Four heats for juveniles run at Warwick Farm on Friday and we saw winners by Trapeze Artist, Tassort, Exceed and Excel and first season sire Wild Ruler, while from a pedigree perspective a Godolphin filly that ran second was the obvious highlight.
The quickest of the 818m heats was won by the Matthew Smith trained Trapeze Artist filly Zunesha, who mustered well from an outside gate to get to the front albeit sitting off the fence and went on to win by over a length from blue-blood filly Promenade.
A half-sister to G1 winners Alizee and Astern, not to mention G1 producing sire Tassort, Pinatubo (IRE) filly Promenade is the 12th foal of blue hen Essaouira, who has had 11 foals to race and 10 have won.
Trained by Michael Freedman, she had an educational trial here, but looks a big strong girl so am thinking we’ll be seeing her at the races at two.
Zunesha was a $300,000 Magic Millions purchase from Widden Stud for Mystery Downs and is the first foal of a winning half-sister to stakes-winner So You Win from the family of US dual G1 winning filly Habibti.
The Waterhouse Bott stable produced the winner of the next heat in Palmanova, a filly by Tassort carrying the Yulong colours. She led all the way and was held together to win by a neck.
Palmanova was a pinhook winner, sourced from the B Cool Bloodstock draft at the Inglis Weanling Sale for Trilogy Racing / Suman Hedge Bloodstock and then purchased by Yulong at the Magic Millions from Blue Gum Farm for $350,000.
She is the first foal of an unraced half-sister by Tivaci to stakes-winner Don Louis going back to a top class European female family.
The Annabel and Ron Archibald trained Wild Ruler colt Threesome showed sharp improvement from his first unplaced trial into his second. A lot more tractable this time after wanting to lay out all the time in the first one, he had the benefit of an inside gate this time and travelled more kindly before taking a split between runners to surge home and win by a head.
He’s still green, but going the right way.
A $50,000 Inglis Classic purchase for Pure Blood Thoroughbreds from the Newgate Farm draft, Threesome is from imported stakes-winner Triple Chelsea (USA) and next two dams are both French SW’s up to a mile.
2YOs rarely settle last in trials and then come on and win, but this one did. Trained by Ciaron Maher and ridden by Nash Rawiller, Exceed and Excel colt Artemex was content to sit back and let it all unfold ahead of him until Nash asked him to get in and have a go. He closed off well between horses to win by a head.
Artemex is the fifth foal of well related Lonhro mare Artemis Rose, whose previous four foals have failed to make an impression and as a result Dynamic Syndications/Dean Watt Bloodstock picked him up cheaply for $120,000 from the Newgate draft at Magic Millions.
For a colt of his pedigree, he was well bought as his dam is from the True Blonde branch of the Easy Date family that has produced Golden Slipper winner Forensics. Maybe Artemex will be the horse to turn it around for Artemis Rose, who was on-sold earlier this year for $16,000 at the MM National Broodmare Sale to Mullaglass Stud.
Click here for all the trial results at Breednet with Sale Mail and at Racing NSW with video.
