The last four Group I races in Queensland mark the end of elite racing in Australia for the season so let’s take a look at the pedigrees.
The $700,000 Group I Tatts Tiara (1400m) at Eagle Farm on Saturday delivered a new G1 winner So You Think when Palaisipan improved on her third placing in the race last year to take the prize, read about her here.
She is the 11th Group I winner for So You Think and is his second this season joining Stradbroke winner Think About It and she is the eighth Group I winner for Fastnet Rock as a broodmare sire. Bred and sold by Gooree Stud she comes from the family of two successful sires they bred and raced in Smart Missile and Northern Meteor, who has created a very successful sire dynasty through his sons Zoustar and Deep Field.
This female family traces back to influential matriarch Rough Shod, who is in the tail female line of champion sires Sadler’s Wells and Nureyev, so is it any wonder Japanese breeder Katsumi Yoshida has swooped on Palaisipan….. can’t wait to see what the future holds for her foals to come!
The $1million BRC JJ Atkins (1600m) was won by a blue-blood 2YO colt called King Colorado, that would have been just as comfortable winning a G1 in Europe as Eagle Farm on pedigree, read about him here.
Conceived in the Northern Hemisphere and foaled in Australia, King Colorado is the 63rd stakes-winner for Juddmonte Farm’s Kingman and is his first Australian Group I winner among seven elite level winners. He is the 18th G1 winner as a broodmare sire for More Than Ready, who is also sire of the dam of this year’s Golden Slipper winner Shinzo. There have only been two runners bred on the Kingman x More Than Ready cross and the other is also a winner in France.
He is the first foal born in Australia for stakes-winning More Than Ready import More Aspen (USA), a half-sister to stakes-winner Jade Master and grand-daughter of Group I winner Northern Aspen, whose dam is legendary blue hen Fall Aspen.
Fall Aspen produced an astonishing nine stakes-winners including G1 winners Timber Country, Fort Wood, Hamas and previously mentioned Northern Aspen as well as G2 winner Bianconi (USA), who made Australia his home. Another of Fall Aspen’s stakes-winning daughters Colorado Dancer is the dam of Dubai Millennium, sire of one of the world’s best current sires in Dubawi, so you can see people are a bit excited about King Colorado.
He is the second Australian G1 winner this season to come from this family as SAJC Australasian Oaks winner Affaire a Suivre claims Fall Aspen as her third dam.
The $700,000 Group I BRC Queensland Oaks (2200m) looked like it would fall to the Kiwis, who had a strong hand on paper, but Aussie bred Amokura saved the day claiming her first Black Type win with a powerful victory, read about her here.
She is the seventh stakes-winner for Teofilo (IRE) stallion Kermadec and is his fourth Group I winner. For a sire that stands at $16,500, he offers serious bang for buck if you want to breed an elite horse with 5.7% SW to runner and those four G1 winners come at a rate of one for every 32 runners.
Amokura is the second Oaks winner for Kermadec from a daughter of Epsom Derby winner Quest for Fame (GB) joining Willowy and that nick has had three winners from three runners! She is a three-quarter sister-in-blood to another Kermadec stakes-winner in Gundec and third dam Never Over was a very tough stakes-placed stayer by Sydney Cup winner Double Century so it’s no surprise Amokura can get a trip.
Never Over is a grand-daughter of top producer Prujoy, who produced three stakes-winners headed by 1979 Queensland Oaks winner Prunella.
The $3million Group I BRC Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) proved a triumph for Think About It, who we have looked at before when he won the Kingsford Smith Cup, read about him here.
He is the tenth G1 winner for champion racehorse and 10 time G1 winner So You Think and six of those G1 wins have been achieved at 1600m or less with many of his progeny showing a great turn of foot making them very versatile competitors.
He is the 16th G1 winner from a daughter of champion sire and champion broodmare sire Flying Spur, who has pretty good stats with So You Think. The nick has produced 17 winners from 24 runners and two stakes-winners, but tellingly the other stakes-winner is G1 winner Nakeeta Jane, whose elite win came at 1400m.
The stakes-winners in the first three dams of this pedigree are all sprinter milers including Hong Kong G1 winners The Duke and Sky Field, so Think About It largely fits with the blueprint of his pedigree.
