facing off against eight of his seniors over 1400 metres.
The Lindsay Park trained colt takes aim at a benchmark 70 at Flemington on Saturday on a path to his ultimate goal the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas.
Conqueror comes from one of Waikato Stud’s most prolific families descending from the 1982 Group II QTC Sires' Produce Stakes and Group III Queensland Guineas winner Star Of The Knight.
A daughter of the great Sir Tristram, Star Of The Knight produced just three winners from her seven foals. Her best was the dual Group III winner Starcent (Centaine) who was runner-up in the Group 1 New Zealand One Thousand Guineas and Group 1 Levin RC Bayer Classic.
Another of Star Of The Knight’s winners was Professionelle who hit the ground running as a broodmare with stakes-winners Sportsman, Prisoner Of Love, Hoystar and King Of Prussia.
Starcent and Professionelle looked to be the standard-bearers for the family but an unlikely heroine has emerged in their unraced sister Night Star.
It’s not as if the daughter of Centaine was a top-notch producer. She was in fact sold for just $7,000 as an older mare. She had 12 named foals, 8 to race with 4 winners, the best of which was the Listed winner Plaudits.
But Night Star’s stakes-placed daughter Irish Nova (O’Reilly) is the dam of the champion Sprinter in NZ in 2014-15, Sacred Star (Flying Spur) whose nine wins included the Group 1 Waikato Sprint, Group 1 WRC Telegraph H. and Group II BRC QTC Cup.
Irish Nova’s unraced sister Bling has done even better with two Group 1 winners and two stakes-placegetters from her first seven named foals.
Her first Group 1 winner came when the Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman-trained Savabeel mare Diademe captured the NZ Thoroughbred Breeders' Stakes in 2015.
Two year’s later Diademe’s sister Embellish won the CJC New Zealand 2000 Guineas.
Diademe was purchased at the 2010 Karaka Premier Sale for $50,000 by Scott Richardson Bloodstock from Waikato Stud.
After retiring with a record of 7 wins and 8 placings from 27 starts with earnings of $375,589, Diademe was consigned to the 2015 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale where she was bought by China Horse Club / Coolmore for $740,000 and then sent to Fastnet Rock.
The result was Conqueror (pictured as a yearling ) who was consigned by Curraghmore to the NZB Yearling sale at Karaka where Mark Pilkington Management / Lindsay Park Racing had the last say at $1 million.
Meanwhile Diademe was back in the sales ring in 2018 at the MM National Broodmare Sale where she was made $1.7 million carrying a filly by Vancouver.
Now part of Gerry Harvey’s broodmare band, Diademe was covered by Snitzel last spring.
