News - BRAVE SMASH (JPN)
The Group I MRC Sir Rupert Clark Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield on Saturday produced a first G1 winner for Yarraman Park based sire Hellbent last year when four year-old mare Magic Time took the prize and this year it was another Yarraman sire in Brave Smash (Jpn) taking the honours with his high class four year-old daughter Kimochi saluting for Yulong.
As the spring begins to unfold the cream is rising to the top in the third season sires table, but unfortunately for Australian breeders two of the top three sires on the list are not available to them this spring.
Following the victory of Yulong's Via Sistina in the Group 1 Winx Stakes, Kimochi sported the bottle green, white checked sleeves for the first time in Saturday's Group III James Squire Toy Show Quality (1100m) at Rosehill, where she made her first repayment on the $2,200,000 purchase price at the 2024 Inglis Chairman's Sale.
With three second placings in a row for Brave Smash (Jpn) three year-old Mickey’s Medal the tide turned at last for the Annabel Neasham trained gelding at Rosehill on Saturday when he dug deep to post a tenacious and well deserved victory.
Japanese bred Brave Smash (Jpn) has made a fine start to his stud career and with his first Yarraman Park bred foals set to arrive this spring the Group I winning sprinter added a new stakes-winner to his tally at Belmont in Perth on Saturday when progressive gelding Brave Spirit captured the Listed WATC Raconteur Stakes (1400m).
With less than two months of the racing season to run our intriguing cohort of second season sires is a competitive one with four of them siring the winners of over $4million this season and five of them have sired Australian Group I winners, but will they be here for the long haul? We take a look at what we know so far as fact.
It was the second trip around the Inglis sale ring for quality Brave Smash (Jpn) filly Kimochi at the Inglis Chairman’s Sale on Thursday evening and while she made just $21,000 at the weanling sale in 2021, she shot out the lights out this time when knocked down to Islay Vale (Yulong) for $2.2million.
Yarraman Park’s champion sire I Am Invincible is on track for a third consecutive Champion Australian Sire Title and is poised to become the first Australian stallion in history to sire the winners of over $30million in a season.
Yarraman Park’s young sire Brave Smash (Jpn) had a stakes-winner at Rosehill on Saturday in Brave Mead and also impressive debut winner at Sha Tin on Sunday when three year-old gelding Divano powered clear to win the opening race on the program.
A stakes-winner last season at two, Brave Smash (Jpn) colt Brave Mead has kept up the good work this year and added another stakes victory to his tally at Rosehill on Saturday when taking out the $200,000 Listed ATC Darby Munro Stakes (1200m).
A dead heat in a competitive juvenile maiden at Pakenham on Thursday evening produced a fourth winner for Newgate Farm’s Brutal, but Barbaric Lad had to share the spoils as he hit the line at the exact same time as Brave Smash (Jpn) filly She Smashes.
When Yarraman Park announced they would add Brave Smash (Jpn) to their roster in April last year he had a promising filly on the horizon in Kimochi, who is now a Group II winner of nearly $900,000, but most interestingly of all she is from a daughter of Yarraman’s champion sire I Am Invincible.
Momentum for this year’s Inglis Chairman’s Sale reached new heights at Randwick today when star 3YO filly Kimochi (Brave Smash) – who will be offered at the sale at Riverside in May – scored a scintillating win in the G2 Light Fingers Stakes.
The Gary Portelli trained filly Kimochi was a model of consistency last spring starting in six stakes races to place in all of them without winning, so when she poked her nose in front to take out the $300,000 Group II ATC Light Fingers Stakes (1200m) at Randwick on Saturday few could begrudge her the sweet taste of success.
A stakes-winner last season at two, Brave Smash (Jpn) colt Brave Mead was consistent in stakes races during the spring without winning one, but was rewarded for his consistency with a first up victory in the Group III MRC Manfred Stakes (1200m) at Caulfield on Australia Day.
Dual G1 placed filly Kimochi (Brave Smash) will be offered for sale as a racing and breeding prospect at the Inglis Chairman’s Sale in May.
The lure of the $50,000 Super Maiden (1500m) at Mudgee on Friday did not go unnoticed by the Annabel Neasham stable with victory going to their lightly raced Brave Smash (Jpn) gelding Rush Attack.
Never off the board in eight starts, Kimochi faces going winless throughout the Spring if she comes up short in Saturday's $1,500,000 Group 1 Schweppes Thousand Guineas at Caufield.
Busy set of trials at Warwick Farm this morning featured outstanding three year-old Brave Smash (Jpn) filly Kimochi, who was given a taste of that winning feeling, while two heats for juveniles were taken out by the progeny of Written Tycoon and Russian Revolution.
A stakes-winner last season at two, Brave Smash (Jpn) colt Brave Mead would have been a certainty beaten if he had gotten rolled at Caulfield on Saturday, but he managed to get clear running at just the right time and hit the line hard for Mark Zahra to snatch a well-deserved win.