The retirement of triple Group Two winner and Group One placed mare Spanish Whisper will be bittersweet for connections as they seek to offer her unreserved via Gavelhouse Plus.
Bred by Darren Brady and Daniel and Elias Nakhle, Spanish Whisper has provided plenty of thrills for connections, having initially raced in New Zealand from the stable of Byerley Park-based Peter and Dawn Williams.
The daughter of internationally acclaimed sire Lope de Vega was precocious enough to win on debut as a December two-year-old and went on to win the Gr.2 Matamata Breeders Stakes two starts later before rounding off her juvenile season well to place behind Sword of Osman and Avantage in the Gr.1 Diamond Stakes.
“One of my best pals Andrew Seabrook gave Darren Thomas and the Lindsay Park crew a huge endorsement and without that we probably wouldn’t have sold the filly so we sent her to horse heaven in Euroa and we have had a terrific experience,” Daniel Nakhle said.
“She only ever raced in Stakes races in Australia and in Darren Thomas’ lucky Seymour Bloodstock colours we won a couple of Flemington Group Two races over 1400m and gave Written Tycoon’s subsequent multiple Group One winning sprint star Pippie 3kgs and a real race in the Cockram Stakes.
“Seabrook’s sound advice made entrusting his team to market our mare to the world via Gavelhouse Plus an easy decision.”
Softening the blow of selling, the Darren Brady and Daniel Nakhle retain Spanish Whisper’s dam Cutting Remark who foaled a Savabeel filly last week and will return to the Champion Sire this season while they also celebrated victory on Sunday at Ellerslie with her lightly-raced half-brother Colossal breaking his maiden.
Group One winning contemporaries that Spanish Whisper beat in her Australian victories include Invincibella, Aloisia, Amphitrite and Arista while she was only beaten three lengths by Everest contender Classique Legend over 1200m.
“She has a wonderful international pedigree, being a close relation to the champion Rock of Gibraltar, and her performances have resulted in us fielding offers for her from all points of the globe,” added Thomas.
“She is Danehill free so ideal for the Southern Hemisphere but interestingly many of the enquiries have come from up North, I didn’t realise she’s one of seven Group One/Two winning daughters of Lope de Vega.
“We’ve loved racing Spanish Whisper with our new Kiwi mates but now it’s time to get to the breeding barn so we thought we would dissolve our racing partnership and let the market decide what she’s worth and who to mate her to.
“She has arrived in the Hunter Valley and will be ready for cover next week, we wish the new purchasers well.”
The association of prominent Kiwi racing identity Daniel Nakhle will continue with Lindsay Racing however and he will be glued to his screen watching his homebred Karaka graduate Crosshaven run in the $2m Gr.1 Caulfield Guineas on Saturday “He’s drawn a bit wide but is in great form and we’re hopeful he will acquit himself well.”
Bidding on the daughter of Lope De Vega will commence from 3pm NZ time (1pm AEDT) on Monday 12 October and run through until 7pm NZ time (5pm AEDT) on Thursday 15 October. Buyers must pre-register to gain bidding approval on Gavelhouse Plus.
