Bittersweet Success

Tara Madgwick - Sunday Sep 23
It's kind of ironic that a stallion who took so long to post his first winner last season should be responsible for siring Couseshewill to win the very first Australian two year-old race of the season at Toowoomba on Sunday.

Courseshewill as a yearlingSent out favourite for the $50,000 Pat O'Shea Plate, the Liam Birchley trained daughter of Unencumbered charged home from off the pace to win the 1000 metre scamper from Arnwood, a colt by first season sire Better Than Ready.

A $170,000 Magic Millions purchase for Birchley Racing from the Three Bridges Thoroughbreds draft, Courseshewill has the honour of being the most expensive yearling ever sired by ill-fated Unencumbered, who died earlier this year.

Bred by Three Bridges Thoroughbreds, she is the third winner from stakes-winning Anabaa (USA) mare Corsaire, a half-sister to stakes-winner Debonairly.

Corsaire has already foaled this spring producing another colt by Unencumbered.

A Magic Millions 2YO Classic winner by Testa Rossa, Unencumbered is the leading Australian second season sire by winners with 13 on the board which is four more than Zoustar, who leads by prizemoney.

Unencumbered was most popular in his third season so has over 100 yearlings and covered 102 mares again last spring, so his burgeoning success is going to be good news for a lot of people that had faith in this stallion.




Advertisment
More Reading...
Southern Highlands Thoroughbred Week is Out of the Gate!
Celebrating 140 years of racing and thoroughbred culture, Southern Highlands Thoroughbred Week presented by GROW Southern Highlands will span three weekends, from 19th November to 6th December.
Sires With Winners - Monday November 9
Here is the full list of 20 stallions which had winners throughout Australasia today with winners and result details.
Frankel Heads Juddmonte Euro Roster at £350,000
Fresh from siring outstanding young stayer Point of Law (GB) to win the $10m Group I VRC Melbourne Cup, champion sire Frankel will again top the roster at Banstead Manor Stud for Juddmonte.
Unraced First Season Sires Trial Report
It’s been a pretty steady start to spring in terms of 2YO races and we are still waiting to see a first season sire post a winner, but there has been action aplenty at the trials which would indicate the pre-Christmas period is set to ignite.
Blue Diamond Under Consideration for Unbeaten Free Of Debt
Despite doing his best to throw the race away over the final furlong, the Unencumbered colt Free Of Debt kept his record at a perfect two for two when defeating Lindsay Park’s highly regarded Fastnet Rock colt Viking Warrior in Saturday’s Super Vobis 2-Y-O Plate (1200m) at Flemington.
One to Watch – Mornington
A homebred for Seymour Bloodstock with an intriguing pedigree opened her account with a stylish win at Mornington on Tuesday.
Racing Industry Mourns Much Loved Izzy Neale
The thoroughbred racing industry is devastated tonight following news that apprentice jockey Izzy Neale, aged 22, has tragically died as the result of a race fall at Warren on Sunday.
First Stakes Winner for Unencumbered
Declan Bates drove the favourite Mirette through a narrow seam at the 200 metres then held off the 100/1 chance Dreamed in Saturday’s Group III Schweppervescence (Auraria Stakes) (1800m) at Morphettville to credit the deceased Three Bridges stallion Unencumbered with his first stakes-winner.
G1 Aussie Pedigree Watch –Newly Minted
Pedigree does matter if you want to be winning races longer than 1200m, although in an interesting twist a colt bred on face value for speed is in fact from the family of Zabeel.
Remembering Sunline – The Queen of the Cox Plate Before Winx
From our vantage point in 2026, we can look back at modern Cox Plate history and marvel at how quickly the years are passing.