From Morphettville to Doomben and everywhere in between, there are some fascinating races for juveniles coming up this weekend.
Those that track the fortunes of the first season stallions will be kept busy over the next few days with Akeed Mofeed, Eurozone, The Factor, Spirit Of Boom, Unencumbered, Fighting Sun, Sizzling, Mahisara, Fiorente, Dundeel and Epaulette all having runners.
Rosehill hosts two Group III races on Saturday, the Canonbury Stakes and Widden Stakes while down south at Caulfield the $250,000 Inglis Premier will be followed by the Group III Chairman’s Stakes over 1000 metres.
There will be great interest in the career debut of the Tony McEvoy-trained Kinky Boom in the Inglis Premier.
The daughter of Spirit Of Boom was a facile eight and a half-length winner of a recent barrier trial at Morphettville.
In the Chairman’s Stakes, Lindsay Park will be taking the wraps off Coolmore homebred Ennis Hill (Fastnet Rock x Hips Don’t Lie) while bookmakers are keeping safe the Goldin Farm ‘s Sunset Watch (Akeed Monfeed) x Saramenha) who will be looking to give his sire a memorable first winner.
The most expensive yearling in the Chairman’s Stakes is Sun Bloodstock’s $625,000 Snitzel colt Prairie Fire but we find it impossible to go past the Godolphin homebred Encryption for this week’s Best On Breeding.
The James Cummings-trained colt has placed in stakes races at his first two starts, a debut third in the Listed Debutant Stakes at Caulfield followed by a second to Run Naan in the Group III Maribyrnong Plate at Flemington last November.
Run Naan franked the form when finishing third behind the unbeaten Fastnet Rock coly Long Leaf and the very promising Charge Forward Ollivander in last week.s Blue Diamond Preview.
Encryption is the first foal of outstanding racemare Guelph.
A half-sister to Group II Todman Stakes winner Ghibellines (Shamardal) whose first crop was on display at Karaka, out of the Group 1 winner Camarilla, Guelph was among the best of her generation at two and three.
The daughter of Exceed And Excel was a luckless second in the Gimcrack Stakes on debut before earning a trip down south by winning at Warwick Farm.
She duly captured the fillies division of the Blue Diamond Prelude before finishing unplaced in the Blue Diamond.
She proved that form wrong with a slashing fourth in the Golden Slipper Stakes, narrowly failing to give Exceed And Excel the trifecta after Overreach held the finish of Sidestep with the future Group 1 winner Sweet Idea in third.
Guelph went on to win the next two legs of the 2yo Triple Crown.
After downing Scandiva and Overreach in the ATC Sires Produce Stakes, she rounded out her season by winning the ATC Champagne Stakes.
In her classic season, Guelph was beaten first-up in the Furious Stakes before reeling off wins in the Tea Rose Stakes, Flight Stakes and the Thousand Guineas at Caufield.
Given a spell, Guelph returned in the spring but in three runs she was not a shadow of her old self.
Following a third in the Phat Lap Stakes, Guelph was retired to the broodmare paddocks with a record of seven wins from 14 starts with earnings of over $1.6 million and had done enough to be honoured as the Champion 3YO Filly in Australia in 2013-14.
Covered by Lonhro in her first four years at stud, Guelph had a change-up in 2017 when served by Medaglia d’Oro (USA).
Like Guelph, her dam Camarilla (Elusive Quality) won the ATC Sires’ Produce Stakes while Camarilla’s dam Camarena (Danehill) won the Group 1 Queensland Derby.
Camarena’s sister, Watchful, is the dam of Darley’s 4-time Group 1 winning Champion Sepoy who, like Camarilla, is by Elusive Quality (USA).
