Widden sires Written By, Gold Standard and even Zoustar put their owners in the winner’s circle at Caulfield on Saturday.
Grahame Begg is understandably a fan of the progeny of Widden Stud’s Written By, who he trained to win the Group I MRC Blue Diamond Stakes in 2018, and he’s having plenty of fun with one of his daughters in Samangu, who scored a three-quarter length win in the $175,000 MRC The Donovan + Co Mystic Journey (1100m).
She had one run as a two year-old before a lengthy break and the four year-old has put together a tidy record with five wins and two placings from seven starts earning connections nearly $300,000 in prizemoney.
A $200,000 Inglis Classic purchase from Willow Park Stud for Rohan J Hughes Thoroughbred Services / Grahame Begg Racing, Samangu was a successful pinhook having been purchased originally for $42,000 from the Davali Thoroughbreds draft at the Inglis Weanling Sale.
Bred by Bylong Park, Samangu is the first winner for Estelle, an unraced full sister to Group I winning mare Driefontein, who is now at stud in Japan.
John Sadler won the $175,000 MRC VOBIS Gold Distaff (1400m) with super consistent Gold Standard mare Merrigold, who continued her strong run of form over the summer to win by a long neck for Mark Zahra.
Not offered at auction, Merrigold runs for a big ownership group that includes her breeder Shannon Shultz and has done a super job with seven wins and four seconds from 21 starts earning over $300,000 in prizemoney.
Merrigold is the first winner for winning Bel Danoro mare Me and You, who died last year and her fifth dam is blue hen Tupelo Honey, whose descendants include Group winners Domino, Sale of the Century, Hero and Clearly Innocent.
Not to be left out Zoustar also sired a winner at this popular race day with Regal Zeus winning the $200,000 MRC VOBIS Gold Sprint (1200m) for the John McArdle stable as favourite.
A $150,000 Inglis Easter purchase for Regal Bloodstock / Blue Grass (FBAA) / Redgum Racing from the Edinburgh Park draft, Regal Zeus was second in a Listed race at his previous start and has the overall record of seven wins from 22 starts with prizemoney topping $560,000.
Regal Zeus is the best of two winners from Group III placed Quiet Kitten (USA), a grand-daughter of stakes-winner Darling Alice, whose daughters have had plenty of success in Australia producing Group II winner Glenfiddich and stakes-winning $2.4million earner Eleven Eleven.
