Firstly, a big Happy Birthday to all our equine friends on 1st August – the birthday of all horses bred in the southern hemisphere, and the start of a new racing year.
Congratulations to Pat on achieving a total of 23 wins over the past year, in the process earning over $1m prize money for connections. This was a great result from a smaller stables and something of which we are justifiably proud.
We enjoyed several highlights during the year, including Dan Zephyr on a hot streak winning 3-in-a-row in town, and his half-sister Shakespearean Lass also winning 3 in town including the Listed WJ Adams Stakes.
Dan Zephyr, winner of the Ascot Racecourse Trophy, 3rd metropolitan win in a row, Flemington 20th Feb 2016
We bade farewell to some of our old mates, with the retirements of Kareeming and Luck’s A Fortune, and acquired some new potential stable stars at the Karaka sales in New Zealand, as well as at Sydney Classic, Melbourne Premier and Sydney Easter sales.
We are particularly excited about our Makfi colt – the first foal of one of our favourite retired racemares – Dame Claire. He is raced by a group of the same owners as Dame Claire, headed by long-term client and friend John Sweeney. With John managing the team they are already off to a great start, and we look forward to the colt’s arrival on 24th August.
We made a bit of news this year as Pat paid a record price of $675K for a highly sought after filly by Fastnet Rock , out of Hidden Energy at the Melbourne Premier Sale. She is progressing through our development program along with all our other 2-year-olds, and we are delighted with how they are all coming along.
Our 3-year-olds for the coming season are starting to prepare for spring, and we are very much looking forward to their racing campaigns. We feel that we have a strong hand this year, including 7 from the final crop of the talented but ill-fated stayer Helenus. Pat has a strong affinity with the Helenus progeny, training Cedarberg and Ethiopia to Gr 1 wins, and Kasane, Angola, Durnford and Ulundi to wins in Listed races. Keep an eye out for Captain Rhett, Cuban Belle, Hellava Babe, Indaba, Khartoum, Shangani Patrol, and our as yet unamed filly by Helenus out of Flotercher.
Our friends at Clanbrooke Racing have a couple of nice 3 year olds in Toorak Cowboy and Fastnet Rock filly Irish Rose as well as winning mare Purrpussful. We have enjoyed a long and successful association with Clanbrooke over the years, including our first ever Gr 1 (Arapaho Miss, Crown Oaks 2007). We are pleased that they have some nice horses coming through and look forward to Sharing Winners with them in the coming year.
Older horses All I Survey, Spur On Gold, and General Jackson are on the path to their spring campaigns, along with last season’s dynamic duo Dan Zephyr and Shakespearean Lass. This seems to have the makings of a good year to come, and we wish all in the racing industry, and all who enjoy racing a happy and an above all safe racing year.