Goffs chief Henry Beeby has lauded a memorable November Breeding Stock Sale that saw Godolphin pay €1 million for a Sea The Stars (Ire) colt in the foal session and Alex Elliott go to €725,000 for Shamardal mare Her Honour (Ire) in what proved to be an eventful Saturday at Kildare Paddocks. The curtain came down on the Breeding Stock Sale on Sunday, where the Kevin Prednergast-trained Profit Refused (Ire) (Profitable {Ire}) led the way at €45,000 to Rochestown Lodge Stud.  Gouache (Ger), the dam of Goliath (Ger), who was a €5 million buyback on Saturday, remains unsold but that high-profile disappointment couldn't detract from what was overall strong trade at Goffs, especially in the foal department.  Beeby commented, “What a week. Goffs November 24 will be remembered in many ways but mostly for the frenetic, electric and superb trade for the cream of the Irish foal crop we presented in our Foal Sale.  “As ever we are supremely grateful to every vendor for the ongoing trust that is placed in us with each entry. It gives us enormous pleasure to see so many being well rewarded, and we are excited to learn that several of the best foals are already pencilled in for the Orby Sale next year. That is a key point for us as we strive to provide a top of the market option for Irish breeders and vendors of yearlings. We have demonstrated time and again, and in so many different categories, that Goffs is the measure of any entity when we have the horses but, as we say so often, we're nothing without the horses. So, the commitment of several big pinhookers to return to Orby is significant and we are pleased that our long-standing Customer Loyalty Scheme is helpful in this respect.” He added, “Our Breeding Stock Sale was never going to come anywhere near last year's truly historic sale which, of course, was headlined by the once in a generation Niarchos Draft. However, leaving that aside we are perfectly content with trade for the better mares we offered and enjoyed a vibrant trade fuelled by a truly international buying bench.  “Naturally we were disappointed not to secure a sale for Gouache, the dam of Goliath, but I repeat that we have total respect for the right of any vendor to value their stock as they see fit, and it is absolutely their prerogative to place whatever reserve they want and then let the market decide. On this occasion a sale was not possible although we will continue to work for the vendor, and it may be that a private sale is agreed in the coming days. Indeed, our work does not stop when the gavel falls as was clearly shown with yesterday's top lot, Her Honour as we quickly brokered a deal between vendor and the ultimate buyer at a price that suited both parties despite her not selling in the ring.” Concentrating solely on Sunday, Beeby acknowledged that a 79% clearance rate, €445,500 turnover, €7,816 average and €5,000 median was a “sobering” experience.  He concluded, “Today was obviously a rather sobering end to a big week but, as throughout the sale, those that appealed were hard enough to buy and we will only redouble our efforts to persuade more to support the sale. This business can be brutal on occasions, but Irish breeders may rest assured that Goffs will not rest in our efforts to provide a vibrant global marketplace for them. That is what we live to do and what we love to do.” Given last year's sale featured the anomaly of the Niarchos dispersal, which saw Alpha Centauri and Alpine Star make €6 million apiece, Goffs released comparative figures omitting the Niarchos horses for the November Sale.  The breeding stock section of the November Sale featured 126 more horses in 2023. And that's not including the Niarchos horses. On that metric, the turnover was down by 19% to €11,295,000, the average climbed 6% to €51,341 while the median rested at €725,000.  Meanwhile, taking the entire November Sale as a whole and excluding the Niarchos draft again, the clearance rate was up by just 1% to 77%. Meanwhile, the turnover climbed 10% to €43,935,000, the average by 24% to €43,365 and the median by 23% to €27,000.  The post “What A Week” – Beeby Lauds Memorable Goffs November Breeding Stock Sale appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Sam Agars SOARING BRONCO - R6 (12) Has raced without luck recently and can deliver here with Purton on board   Jay Rooney SOARING BRONCO - R6 (12) Had plenty of excuses last time out but looks to get his chance today   Jack Dawling FIRST LOVE - R8 (11) Penultimate start suggests there is more to come from this four-year-old   Phillip Woo NEW FUTURE FOLKS - R3 (2) Has run well and looks ready to salute after a soft trial win in blinkers   Shannon (Vincent Wong) SAVVY BRILLIANT - R9 (2) Scored well over this C&D last start and can repeat the dose   Racing Post Online SOARING BRONCO - R6 (12) Had no clear run in the home straight last start and Purton takes the reins   Tom Wood VOYAGE SAMURAI - R7 (12) In great form and should get the perfect run behind the speedView the full article

It was perhaps the decision of a lifetime for Judy Hicks when she famously went up to Kenny McPeek after he purchased Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) and asked if she could stay in for a small piece of the filly she bred. Just a year later, while still awaiting Thorpedo Anna's debut, Hicks went and made another similar arrangement. Hicks sold Thorpedo Anna's half-brother for $40,000–coincidentally the same price that 'Anna' had sold for–at the 2023 Keeneland September Sale. Afterwards, she approached Jake Ballis of Black Type Thoroughbreds and asked if she could retain a piece of the colt. Ballis agreed and the partnership that also included Swinbank Stables and Campeche Stables even let Hicks name the colt. She decided to call him McAfee, like the computer software program, as a nod to the colt's sire Cloud Computing. Hicks said that as a foal, McAfee was completely different from Thorpedo Anna. McAfee as a foal at Brookstown Farm | courtesy Judy Hicks “He was a great big colt,” Hicks explained. “He was almost solid black and was really gorgeous.” Sent to Rick Dutrow, McAfee showed promise from the start and made his debut at Churchill Downs in a six-furlong contest restricted for horses that sold or RNA'd for $50,000 or less on Nov. 1, just a day before Thorpedo Anna was scheduled to cap off a brilliant season in the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff. Tuning in from Del Mar, Hicks watched as McAfee sat off the pace, then shifted out going around the turn and picked off rivals in the stretch to win by over three lengths. “You should have heard the screaming from all my friends,” Hicks recalled with a laugh. “All the Thorpedo Anna people were going, 'Oh my God, her half-brother just broke his maiden.' It was amazing.” After putting in a bullet work going four furlongs in :46.80 on Nov. 18, McAfee will make his second start this weekend at Churchill Downs. The juvenile drew the inside post in Race 1, a one-mile $50,000 starter allowance on Sunday, Nov. 24. Hicks reported that if all goes well, the plan may be to send the colt to New York for a shot on the Kentucky Derby trail. A lot has to go right, but Hicks can't help daydreaming about making another trip to Churchill Downs on the first weekend in May. “The 'what if's' are crazy,” she said. Hicks also has a lot to look forward to in 2025 at Brookstown Farm, where Thorpedo Anna and McAfee were both foaled and raised (see video below). Their dam Sataves (Uncle Mo) is in foal to Gun Runner and is due in the middle of April. Hicks noted that she will be bred back to Curlin. Sataves's first foal Charlee O (Tourist) is expecting her first foal by Bolt d'Oro in March and she will then be bred to Good Magic. Sataves's most recent foal, a filly by Known Agenda, is also showing promise. “The weanling this year is absolutely stunning,” said Hicks. “I sent Kenny her picture and he said, 'Wow, she's got Anna's hind leg.' I told him that he had suggested that I sell her in September. He goes, 'Oh no, we're going to race that one.' So I really would love to run her. Not that I'll have another Anna, but who knows.” Hicks knows that she will likely never have another filly like Thorpedo Anna, a top contender for 2024 Horse of the Year who took her ownership group that also includes Brookdale Racing, Mark Edwards and Magdalena Racing on an unforgettable journey this year from the GI Kentucky Oaks and two Grade I wins in Saratoga to a hard-fought victory in the GI Cotillion Stakes and a decisive score at the Breeders' Cup. “It's almost like it's routine,” Hicks admitted. “I told Kenny, 'When she's gone from our lives, there's going to be such a huge void.' I mean, it's almost like it's expected.” Thorpedo Anna at Magdalena Farm, which now offers tours through Visit Horse Country | Grace Clark-Sweet But for all of those trips to the winner's circle this year, Hicks said it was her gutsy runner-up performance against Fierceness (City of Light) in the GI Travers Stakes that she will remember most. “Just the anxiety and the thrill of the Travers, where everyone was rooting for her, that was a pretty incredible feeling,” Hicks said. Another favorite memory from Hicks's time in Saratoga was when she stopped in at Spring Street Deli, a Saratoga staple, and learned that a sandwich there had been named the Thorpedo Anna Sammie. Thorpedo Anna is currently enjoying a layoff at Kenny McPeek's Magdalena Farm and Hicks reported that the superstar filly is soaking in her time there. “She has a buddy named Cooper,” Hicks said. “She follows him around in the paddock like a puppy and then she puts her head down and grazes.” After her break, Thorpedo Anna will return to Fair Grounds and McPeek has laid out plans for a potential start in the GI Apple Blossom on April 12 at Oaklawn Park. Hicks is counting down the days. “I'm very proud and I'm kind of humbled by it,” she admitted. “I drive past the field where her mom is every day.” The post Thorpedo Anna’s Brother McAfee Looks to Win Two Straight for Hicks and Partners appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

How did we get hooked on this sport? We all have stories about how our love affair developed and blossomed. The TDN will be reaching out to numerous notable people in the industry to get their stories to find out how they got hooked and stayed hooked on the sport. Jessica Paquette, Parx announcer I grew up a horse-crazy kid and we didn't have much money so horses were a world away. I consumed every bit of horse related media I could and these were the early days of the internet–I found kids with a shared interest on AOL message boards. Fast forward to the 1999 Breeders' Cup at Gulfstream Park. I was there because of the generosity and vision of Kids to the Cup. As luck would have it, my favorite horse, Blazing Sword, was running on the undercard. I stood in the Gulfstream grandstand in awe of everything around me and knew then, at 14, I never wanted to do anything else. Kids to the Cup changed the course of my life and those of so many other young racing fans forever. Caroline Wilson | Jon Siegel photo Caroline Wilson, SF Bloodstock I grew up in a suburb of Dublin called Clontarf and didn't have any connection to racing, but my cousin Sarah was an eventer and a show jumper. She was a little older than I was so I kind of looked up to her. As a young kid, I got into riding lessons and then got into the eventing and show jumping world. I never had a horse of my own but I would do barn tours to ride other people's horses. I used to spend my summers in a place in Tipperary called Crossogue Stud which was owned by Mark Molloy. He had national hunt race horses there. I used to bug him to let me ride out on them in the mornings. I would do that on school holidays. My first trip to Kentucky was in 2010 to work for Coolmore at Ashford Stud. That was the very first time I touched a foal. It kind of kicked off from there. When I left Ashford, I was on track to get into research. That was my area of passion at the time. I was involved with the beginnings and development of the Equilume light mask. I did a research Master's around that. It's a light mask that mares or any horse can wear outside in their natural herd environment. I did a beta trial at Castleton Lyons. I was planning on getting my Ph.D. After one year at Castleton, I knew this was for me. I was living in Kentucky and enjoyed being a part of everything. So I applied for the Godolphin Flying Start program. I consider that to be my turning point. Clontarf is on the north side of the city. I could walk into city center from my house and it is right on the sea, so there weren't many horses there. Now, I absolutely love what I do. With the team I get to work with I am challenged every day and I get to be involved in the breeding side and the stallions through SF Bloodstock and I also get to be involved in our racing stable. We've had great success this year with Citizen Bull and Moira. I get to work the sales with Donato Lanni and Bob Baffert. I feel like I am in a very fortunate position. I'm one of two children. My brother is four years younger than me and he's a classical guitarist. My dad often says to me that it's amazing that both of us have gone on to have careers in our areas of passion. To share your own story of how you got hooked on racing, email suefinley@thetdn.com The post Hooked on Racing: Jessica Paquette and Caroline Wilson appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

As poster boys and girls go, the Group 1-winning three-year-olds Economics (GB) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) and You Got To Me (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) aren't too bad at all. It's a truism that plenty of top-flight winners in Europe are owned by their breeders, but it also the case that all breeders have to sell some of their young stock, and plenty of hard graft at the foal sales can unearth a good one.  The Classic winner You Got To Me returns to the December Mares Sale next week in the draft of her co-owner Newsells Park Stud for what will be her third visit to Tattersalls. Her debut appearance came when she was offered as a foal by the National Stud and was bought for 62,000gns by BBA Ireland. Returned the following autumn to Book 1 by Glenvale Stud, a decent pinhooking profit was secured when she was snapped up by Alex Elliott for Valmont for 200,000gns. But that's only the beginning of her story. A winner on debut at two, she turned heads this spring when winning the Lingfield Oaks Trial and was then fourth in the Oaks before winning the Irish Oaks. Her price next week will almost certainly have an extra zero on the end.  In hindsight, Economics, too, now looks to have been a bargain foal purchase from Baroda Stud by Adrian and Philippa O'Brien of Hazelwood Bloodstock. He also turned a profit as a yearling when sold for 160,000gns at Book 2 to Highclere Agency on behalf of owner Shaikh Isa Salman Al Khalifa, and he has been one of the most talked-about horses of all season, winning the G1 Irish Champion and G2 Dante Stakes. It has been a funny old sales season, hasn't it? We started the yearling sales in a rather cautious manner, and a number of the earlier sales did not perform as well as they had done in previous years. But that whimper had turned into an uproarious bang by the time the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale came around, doubtless emboldening the foal buyers to go once more unto the breach. They're a pretty bold crowd anyway, and over in Ireland at Goffs the trade had an extra crackle to it, with significant gains across the board.  What's in Store? So what can be expected at Park Paddocks, where just over 1,000 foals have been catalogued? The four days of foal action begin on Tuesday – after the traditional final session of Monday yearlings – and continue on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday with a 'dark day' for extra inspection time for the later foals on Thursday. Facteur Cheval (Ire) (Ribchester {Ire}) is another Tattersalls foal graduate and a half-sister to the G1 Dubai Turf winner features among a septet of weanlings by Wootton Bassett (GB), whose trajectory continues on an upward curve. The filly (lot 908) is offered by her breeder McCracken Farms and it's not just the admirable Facteur Cheval on the page to recommend her as this is a family which also contains the Group 1 winners Tamayuz (GB), Eshaada (GB) and Santiago (Ire). Shadwell have done well with this family for several generations and beyond their involvement it traces back to Allez Les Trois and Allegretta (GB). McCracken Farms also did well to buy the dam of this filly, Jawlaat (Ire) (Shamardal) from Shadwell for 18,000gns – a sound investment which should again be rewarded at Tattersalls, for this is a filly who would sit well, eventually, in any broodmare band.  Back in 2020, the weanling who would become known as Chaldean (GB) had to play third fiddle to two colts by Dubawi (Ire) who came ahead of him on the leader board. The son of Frankel (GB), bred by Whitsbury Manor Stud, was bought by Juddmonte for 550,000gs, went on to win the 2,000 Guineas, retired to stand alongside his own storied sire at Banstead Manor Stud. He now has mares being sold carrying his first crop of foals.  Chaldean's dam Suelita (GB) (Dutch Art {GB}) has become something of a bloodstock cause celebre, with the success of her offspring on the track (five black-type performers and counting from her seven winners) driving up the prices in the sales ring. Two years after Chaldean's appearance at the foal sale, his half-sister Kassaya (GB) (Kingman {GB}) topped the sale at 1,000,000gns, again bought by Juddmonte.  On Friday, Chaldean's full-sister will be offered with no little fanfare. Ed Harper has proclaimed that she is “probably the best foal we'll ever produce at Whitsbury.” We can see where this is going, right? If you want to see Tattersalls at its theatrical best, make sure you're in what will definitely be a packed ring for when lot 945 goes through on Friday.  Along with this filly, Whitsbury Manor, traditionally one of the largest foal vendors, has another 23 to offer, a good many of whom are by the farm's young stallions Havana Grey (GB) and Sergei Prokofiev.  Suelita's filly is far from the only Frankel of note in the sale. He too has seven weanlings to represent him, among them the second foals of Breeders' Cup winners Audarya (Fr) (Le Havre {Ire}) and Glass Slippers (GB) (Dream Ahead), both of whom started their broodmare careers by visiting Dubawi (Ire). The colt out of Audarya, who also won the G1 Prix Jean Romanet for Alison Swinburn, is consigned for the breeder by Swinburn's in-laws at Genesis Green Stud as lot 936. Genesis Green enjoyed a particularly good foal sale in 2021 when topping Tattersalls with a 1,800,000gns colt by Dubawi. The colt from Glass Slippers, the pride of Terry and Margaret Holdcroft's Bearstone Stud, is lot 927. There's a bumper entry of 39 foals by the aforementioned Havana Grey, himself a graduate of this sale back in 2015 when sold by his co-breeder Mickley Stud for 42,000gns. But if you think that's a lot, his stud-mate Sergei Prokofiev, currently co-top of the first-season sires' table with Mohaather (GB) on 19 winners, had 65 catalogued, though 12 of those are already withdrawn. Even that pales into insignificance compared to the group of 80 foals consigned through Barton Stud – 67 after withdrawals – which is by far the largest draft in the book and includes a filly by New Bay (GB) out of the Grade III winner Angel Terrace (Ghostzapper) from the family of top stayer Order Of St George (Ire). First-Season Sires  There has already been a flurry of interest over the results of the sires who have their first foals on offer this season, with a number of them getting off to a positive start. Baaeed (GB) was out super early when one of his foals was sold at the JRHA Select Sale in Japan back in July for the equivalent of approximately £290,000. Eight more of the first crop of the world's top-rated turf horse of 2022 will come under the hammer at Tattersalls, including lot 902. The filly out of the G3 Prix de Lieurey winner Cloudy Dawn (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) is offered by James Wigan, whose West Blagdon Stud draft is regularly one of the highlights of the December Foal Sale.  Among those newcomers with foals on offer next week are also Overbury Stud's Caturra (31), Darley's Perfect Power (26) and Naval Crown (six), Ballylinch Stud's Bayside Boy (six), Starfield Stud's Space Traveller (five).  We have already had a look at the offering by Stradivarius for the foal sale, and State Of Rest (Ire) is another sire of great interest. A four-time Group 1 winner in four different countries, the son of Starspangledbanner (Aus), who is now at Rathbarry Stud, has already had eight sold Goffs for an average price of €29,125, and there are three more to come at Tattersalls, including lot 858, a filly from his breeder Tinnakill House who is a half-sister to the French listed winner Sotteville (Fr) (Le Havre {Ire}). One and Done There are some noteworthy sires with just one weanling in the book at Tattersalls, and for many of us outside Germany it will be the first chance to see a foal by the 2021 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Torquator Tasso (Ger). The son of Adlerflug (Ger) was the busiest stallion in Germany in his first season at Gestut Auenquelle, and one member of that crop is catalogued as lot 476. The filly, who hails from the family of another Arc winner, Alpinista (GB), is consigned by Peter and Aline Rodde's Gestut Westerberg. Westerberg is also home to the stallion Destino (Ger), a Group 3-winning son of Soldier Hollow (GB) who was runner-up in the Deutsches Derby. He has one well-bred individual in the sale from Northmore Stud. Offered as lot 1098, he is a three-part-brother to two black-type earners and out of a Monsun (Ger) granddaughter of German champion two-year-old filly Narooma (Ger).  Zarak (Fr) and Galiway (GB) need no introduction, and the popular French-based stallions have one each at Tattersalls. Lot 865 is a Zarak colt from the Hascombe & Valiant family of Gold Cup winner Courage Mon Ami (GB) and he is being offered by Voute Sales. The Galiway colt in among the Baroda Stud draft as lot 849. The GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint winner Golden Pal is at Ashford Stud in Kentucky but the son of Uncle Mo is represented by a British-foaled colt in Newmarket from Plantation Stud. Lot 669, from Golden Pal's first crop, is out of the dual winner Lady Clementine (GB) (Churchill {Ire}), herself a daughter of the listed-winning sprinter Wind Fire (Distorted Humor). Havana Grey will ensure that his sire Havana Gold (Ire) will not be forgotten in a hurry and there is just one foal from the late stallion's final crop on offer at Tattersalls. That is lot 1066, a colt who surely needs to be named Battle of Hastings, and is a member of the Souk (GB) dynasty, which features any number of smart performers, including Magic Wand (Ire) and Chicquita (Ire). Camille Pissarro's Half-Sister Heads Yearling Interest This is always an interesting sale to attend and follow, containing as it so often does, a select number of well-bred individuals who, for some minor reason or other have had to miss an engagement in an earlier sale, or their owners have elected to give them a little more time in waiting for this final yearling auction of the year. Let's not forget that this was where Via Sistina (Ire) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) made her debut public appearance when sold for 5,000gns. A mere £4.5 million in earnings later, she appears to have made rather a name for herself.  This year's sale opens with a Study Of Man (Ire) filly from the further family of Al Bahathri and City Of Troy, and only four lots later comes a Ulysses (Ire) half-brother to the lovely Hamish (GB) (Motivator {GB}), bred by the late Brian Haggas, who died last month at the age of 93, and who cultivated this family of Frog (GB) (Akarad {Fr}) for years. He has been ably assisted in this regard by his trainer son William. (And in fact, Maureen Haggas should be given much of the credit for the success of Hamish as she rides him daily and dotes on him.) A potentially very special offering on Monday is lot 63, the half-sister to recent G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere winner Camille Pissarro (Ire) (Wootton Bassett {GB}). By Dark Angel (Ire), whose exploits as a broodmare sire are of increasing relevance, the April-born filly has another three more black-type-winning half-siblings in the G1 Commonwealth Cup winner and young sire Golden Horde (Ire), who is by Dark Angel's sire Lethal Force (Ire), and Exhort (GB) (Dutch Art {GB}) and Line Of Departure (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}). Their dam Entreat (GB) (Pivotal {GB}) was bought by James Cloney for 14,000gns at the Tattersalls July Sale when she was carrying Golden Horde, and she was certainly well bought. Camille Pissaro was bought for 1,250,000gns from Book 1 last year, and it would be no surprise to see the Dark Angel filly take top order on Monday.    The post Foal Spotlight Switches to Tattersalls After Vibrant Start at Goffs appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

The super-talented Globe (NZ) (Charm Spirit) put a troubled 14 months behind him with a powerful all-the-way win in Saturday’s A$500,000 Listed Cranbourne Cup (1600m). The New Zealand-bred son of Charm Spirit had announced himself as an exciting young talent on the Australian scene with wins in all of his first four starts between March and May of 2023. He was sent out as favourite in the Gr.2 Feehan Stakes (1600m) in his next appearance in September of that year, but was beaten by more than 30 lengths and was found to have suffered atrial fibrillation. After more than six months on the sidelines, Globe returned to racing with a fourth in the Gr.3 Victoria Handicap (1400m) at Caulfield in April in what proved to be his only appearance in that preparation. Another long spell followed before the six-year-old resumed his stop-start career with a fourth in the Gr.3 Moonga Stakes (1400m) on October 19. A last-start second in the Listed Chester Manifold Stakes (1600m) on November 7 showed signs that Globe was creeping closer to his best form, and he was right back on his A-game in Saturday’s Cranbourne feature. In a bold front-running performance in the hands of jockey Ethan Brown, Globe dictated terms in the lead and began to up the ante a long way from the finish. He still had plenty left in the tank to hold his challengers at bay down the home straight, edging out Air Assault (Justify) by a long head with Dashing (Magnus) another length away in third. “In his work the other day, I felt he’d improved since the Chester Manifold,” Brown said. “He proved me right with the way he dealt with things today. It was a hot day, which could have easily brought him undone, but he kept his cool. “We established such a beautiful lead. He pricked his ears. I knew I was on a fit horse, so I wanted to up the tempo a long way out and try and break them, and that’s what happened. He’ll improve again out of this run. I’m confident he’ll get back to where they thought he was heading before he got injured.” Globe has now had nine starts for five wins and a second, earning A$506,250 in stakes. He is trained by Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr. “This is fantastic for the owners,” Price said. “We took a big punt on this race. He’s a 17-hand horse trying to get around the tight Cranbourne track, where I have my worst strike rate. “I think bringing him here on Tuesday was a good idea, because he is a high-nervous-energy horse and he did belt out a bit of energy on Tuesday morning. The kid (Brown) did a good job on him. “The horse was in good nervous order. His wheels weren’t fizzing around his head, which they can. I think the more racing he does, the better he’ll be.” Globe is by Charm Spirit out of Bonnie Doon (NZ) (Don Eduardo), who is a full-sister to dual Group One winner Booming (NZ). Globe was purchased at the 2020 New Zealand Bloodstock Book 2 Sale from the draft of Cambria Park for $22,000. A trial winner at Taupo in April of 2022 for the late Toby Autridge, Globe was later bought privately for Roll The Dice Racing by bloodstock agent Phill Cataldo. Globe’s Cranbourne Cup heroics capped a big Saturday for Cataldo, who also secured the purchase of impressive Kembla Grange winner I’mintowin (NZ) (Contributer). View the full article

Gringotts (NZ) (Per Incanto) continued his coming-of-age campaign with a powerhouse front-running performance under 60kg to win Saturday’s A$1 million The Illawarra Mercury Gong (1600m) at Kembla Grange. The Per Incanto gelding continued an outstanding run in the race for New Zealand-breds, who have now won it three years in a row. Riodini (NZ) (Proisir) won The Gong in 2022, followed by Detonator Jack (NZ) (Jakkalberry) in 2023. Gringotts went into Saturday’s race on an upward trajectory. He had claimed his first black-type success in the Listed Members’ Handicap (1600m) at Doomben in his final start of the previous season in May, then returned to action this spring with runner-up finishes in the Gr.3 Bill Ritchie Handicap (1400m) and the A$1.5 million Alan Brown Stakes (1400m). The five-year-old took his career to new heights with his last-start victory in the A$3 million The Big Dance (1600m). Saturday’s The Gong was a new challenge, jumping from gate 14 in a 16-horse field and carrying clear topweight. But under a positive ride from Tommy Berry, Gringotts dominated the race from the front. He led virtually every step of the way, then shook off the challenge of Suparazi down the Kembla Grange straight and raced to victory by three-quarters of a length. “I think he’s better than what I first thought he was,” Berry said. “It’s not easy for a horse to win with 60kg, and he was almost toying with them in the straight. I think he spotted the horse out wide on the track at about the same time I did, and then he put the afterburners on. He had more to give. “He seems to just get better as his preps go on. You saw that in his last preparation, when they were trying to win their way into The Big Dance. Now they’re just letting him do the talking. “I’ve had some tricky gates, but I don’t know if I can take too much credit either. He’s a very easy horse to ride.” The Ciaron Maher-trained Gringotts has now had 17 starts for nine wins, seven placings and more than A$3 million in stakes for an ownership group headed by Ozzie Kheir and John O’Neill. Maher and his team will now consider raising the bar again for a shot at the A$2 million Gr. 2 The Ingham (1600m) at Randwick on December 14. “He’s definitely getting better and better all the time,” assistant trainer Johann Gerard-Dubord said. “His target in this preparation was The Big Dance, and he got the job done there. But for him to continue into this race and do what he did today is great. “He briefly looked vulnerable, but when he saw the horse on the outside, he actually went again. I think he had more to give. “He’ll keep improving. He’s done a very good job in this preparation, but he’ll be a proper horse going forward. “If you see him every day, he’s still doing a lot wrong on a day-to-day basis and has a tendency to get hot. There’s still so much learning to come. “The way he did it today, especially from that gate and with that weight, I think he’ll be hard to beat if we go to The Ingham with him.” Gringotts was bred by Totara Park Stud and is by Little Avondale Stud’s outstanding sire Per Incanto out of the Savabeel mare Miss Bluebell (NZ). Herself unraced, Miss Bluebell is a daughter of Operavega (NZ) (Stravinsky), whose half-sister Vegas Showgirl (NZ) (Al Akbar) was the dam of the legendary Winx (Street Cry). Miss Bluebell’s half-sister Miss Vegas (NZ) (Charlton House) was in the spotlight this week when her two-year-old son by Proisir sold for $650,000 during the Ready to Run Sale at Karaka. Miss Bluebell is the dam of two stakes performers from three foals to race. The other is Millefiori (NZ) (Iffraaj), who has won seven races for Te Akau Racing and placed in the Listed Great Easter Stakes (1400m). Gringotts was offered by Archer Park in Book 1 of Karaka 2021, where Kasa Bloodstock bought him for $100,000. He was re-offered at the Ready to Run Sale later that year, but failed to meet his $450,000 reserve. He was subsequently sold privately after winning a trial at Waipa for Simon and Katrina Alexander. View the full article

La Crique (NZ) (Vadamos) sprouted wings in the Pukekohe straight on Saturday to come from a near-hopeless position and win the Gr.2 Dunstan Horsefeeds Auckland Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes (1400m) in a photo finish. The Vadamos mare went into the fillies and mares’ feature as the class act of the field, having won eight races and more than $1.3 million including Group One victories in the Arrowfield Stud Plate (1600m) and the Otaki-Maori WFA Classic (1600m). In her first start since taking out the A$500,000 Magic Millions National Classic (1600m) in Brisbane back in June, La Crique showed all the right signs with a strong finish into second with a 60.5kg topweight at Tauranga on November 2. La Crique jumped as a $2.20 favourite in the Breeders’ Stakes on Saturday, where she was ideally suited by the switch from handicap to weight-for-age conditions. But her chances appeared to plummet over the course of the next 60 seconds. The six-year-old dropped a long way back and settled near the tail of the field, then got pushed out wide on the track in the early part of the home straight. As the 12 mares lined up across the track to lodge their claims with 200m remaining, La Crique was still among the last of them and had a mountain to climb to even get into the top three. But what happened next showed why La Crique is one of New Zealand’s standout thoroughbred talents. She responded to the urgings of first-time rider Michael McNab and launched a stunning late burst, making up half a dozen lengths in those last 200m and charging up alongside Lux Libertas (NZ) (Almanzor) in the final few strides. That rival gave her all to try to hold on, but La Crique caught her in the shadows of the post and won by a head. Lux Libertas finished second, a short head in front of Marotiri Molly (NZ) (Per Incanto), with a similar margin back to Hi Yo Sass Bomb (NZ) (Complacent) in fourth. “She just got left a little bit flat-footed at the top of the straight,” McNab said. “A horse on the inside of us was sort of rolling around a bit and pushed us out. “It took her a while to wind up, but once she got into stride, she was brilliant. At about the 150m I thought she was really starting to let rip, but I wasn’t sure if she had enough time to get up. I was still cursing after the line. “But I’m rapt to win on her and just rapt to ride her. I’m looking forward to the rest of her preparation.” La Crique’s summer itinerary includes the Gr.1 TAB Classic (1600m) at Trentham on December 7 and the Gr.1 Zabeel Classic (2000m) at Ellerslie on Boxing Day. The TAB now rates her a $2.50 favourite for the TAB Classic. “I really had to see the replay and the photo finish to be truly convinced that she won that race today,” said Katrina Alexander, who trains La Crique in partnership with her husband Simon. “It was a super run by a gutsy, gutsy mare. “She probably got further back than I wanted, but she’s a horse that just keeps on coming. That’s why we’re keen to get her up over ground when we find the right targets for her on good tracks. “She’ll go to the TAB Classic at Trentham next, and then we want to carry on towards Ellerslie on Boxing Day. That was always the campaign that we had in mind for her at this point of the season.” Raced by her breeders John and Jan Cassin, La Crique has now had 22 starts for nine wins, nine placings and more than $1.43 million in stakes. – View the full article

Talented New Zealand-bred gelding I’mintowin (NZ) (Contribuer) announced his return to racing in style at Kembla Grange on Saturday with a victory under 62kg in the A$160,000 Evergreen Turf Benchmark 78 Handicap (1400m). It was the first start since July for the Contributer gelding, whose rating of 82 made him a clear topweight. That made for a tough first-up assignment, but I’mintowin was well and truly up to the task. Rider Adam Hyeronimus drove I’mintowin forward to take the lead inside the first 100m of the race. He dominated proceedings from that point on, kicking hard down the straight and winning impressively by a length and a half. He stopped the clock at a quick 1:21.18 for 1400m. “To call that a good effort would probably be under-rating it,” Hyeroniumus said. “The track conditions helped him big time, but they’ve still got to do it, and especially first-up with such a big weight. “He’s got good first-up form and looked so good in the yard. And then, the way he handled himself on the way to the gates, I was very confident.” I’mintowin is trained by Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott for a Darby Racing syndicate and has now had 13 starts for three wins, five placings and A$262,818 in stakes. “To win first-up under 62kg is no mean feat,” Bott said. “That was a great effort by the horse today. He’s always shown very honest form for us, and particularly first-up. “In a few of his campaigns, as we’ve got deeper into them, he’s just got a bit above himself. This time in, he’s been very relaxed and really held his composure, which has been a good sign. “He has plenty of natural brilliance. They’ve run quick time today, so it’s good, sustained speed that he’s got. We’ll try him at a mile next start and then go one run at a time from there.” I’mintowin was bred by Masterpiece Enterprises Ltd and is by Contributer out of the three-time winning Castledale mare Beguile. I’mintowin began his career with six starts in New Zealand from the Byerley Park stable of Peter and Dawn Williams. He was a maiden winner at Avondale in November 2022, then finished third in the Gr.3 Bonecrusher Stakes (1400m), fourth in the Listed Uncle Remus Stakes (1400m) and ninth in the Gr.1 Levin Classic (1600m) before being privately sold into Australian ownership. View the full article