Stellar weekend for Curraghmore graduates

[Wandering Eyes]

Curraghmore celebrated widespread success at the weekend with winners in three countries and highlighted by the domestic stakes of rising star Snazzytavi.

Farm principal Gordon Cunningham bred and sold the gifted daughter of the late Tavistock who ended her campaign with an effortless victory in the Gr.3 Easter Handicap (1600m) at Ellerslie.

Trained by Graham Richardson and Rogan Norvall for Cambridge Stud, Snazzytavi has gone for a break with five wins and four placings, including a third in the Listed Wairarapa Breeders’ Stakes (1600m), from 10 appearances.

Curraghmore graduate Lucy In The Sky was also successful on the Group One undercard in Hong Kong on Sunday evening while Sir Grace continued his impressive progress in Queensland.

Snazzytavi is out of the Zabeel mare Ritzy Lady, who won six races including the Listed New Zealand St Leger (2500m) and finished runner-up in the Gr.2 Counties Cup (2100m).

“Roger James originally bought her (for A$340,000, Inglis Easter Sale) as a yearling for Mark and Jack Maronde, who raced her and they had some very good horses like La Sizeranne,” Cunningham said.

“The Marondes were winding down when I bought Ritzy Lady. It was a family that I was very familiar with going back to my Waikato Stud days.

“Thum’s Lil Sister (the third dam) was a mare imported from America who produced a very good filly by Pompeii Court called Clever Zoe.”

She won the Listed Debutante Stakes (1000m) and finished runner-up in the Gr.1 Lightning Stakes (1000m).

Ritzy Lady was subsequently sold and Snazzytavi was also to have gone to auction at New Zealand Bloodstock’s Ready to Run Sale before a forced change of plan.

“She was broken in and had all her development work at Jamie and Chanel Beatson’s Ohukia Lodge and I had her entered in the breeze-up sale at Karaka, she was progressing nicely but came up with a foot abscess,” Cunningham said.

“I was happy to put her into work and she won a trial nicely for Graham and Rogan as a two-year-old and I came to an arrangement with Brendan Lindsay for him to buy her.

“She has been brilliantly trained and I’m thrilled that she’s proved to be such a good horse for Cambridge Stud, she looks very progressive and hopefully can go to another level.”

Meanwhile, No Nay Never three-year-old Lucy In The Sky opened his account at Sha Tin with victory over 1200 metres in just his third appearance from Me Tsui’s stable.

He was purchased out of Curraghmore’s 2022 draft at New Zealand Bloodstock’s National Yearling Sale for $60,000 and is a son of the Exceed And Excel mare Spiced, a half-sister to Gr.3 Manfred Stakes (1200m) winner Brave Mead.

The lightly raced Sir Grace rounded off a top weekend for the farm when he won his third race on the bounce from five starts for local trainer Warwick Satherley with victory over 1600m at Rockhampton on Sunday.

The Cunningham-bred son of Turn Me Loose was a $34,000 NZB National Online Yearling Sale purchase and is out of the Sir Percy mare Lady Grace, a granddaughter of multiple Group winner Frenetic.

Lady Grace has a yearling filly by Eminent and is back in foal to him after producing a daughter of Armory last season. 

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