News - HELLBENT (AUS)
The Grahame Begg trained Hellbent mare Magic Time will run in new colours on Saturday in the $500,000 Group II ATC Hot Danish Stakes (1400m) with breaking news on Friday confirming her sale to Yulong.
The Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott stable have had good success with the progeny of Hellbent winning the $2million Inglis Millennium last season with one of his sons in Fully Lit and they took out the Listed VRC Maribyrnong Trial (1000m) at Flemington with his talented colt Tremonti.
Yarraman Park are accustomed to seeing their champion sire I Am Invincible at the top of the Australian sire table, but the performance of his top class son Hellbent this season has been a source of pride for the Mitchell family.
He might play second fiddle to his champion sire I Am Invincible at Yarraman Park, but Hellbent has started this new season on a mission and with five winners on Saturday is now sharing the lead at the top of the Australian Sires List by winners.
Yarraman Park’s Hellbent has shot to fame with a couple of outstanding Group I winning mares in Magic Time and Benedetta and a filly by the son of I Am Invincible was an eye-catching winner at Newcastle on Thursday.
The two and three year-old fillies maiden at Canterbury on Wednesday delivered a quinella for Hellbent with three year-old filly Red Hot Lizzie leading all the way to win, while two year-old Bauhinia was an eye catcher with a storming run from last into second placing.
Yarraman Park’s Hellbent has had an outstanding season and it’s not done yet with his two year-old colt Warparty thrashing the opposition to win by five and a half lengths at Seymour on Monday.
As stallions progress through their stud careers we learn more and more about them and a close look at the third season sires table is well worth consideration given the top 10 sires are all standing in either Australia or New Zealand this spring, albeit some not at the farms where they started.
Hellbent will have two very good chances in the $3million Group I BRC Stradbroke Handicap this Saturday in high class mares Magic Time and Benedetta and another of his daughters caught the eye when resuming from a spell to win in style at Echuca on Thursday.
A troubled fifth behind Pisces when on debut on a heavy track at Newcastle, the Hellbent filly Aemelius reversed that decision emphatically when coming from last to break her maiden Saturday’s Sporting Chance Cancer Foundation Hcp (1200m).
South Australian breeder Brenton Parker never thought he’d live to see the day he would breed and race a G1 winner but that all changed when talented mare Benedetta (Hellbent) won the Goodwood Handicap at Morphettville.
Super talented Hellbent mare Benedetta has been knocking on the door of a Group I win and got the job done at Morphettville on Saturday when she had the benefit of a brilliant Jamie Kah ride to arrive on the line and win the $1million Group I SAJC Goodwood Handicap (1200m).
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.
Quality mare Magic Time has won a stakes race every time she’s been sent to Sydney by Grahame Begg and with deteriorating conditions at Randwick on Saturday for the $1.5million ATC All Aged Stakes (1400m) the daughter of Hellbent powered out of the gloom to run down Amenable and win by half a length.
Brilliant Hellbent mare Benedetta has been taking on the A graders this preparation finishing fourth in both the Group I MRC Oakleigh Plate and VRC Newmarket Handicap, so a drop back in grade on Saturday at Morphettville to the Group III SAJC RN Irwin Stakes (1100m) gave her the opportunity to return to the winner’s list.
Gary Portelli has had plenty of success starting talented horses off in the country before they make their way to town and one Hellbent filly following that path is Miss Hades, who resumed from a spell to win at the metro meeting at Gosford on Wednesday.
Opening her account with a soft debut win on heavy ground at Geelong on Tuesday was the Anthony and Sam Freedman trained Hellbent filly Irrefutably, who has a full brother entered for the Inglis Australian Weanling Sale.
With The Championships just around the corner and the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale featuring the best of the best there is a growing interest in the state of play as regards our leading sires and the deeds of their progeny on the racetrack and while there is usually a fierce fight at the top of the sires list by earnings, that is not the case this year.
Quality mare Hinged won the Group I ATC Surround Stakes in 2022 and was well fancied to win the Group II ATC Guy Walter (1400m) on the same program two years later at Randwick today, but she was nosed out in a thriller by progressive Hellbent mare Hell Hath No Fury with both mares running in the colours of Brae Sokolski’s Yes Bloodstock.
Solid trade at the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale produced some healthy pinhook results with four of the top eight pinhooks sold by Sledmere Stud.