Westbury Stud duo Tarzino and El Roca were represented by a winning double at northern headquarters to successfully open and close the Ellerslie card.
Showing off his sharper stallion skills, Tarzino’s daughters Amourette and Grocer’s Girl ran the quinella in the 1200m two-year-old event to begin Saturday’s proceedings.
Amourette is trained by Cody Cole who later produced El Roca four-year-old Atmospheric to land the final event, a Rating 75 contest over 1500m.
Stud principal Gerry Harvey bred Amourette and Atmospheric and also enjoyed major success at Randwick with Gr.1 Inglis Sires (1400m) winner Campione D’Italia, a colt he bred and part-owns, and Country Championship Final (1400m) victor Chidiac.
“We bookended the program at Auckland and Gerry also had a great day in Australia,” Westbury General Manager Russell Warwick said.
“The most relevant piece to the Tarzino story is the crop of two-year-olds he’s got at the moment came off the year when he had a very big and very good book of mares.
“It was after the two three-year-olds won a Derby (Jungle Magnate) and an Oaks (Gypsy Goddess) and every man and his dog wanted to go to him. He covered a significant number of mares and the resulting progeny are two, rising three.”
Amourette is a daughter of the unraced More Than Ready mare Nouveau Amour, a half-sister to Listed Hareeba Stakes (1200m) winner Jolie Blonde with their second dam the Gr.1 Champagne Stakes (1600m) winner Isolda.
She was purchased out of Westbury’s Book 2 draft at the New Zealand Bloodstock’s National Yearling Sale by Cole for $50,000.
“She’s a sister to Wallen who showed a lot of ability for us and won the Karapiro Classic,” Warwick said.
“He looked like making an exceptional staying horse but unfortunately did a tendon and is retired.
“The mare’s got a Swiss Ace colt foal that’s just being weaned and a Redwood colt who will be going to the Ready to Run Sale.”
By El Roca, three-time winner Atmospheric is out of the unraced Redwood mare Lunaris, whose half-brother Tarleton won the Gr.2 Pago Pago Stakes (1200m), and was a $45,000 Ready to Run Sale graduate.
“He’s got a nice pedigree and there’s a good filly in Brisbane called Nightline, she’s one of favourites for the Queensland Oaks (Gr.1, 2200m) at this stage and is bred on the reverse cross, she’s by Redwood out of an El Roca mare,” Warwick said.
“The second dam of Atmospheric is by Galileo so he’s got some significant bloodlines.
“We’ve retained a two-year-old half-sister (Noumenia) by Tarzino, who has been broken in and spelled and will resume pre-training shortly, and the mare had an El Roca colt last season.” – LOVERACING.NZ News Desk
