Australian couple secures stakes-winning Kiwi mare for Super Seth

[Wandering Eyes]

An affinity with Waikato Stud stallion Super Seth prompted Phoenix Broodmare Farm’s Damian Gleeson and Deb Gifford to make a spur-of-the-moment purchase of stakes-winning mare Zecora (NZ) (Power) on gavelhouse.com this week.

The New South Wales-based couple paid $150,000 for the six-year-old mare, who won the Gr.3 J Swap Sprint (1400m) earlier this season.

Super Seth had been on Gleeson and Gifford’s radar for some time, and not only because of his racetrack and stallion credentials. The Gr.1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m) winner has made an immediate impact with his first two-year-olds this season, siring seven winners including Gr.3 Baillieu Handicap (1400m) winner and Gr.1 Champagne Stakes (1600m) runner-up Linebacker (NZ), unbeaten Listed winner Super Photon (NZ) and the Group Two-placed Poetic Champion (NZ).

“It was a very off-the-cuff purchase,” Gleeson said. “Deb and I run Phoenix Broodmare Farm, where we breed and mainly sell foals through the auction houses in Australia.

“We’re over here in New Zealand on holiday at the moment, and we were interested in going to see Super Seth. We actually looked after his granddam Toast of the Coast, whose owner used to keep her on our broodmare farm.

“So we were familiar with the family and always had an interest in the stallion. We wanted to go and have a look at him, and I have to say we were even more taken with him after doing that. We were very impressed.

“We decided that we were going to try to find a mare to send to him this season. It all happened very quickly from there. We found out about Zecora and liked the sound of her, and then we were sitting in a restaurant in Matamata on Monday evening and bidding on her while we ate.”

Zecora is by Power out of the twice-winning mare C’est La Vie (NZ) (Anabaa), who is a full-sister to Group One winner and successful broodmare Imananabaa.

Robyn and Russell Rogers trained and part-owned Zecora through a 13-start career that produced four wins and four placings, headed by her Group Three victory at Te Rapa in December.

“I didn’t know Russell and Robyn before this, but we rang them about two hours before Zecora was due to be sold, then rang them again straight afterwards,” Gleeson said. “I told Russell that we were going to send the mare to Super Seth, and he said, ‘That’s funny, because that’s exactly what we were going to do with her too if we didn’t end up selling her.’

“We drove to their place the next morning and had a look at the mare, and we’re absolutely delighted with our purchase. It’s one of those interesting stories of fate, that’s for sure.”

Stakes winner Chokito was bought by Byerley Bloodstock’s Liam Peters
Photo: Race Images Christchurch

Fellow stakes-winning mare Chokito (NZ) (Vespa) was also snapped up by an Australian buyer on Monday, selling to bloodstock agent Liam Peters for $85,000 under his Byerley Bloodstock banner. The daughter of Vespa won seven of her 39 starts including the Listed Southland Guineas (1600m).

Peters knows the family well, having brokered the private sale earlier this season of her half-sister Luvnwar (NZ) (War Decree). The three-year-old filly had raced three times from the Terri Rae stable at that stage, winning on the Riccarton synthetic track and producing an eye-catching performance for third in the Gr.3 Barneswood Farm Stakes (1400m) at Ashburton.

Now in the care of Western Australian trainer Michael Grantham and racing in the colours of Peters’ grandfather Bob, Luvnwar has added another two wins to her record including a valuable black-type success in last Saturday’s Listed Belmont Guineas (1600m).

Inglewood Stud’s emerging stallion War Decree looms as a leading candidate for Chokito’s mating this spring. Not only is he the sire of Luvnwar, but he also hit trans-Tasman headlines earlier this month with his son Warmonger’s (NZ) runaway Gr.1 Queensland Derby (2400m) victory at Eagle Farm.

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