Wanted Smart Missile

We will take a quick look at our midweek races this week relating to the Fastnet Rock stallions, Smart Missile and Wanted. While the Encosta De Lago mare, Essence of Success produced sisters to take out a double. 

• Smart Missile -- At Warwick Farm in the BM 70 Sweet Victory came down the centre of the track to triumph over his opposition . He was ridden by Josh Parr for trainer Mark Newman. The Smart Missile 3yo filly is out of the Encosta De Lago mare, Essence of Success. In the first at Sale one of his two year old fillies, Propelle, won easily for the Ellerton/Zahra team ridden by in form jockey Damian Lane.

The promising filly Sweet Victory rounds the bend three wide and explodes down the straight, leading this field home under the masterful @JoshuaParr8 in the first leg of the Warwick Farm quaddie. pic.twitter.com/1EHbbusRpM

— Sky Racing (@SkyRacingAU) May 30, 2018

• Exceed and Excel and Reward For Effort -- In the second at Sale, Miss Norway, the four year old Reward For Effort mare,poked her tongue out to win and made it three wins from five starts. She certainly knows where the winning post is. In the BM71 1300m race at Warwick Farm, Thrilled, trained by James Cummings, got up to win. The Exceed and Excel 3yo gelding keeps the good record of the breed going from over the last few weeks. Even Thursday there was success for them with Exflytations winning the BM64 at Pakenham, for mares over 1600m for the Price / Walker combo.

Smart Missile Departs Arrowfield for a new home at Twin Hills https://t.co/EEKqfch5II @TwinHillsStud @Stallion_Parade @inglis_sales @mmsnippets @Aushorse_TBA pic.twitter.com/5gk7nSRt2I

— Tara Madgwick (@breednet) April 15, 2018

• Balaclava -- In Adelaide I thought I would mention the sister to Sweet Victory who scored in the 1050m maiden. Masipeg is by Congrats out of Essence of Success. The four year old mare was one of four winners for jockey, Jamie Kah on the card. In the previous maiden over 1400m she won on Mintha another Ryan Balfour trained horse. The filly is by Redoutes Choice from the Encosta mare, Hades. Lynch Mob in the BM60 won well for the Tony Mcevoy camp. The Wanted 4yo geldings win was followed by another Mcevoy/Kah success when Rockarral the High Chaparral 3 year old, scored again and now getting over the 2200m could well be one to follow. He is out of the Fastnet Rock mare, Teardrop Rock.

• Master of Design -- The Redoutes Choice stallion Master of Design got a double at the Tuesdays Geelong meeting with a maiden win by the Weir trained, Milford and in the F&m BM 58 the 3yo filly Caths Village, won for Lachie King /Weir combination. Its worth noting that Darren does train a lot of the breed with positive results. Master of Design is now standing at Greta west Stud . 

Reward For Effort and Canniness

     Midweek racing this week came from Ballarat and Canterbury with a heavy track at the former. Australian racing is strongly influenced by the Fastnet Rock or Encosta De Lago blood or as i reference a bit later in this post. The Canny Lad influence as well ! While Exceed and Excel has his day in the sun at times with his sons Helmet and Reward For Effort who both get regular winners, like the Dubai World Cup winner, Thunder Snow by Helmet . It was the later of his sons who opened and closed the Ballarat meeting on Wednesday. 

• Reward For Effort  -- book ends the meeting at Ballarat as his four year old son, Pakaya Prince finished the meeting with a win for Chatswood Stud and the John McArdle and Lachie King combination. He is out of the Galileo mare, Vonnie. The opener was won by My Boy Greg with jockey Damien Oliver in the saddle for an emotional trainer, Janet Wicks to record her first winner.

"I'm just so over the moon, it was such a good ride."
We love seeing the reward for effort for an emotional Janet Wicks. pic.twitter.com/FZCQefKuch

— Racing.com (@Racing) May 23, 2018

• Sepoy --  His daughter is a rising star. Anjana relished the heavy conditions after settling midfield on the inside before taking the lead in the straight, under easy riding by jockey, Ben Allen and then with an explosive turn of foot stormed clear to win the 2YO Fillies 1200m event at Ballarat. Jockey Ben Allen, said "I think she's pretty nice because there's a few horses in there that have run in some handy races and performed well." Just wanted to point out the Canny connection on the Sepoy dams side. Almost all of the top Australian stallions have the Canny family line. I Am Invincible, the half brothers Redoutes Choice and Manhattan Rain through Canny Lad's blue hen daughter, Shanthas Choice. Then there is Snitzel, Australias new champion sire who is the son of Redoutes Choice. Sepoy has the connection through, the lads ,half sister, Canny Miss. Canny Lad was a champion two and three year old and his greatest run was his third, in the 1990 Cox Plate when over the 2000m, he sat wide and was left a sitting duck for Better Loosen Up. Canny Lad was buried next to his old mate Octagonal at Woodlands Stud. The Canny's have left their DNA on Australian racing and its going to last for a long time.  

Sepoy 

Stands at Darleys Northwood Stud 

• Pedicel -- A Redoutes Choice 2yo filly purchased by the Coolmore operation for $360,000 scored at Canterbury for Lindsay Park Racing and James Macdonald when she had to dig deep to out last Reginae down the straight.The in form James Macdonald said "She's a lovely filly and will be even better as she matures and gets out to a mile,". She could be one to watch in the future.

Pedicel & @mcacajamez fight it out with Reginae down the straight, kicking back in the concluding stages to salute impressively at Canterbury for @lindsayparkrace. pic.twitter.com/zqlyjW1oTu

— Sky Racing (@SkyRacingAU) May 23, 2018

• Augustus and The Avenger -- Some other Canterbury winners were the Waller trained, Snitzel ,3yo Augustus who put in a courageous effort, to win by a breath over Base Camp . A well judged ride by Tye Angland saw him get home . While in the last we saw another Chris Waller trained galloper successful when The Avenger kept Smart Missile's great recent success story in tact ! The Fastnet Rock stallion is still one of the best value stallions around. He was ridden by Lee Magorian and is out of the El Prado mare, Certain Promise. 

• Miss Leonidas -- The I Am Invincible 3yo filly and her jockey, Dwayne Dunn took inside lanes after the rising star missed the kick by four lengths in the A.R. Creswick Series Heat 1 to secure an easy victory. She is out of the Barathea mare, Happy Play. That Sadlers Wells line love the wet. Trainer Shaun Dwyer was thrilled with the win ! It gave Dwayne ride of the day award.

Miss Leonidas and @dwaynedunn8 were breathtaking. An easy pick for #RideOfTheDay. pic.twitter.com/EPJdzEsMUf

— Racing.com (@Racing) May 23, 2018

Weir and Waller Show

All Too Hard -- James Macdonald made his return to race riding after a 18 month suspension today and in the opening event, at Warwick Farm he got the Waller team off to a flying start, when Cormac, scored in the 1400m maiden. The 3yo gelding is out of the Galileo mare, St Minerva. It was the first of two winners for this combination when later in the day a Savabeel gelding, Monasterio ,scored over 1600m in the BM 80. The Savabeels really love that mile ! This was also a start of a double for the stallion All Too Hard on the day because in the 2yo 1000m race at Sandown the filly Riviera scored for the Hawkes/Dunn combination. 

All Too Hard Stands at Vinery  

He is half brother to Black Caviar 

by the Flying Spur stallion Casino Prince

Fifty Stars --  The Sea the Stars colt has to be awarded the most superior victory of the day as he sat three wide most of the journey in the 1400m BM70 race at Sandown and still won in easy fashion, to keep his unbeaten record, intact. Trained by Darren Weir and ridden by Brad Rawiller. The dam of Fifty Stars is Swizzle Stick a daughter of Sadlers Wells. This colt could measure up in group races over a trip being by Sea The Stars. Where 1600m and beyond could see him claim a major win in the spring for the Darren Weir team.

• A star of the future? Fifty Stars remains unbeaten for @DKWeirRacing. https://t.co/cK8zOZs0Z3 pic.twitter.com/Hmt4ZkN7tI

— Racing.com (@Racing) May 16, 2018

So You Think -- The progeny of So You Think have been showing their inherited talents over the last racing season and it continued on Wednesday when Heavenly Thought scored in the final race on the Sandown card to give Darren Weir, four for the day. The 3yo colt was again ridden by Brad Rawiller . His other success for the day was at Murray Bridge when Bad Wolf saluted over 1200m for the Bowditch/Kennewell combination. 

Hectopascal and Sandown -- This 4yo Pins mare is certainly in love with the Sandown track as she gave Darren Weir another winner, when she flashed through a gap to score, in the last few strides of the 1400m mares race. This makes it four wins from her five starts at Sandown. The stallion Pins stood at Waikato Stud and was laid to rest last month under the trees at the Waikato stud alongside fellow champions O'Reilly, Centaine and Pompeii Court.He sired the 2007 Cox Plate victor El Segundo. 

Waikato Stud 

       Chris Waller --  Just a couple more winners worth mentioning in this weeks review of midweek racing and they are both trained by Chris Waller. Pembroke Castle is an I Am Invincible 2yo colt and could well be one for the future as he is out of the Redoutes Choice mare, Callista. He finally opened his account in the 1200m two year old event after four tries.The other is Almighty Crown who got up in the BM75 2100m event. He is a Street Cry gelding, out of Sesenta an Encosta De Lago mare and was ridden by an under rated Jock in Tim Clarke.    

A Star Rising

• Zoustar -- This young sire stands at the valley of champions," Widden Stud" . His first season of runners have been excellent and on wednesday at Balaclava his daughter,'' Be My Star'' trained by Tony Mcevoy and ridden by in form jockey, Jamie Kah, won easily over 1050m. He is a dual group one winning stallion by Encosta De Lago's son, Northern Meteor and he has the Redoutes Choice blood on his female side through his dam, Zouzou. I believe he is the stallion to follow from this years new comers.  

Zoustar Widden Stud

Chris Waller on Zoustar -- “He was that good, I could of prepared him for the Golden Slipper however given I thought he was bred to be at his best at Three we were happy to wait. What he did achieve at Two was just a glimpse of his natural ability. An equine machine.”

• Lonhro and Redoutes Choice -- At Warwick Farm on Wednesday we saw a race to race double for this nick. The two races were benchmark 78 and both trained by James Cummings. This is the same nick that the classy three year old, "Kementari", is bred on. The 3yo Lonhro colt, 'Revenire' was ridden by Tye Angland over the 1100m and is out of the mare, Come Hither. While in the last, Josh Parr got Schubert home over the 1300m. The 3yo Lonhro geldings dam is Ringstrasse. Runner up to Schubert was another Lonhro gelding Beacon.

 Lonhro winning the Australian Cup

• Street Cry Stallions Double -- At Sandown, Street Cry stallions, Street Sense and Street Boss both tasted success with five year old mare Ensuing ridden by Daniel Stackhouse winning the benchmark 64 over 1500m. The Street Sense mare has now won twice this preparation.While Jamie Mott rode the Street Boss 4yo gelding, Laughing Heir to victory in the 1800m BM 70.Two other winners worth mentioning are Groovin and Beaverbrook. The former is by Mastercraftsman who continues to get plenty of winners in the staying races while Beaverbrook is by Written Tycoon who is getting winners all over the country at the shorter trips. They were both out of High Chaparral mares. 

Mastercraftsman Coolmore USA 

Warnambool Carnival

      The passion of race caller Ric Mcintosh brings Warnambool jumps carnival alive. This year he put in a masterful call as he nailed the theatre of the 5500m event. Gold Medals the local hope came from way off the pace as they jumped the second last with young jockey Carl Douglas timing his run to perfection. Slowly wearing down a gallant Zed Em to score on the line to the cheers on the hill. Seriously how bloody good is the Bool!

Click for Call of Grand Annual Gold Medals

In the listed, Wangoon, the Weir trained Handsome Thief came storming down the outside under John Allens urging, to get up and score over stablemate Stellar Collision as another Mcintosh catch cry could be heard. Back Weir! Drink Beer !Weir saying afterwards ''that the pull in the weights was the big factor''. The later will now head towards the Group 1 Goodwood Hcp while the Theif may head north to the Stradbroke, in Brisbane. Its good to note that he is by Shamardal the same stallion as the Hong Kong QE11 Cup Group one winner Pakistan Star. 

 Shamardal's son Lope De Vega 

   In the 2035m Warnambool Cup it was another victory for Darren Weir making it his fifth cup in a row when Gallic Chieftan stormed over the top of stablemate Yogi to register his second win in a row. Darren Weir saying afterwards,''he was just the fittest horse on the day and its good to end the carnival on a high''. This made it 12 wins for Weir over the carnival just two short of last years record breaking fourteen.

Gallic Chieftan winning the Warnambool Cup