Quality mare Concord Connie capped a notable half-hour for former Mapperley Stud stallion Contributer with victory in Saturday’s A$200,000 Gr.3 Henley Homes Summoned Stakes (1500m) at Sandown.
It was the fourth win of a highly promising career for Concord Connie, and her first at black-type level. It came just 20 minutes after Bestower collected her first stakes success in the Listed The Beauford (2300m) at Newcastle. The pair became Contributer’s 13th and 14th individual stakes winners.
A black-type win was one of the few things missing from the CV of Concord Connie, who had already stamped herself as a high-class galloper with a super-impressive winning treble last autumn and a series of creditable performances this spring. She ran third in the Gr.2 Tristarc Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield, then stepped up to the big time with a gallant second behind Lady Shenandoah in the Gr.1 Empire Rose Stakes (1600m) at Flemington.
Sent out as a $1.60 favourite for Saturday’s Summoned Stakes, Concord Connie settled well off the pace and found herself awkwardly placed and held up behind horses coming into the home straight.
But jockey Craig Williams angled her back towards the rail and drove her through the inside, going on to beat Terilee by a neck.
BREATHE PUNTERS ?? CONCORD CONNIE IN A THRILLING FINISH TO THE LAST! https://t.co/MgqS3a4K8E
— 7HorseRacing ?? (@7horseracing) November 14, 2026
“She’s a really exciting horse,” Williams said. “She’s quite special and she was made to earn it and work for it today.
“I worked pretty hard to keep the ride on her. She’s got the right attributes, and we’ve already seen what she can do with the times that she’s run on the track. Just when you look at her, the development, she’s relaxed. She’s got so much upside and she’s still learning.
“We had to go to the inside today and then had to come out. The horse that ran second has been a really good yardstick for us and made us work right to the wire on this heavy ground today.”
The Charlotte Littlefield-trainer Concord Connie has now had eight starts for four wins, four placings and A$622,000 in stakes and is a homebred for Yabby Dam Farms. She is the first foal of Tysonic, a winning three-quarter sister by Written Tycoon to Group II winner Abounding.
Tysonic has foaled again this spring producing a colt by Cylinder.
“Gosh, that was not enjoyable,” Littlefield said. “Some wins are really enjoyable and you really get behind them, but that one was traumatic. I thought we were going to get pipped for sure. I mean, when he went to the inside there, and just knowing that it was probably slightly inferior at this point, really wanted to come out wide. We drew wide! But anyway, these things happen. He's a magician. He managed to get her over the line.
“Pat Driscoll, Yabby Dam Farms, he bred her and entrusted her with us. Love working with Pat. He's such a legend of a guy, and what we can do to help him with his breeding empire just means the world. Because we love breeding our own as well. I hope in years to come, I get to train her progeny. And it's exciting. It's exciting to be on this journey with her. I think she's got a lot more in store, and I'm just glad she managed to nab that in the final stride.
“She dug so deep there. I mean, those are things you can't buy in a horse or look at a horse and assess whether they've got that. They've either got that grit and determination, or they don't. It's not many of them that have those attributes like her, and I'm just so proud of her.
“Big team effort to get a horse like this to win stakes races, and I know the world is her oyster next prep.” – NZ Racing Desk.
