Cambridge Stud to offer nine-strong weanling draft at Karaka
Fresh from Joliestar’s gallant placing in the Gr.1 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes (1200m) at Royal Ascot overnight, Cambridge Stud has turned its attention to New Zealand Bloodstock’s National Weanling Sale this coming Thursday where they are set to offer a select draft.
Farm principals Sir Brendan and Lady Jo Lindsay are in England where they cheered home their multiple Group One-winning mare to her Royal Ascot placing, and while they aren’t going home with the desired result, they are proud of her performance.
“She tried her best and she wasn’t good enough on the day,” Sir Brendan Lindsay told Racing and Sports. “We came here full of hope, and we have left here pretty happy.
“James (McDonald, jockey) said she slipped coming down the hill and that might have been the difference, but at the line she was as strong as anything.
“We would have liked to have won. Are we disappointed? No. We have just had a life experience and lucky for Jo and I, we have met the King and the Queen. Life’s not too bad.”
Back in New Zealand, Cambridge Stud staff are putting the final touches on their nine weanlings ahead of Thursday’s sale, and the farm’s sales and nominations manager Scott Calder is pleased with the quality of their draft.
“We have nine in our draft and obviously have a good representation from our own stallions,” he said. “We have a five-strong cohort of Almanzors and a lot of them are out of black-type mares or out of young, well-credentialled mares.
“Almanzor is a proven horse, he has had five stakes winners again this year, and you can buy one with confidence that he does the job.
“Hello Youmzain comes into it on a bit of a roll. He has had a fantastic end to the autumn.
“I think they are horses that are going to offer people good opportunities.”
The farm will also offer a couple of weanlings by outside stallions, including a filly by Bivouac (lot 99), who has now produced two individual Group One winners following Fireball Miss’s Gr.1 Queensland Oaks (2200m) triumph earlier this month. The filly is out of stakes performed mare Dottie Dee, who is a half-sister to Group Three winner Fairy Dream.
“The timeliest one pedigree-wise is the filly by Bivouac, who is out of a stakes performed mare, and he has just added another Group One winner to his resume, so he is a stallion that is doing very well. To have a filly by him I think is good timing,” Calder said.
The farm will also offer a colt by Champion New Zealand sire Savabeel, who sadly passed away last week. The colt is one of only two weanlings by Waikato Stud’s former patriarch in the sale, and he will go through the ring as lot 137.
While not in their draft, the first New Zealand progeny of Cambridge Stud’s freshman sire Chaldean will go through the sales ring at Karaka on Thursday.
The Group One-winning son of Frankel’s first crop of weanlings have been well-received in Europe, averaging the equivalent of NZ$260,000 and selling up to NZ$580,000 at the Tattersalls December Foal Sale in England, while his first Southern Hemisphere youngster to be offered at a public sale was purchased at Inglis’ Great Southern Weanling Sale earlier this month for A$180,000.
Two of his progeny will be offered at Karaka on Thursday, including a colt (lot 3) through Haunui Farm’s draft, and a filly (lot 54) through Curraghmore’s draft.
“The first one was very well received over at the Great Southern Sale, she made A$180,000,” Calder said. “There was a lot of competition and a lot of really positive feedback about her. I think that is going to benefit the two that are in this sale.
“Particularly from a pinhooking point of view, I think a first crop horse is always appealing. From what we have seen with his first one through the ring, there is going to be a lot of demand for them.
“While we are not taking any of them to the sale, we have got a lot of really nice ones on the ground, and I think these two will be a good representation from him at the sale.
“I would imagine he is a stallion that is going to be on most people’s short lists when they go through the catalogue.”
New Zealand Bloodstock’s National Weanling Sale will take place at their Karaka sales complex this coming Thursday, with the first weanling set to go through the sales ring at 11am. - Joshua Smith LOVERACING.NZ News Desk
Golden Path leads to Sydney
While the Ipswich Cup was within his grasp and well in the market, co-trainers Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr have decided that a trip back to Sydney this Saturday is a better option for Golden Path (NZ) (Belardo).
The six-year-old will be in the nominations for the Listed WJ McKell Cup (2000m) at Rosehill attempting repeat his win in the race in 2024.
"It was too difficult from barrier 15 of 15 in the Ipswich Cup," Kent Jnr said.
Golden Path has been winless since September last year when taking out an open handicap at Flemington but among the eight runs since has been a third placing in the Group 1 Underwood Stakes (2000m) at Caulfield and a second placing in the Group 2 Crystal Mile (1600m) at Moonee Valley.
"His problem is that he's earned himself a fairly high rating without winning anything gangbusters," he added.
"That group one placing in the Underwood, he's always going to get top weight in these winter handicaps so it does pose some problems because he hasn't been able to take that next step.
The gelding led into the straight last start in the Group 3 Lord Mayor's Cup (1800m) at Eagle Farm on May 30 but was overwhelmed late to finish fifth.
"He had to do a lot of work in that race, and he still stuck on with it quite bravely so I think if you have a soft draw and a soft run in transit, then he'd go close.
"Though if he was giving weight to a smart, progressive young stayer then they might be hard to hold out." - NZ Racing Desk
No Tiara this year as Coeur heads to Caulfield
This time last year Coeur Volante (NZ) (Proisir) was being readied for the Tattersalls Tiara and while her days as a Group One contender might be past, there is still money to be made.
The daughter of Proisir, a last-start winner Sandown, will chase more of it in the $150,000 open handicap over 1400 metres at Caulfield next Saturday.
The five-year-old is almost certainly bound for Widden's breeding barn later this year, where Zoustar will be waiting for her, but co-trainer Ben Hayes said there was no reason to not race her in the meantime.
"It's a chance for her to make some more money before the new breeding season," he said.
"She's already a Group 2 winner and the only way you can improve the pedigree is winning a Group 1 and the only Group 1 left is the Tatts Tiara, which is next week and she's not running there.
"She'll probably race into spring."
Coeur Volante won the Gr.3 Mannerism Stakes (1400m) for Mike Moroney and Glen Thompson less than a week before Moroney's death in February last year.
Thompson then took charge of the $90,000 Karaka yearling sold through Prima Park, who earlier in her career won the Gr.3 Champagne Stakes (1200m) at Moonee Valley and the Gr.2 Thousand Guineas Prelude (1400m) at Caulfield.
She was a luckless fourth in the 2023 Gr.1 Thousand Guineas (1600m), which was won by Joliestar.
Last year's Tatt's Tiara was her most recent Group One assignment, in which she finished second-last in the field of 18.
The previous owners offered Coeur Volante via Inglis Digital last November, where she sold to Widden and Bangaloe Stud for $500,000 and in two runs in her new colours she finished third in the Listed Bel Esprit Stakes before her win over 1400m at Sandown on June 13.
"It's all worked out well with her and she was a nice, impressive win," Hayes said.
"It was really good to get her back in the winner's stall." - NZ Racing Desk
Joshua Smith
