There were four stakes races run for juveniles on Saturday as we move towards the G1 Golden Slipper and Blue Diamond Stakes and all of them were won by first time stakes-winners so let’s take a look at the pedigrees.
It might carry Restricted Listed status, but the ATC Inglis Millennium (1100m) for Inglis graduates was the richest race in Australia on Saturday and won by Snitzel colt Fireball, who is now two for two, read about him here.
Fireball is the 167th stakes-winner for champion sire Snitzel and has a close 2 x 3 double cross of Redoute’s Choice. He is the 21st stakes-winner to carry that double cross with the only G1 winner bred that way being Schwarz.
Alibaba, who was third in the race, is another of those 21 SW’s to have the Redoute’s Choice double cross, although his is 2 x 4.
Fireball is the 18th SW for Charge Forward as a broodmare sire and the Snitzel x Charge Forward nick has already produced Golden Slipper winner Estijaab with the stats running at 17 winners from 22 starters and four SW’s, so 18% SW to runner.
Of those 18 SW’s from Charge Forward mares, no fewer than 13 of them also have a Redoute’s Choice connection in their pedigree.
The Listed ATC Lonhro Plate (1100m) was won by a long shot first starter in Agrarian Girl, a Tassort filly that showed brilliance and tenacity, read about her here.
She is the third SW for Tassort joining classy fillies Manaal and Ameena, all three of them bred by Emirates Park, who co-own the stallion in partnership with Newgate. While Manaal and Ameena were retained, Agrarian Girl was sold as a yearling for $280,000 and is from the third crop of foals by Tassort, conceived when he was still at a fee of $11,000.
She has a triple cross 4 x 4 x 4 of Danehill and traces back to an elite family with her fourth dam multiple G1 winner Canny Lass, the sister to Golden Slipper winner Canny Lad.
She is the first foal of SW Liwa, who was also bred and raced by Emirates Park and sired by Dubai Destination (USA) stallion Mulaazem, who they also bred and raced.
A half-brother to Golden Slipper winning Champion 2YO Sepoy, Mulaazem also traces back to the Canny family with his grand-dam Canny Miss establishing a branch that has also given us G1 winners Camarena, Camarilla, Guelph and current young star sire Bivouac.
Mulaazem, whose claim to fame was winning the G2 MRC Autumn Stakes, had limited opportunity at stud with Liwa his only stakes-winner.
The Group II MRC Blue Diamond Prelude (1100m) for fillies produced a deserved win for Streisand, read about her here.
Streisand is the 33rd stakes-winner for the late sire Magnus and is the fourth for champion sire Zoustar as a broodmare sire. She has a 3 x 5 double cross of Danehill and her pedigree features champion sires Flying Spur and Encosta de Lago, who come from the same female family.
They do combine in a lot pedigrees as you would expect given the volume and quality of mares they covered in their lifetime with the best horses bred this way being Fangirl and Alligator Blood.
Streisand comes from an old New Zealand female family that is left of centre in terms of commercial appeal, but toughness isn’t lacking on the page and that has served her very well so far.
The Group III MRC Blue Diamond Prelude (1100m) for colts was won by first starter Closer to Free, a colt by Street Boss (USA), whose 3YO daughter Tempted was a standout at Randwick, read about Closer to Free here.
Closer to Free is the 88th SW for Street Boss (USA) and is the first winner for juvenile SW Lady Naturaliste, whose next two dams Calcatta and Calchris are also juvenile Listed winners, although no horse in this immediate family has been able to progress beyond that.
The Black Type in this family is very targeted at lower level juvenile stakes racing which as we know can be misleading in terms of the actual quality of the horses in a broader term and Closer Than Free has certainly fit the profile so far, but will need to outrun his pedigree to go further, however Street Boss might be the catalyst for an upgrade.
Closer Than Free is the 36th SW for Choisir as a broodmare sire and six of them are G1 winners, five of those in the Northern Hemisphere.
