People that watch stakes results closely will have noticed a flurry of stakes success for horses that carry the famous V brand of Vinery Stud and it struck again in Adelaide on Monday when seven year-old All Too Hard gelding Arran Bay landed the Listed SAJC CS Hayes Memorial Cup (1600m).
Trained by Phillip Stokes, Arran Bay was a stakes-winner at Flemington in November 2024, but had been winless since then until today.
Given a great ride by Jamie Melham, he chimed in with a strong finish to hit the front 300m from home and kept up a good gallop to win by a length.
The victory took his overall record to 10 wins and 13 placings from 42 starts with prizemoney nudging past $1million.
A homebred for the Jackson family that was foaled and raised at Vinery Stud, Arran Bay is a half-brother to the Listed VRC Poseidon Stakes winner One For One and is the best of four winners from four foals to race,
He is the final foal of the Canny Lad mare Stolen Girlfriend, a half-sister to Group III SAJC Fillies Classic winner Okahu Bay, the dam of the Group II winner Pareanui Bay.
Arran Bay is the fourth Australian stakes-winner this season for Vinery Stud stalwart All Too Hard and they include a pair of juvenile stakes-winners in Hard Kick and Music Time.
All Too Hard was a popular choice with broodmare owners last spring covering 154 mares at a fee of $27,500, up from 117 the previous year.
Footnote: The Vinery V has been in hot form with stakes-winners over the last few days being G1 winner Lara Antipova, G2 winner Sass Appeal and G3 winner Music Time and now Arran Bay as well!
