Hallmark Stud will head to Karaka this week with a 10-strong draft for New Zealand Bloodstock’s National Weanling Sale, which is set to kick off at their world-renowned sales complex at 11am on Thursday.

“We have a very good draft that we are looking forward to presenting in the next couple of days,” Hallmark Stud principal Mark Baker said. “Right across the board there are opportunities for end use as a racehorse or horses they can trade at any stage, be that as a yearling, breeze-up stage or further down the track through the tried horse market.

“There are also several fillies with residual broodmare value, including two fillies that are half sisters to stakes winners and are by exciting young stallions.”

The first of those fillies is lot 17, the Hello Youmzain half-sister to Group One winner Bonny Lass, and Baker said she is a similar type to her well-performed sibling, who won the Gr.1 BCD Group Sprint (1400m) and placed at elite-level on four other occasions.

“She is a 25th of November foal,” Baker said. “She is plain like Bonny Lass was but is a great mover, has a great attitude and is very athletic.

“She uses herself really well, she is dead correct, and she is by Hello Youmzain, who is a sire on the rise.

“She presents as an opportunity for someone to buy a lovely filly that they can either trade or race and have broodmare residual, her mother Posh Bec has got an amazing record.”

Baker said another filly that offers plenty of residual broodmare value is lot 30, a half-sister to Group Three performer and Listed Queensland Cup (2200m) winner Nikau Spur.

“She is by an exciting young stallion in Sword Of State and she is out of a stakes winner in Sarsarun,” Baker said. “She is a lovely medium-sized filly that is correct and uses herself well.”

Baker is a big fan of Cambridge Stud sire Sword Of State and he has several colts by the sire in his draft that he thinks will be well-received, including lot 39, the colt out of Sorellina, a full-sister to Guineas heroine Katie Lee, and lot 136, the colt out of stakes performer Madame Giselle.

“The Sorellina colt has got great size and scope,” Baker said. “As with all the Sword Of States, he has got an amazing brain, they are total professionals. He is a lovely horse and there is plenty of upside with him.

“The Madame Giselle is another good Sword Of State colt. She was stakes placed and he’s her first foal. He is a very good colt.”

Baker is also upbeat about the prospects of lot 71, the Zousain colt out of Group Three winner Ammirata, and lot 81, the Wrote colt out of Camarosa.

“We have a particularly good colt by Zousain out of Ammirata, she was a stakes winner, and Zousain has gone to another level,” Baker said.

“Alongside him there is an excellent Wrote colt out of Camarosa. He is a lovely, scopey horse with a great mind and he will have particular appeal to people who trade to Hong Kong because his (Wrote) record up there is great, I think he is 11 from 14 now, they love him up there. He will be a perfect horse for someone to trade somewhere along the road. He is a lovely horse.” - Joshua Smith LOVERACING.NZ News Desk

King Pedro after change of luck in Stayer's Cup

Trainer Tom Charlton has Group One winner Maison Louis (NZ) (Super Seth) heading to the feature race at Rosehill this Saturday, but it is a stablemate engaged in a support race could prove the stable's best staying prospect.

King Pedro (NZ) (Eminent), who finished sixth in the 2025 Gr.1 New Zealand Derby, will get out to 2400 metres for the first time this campaign in the $160,000 Stayer's Cup (2400m).

The New Zealand-bred son of Eminent hasn't had the best of luck in three runs this campaign, including a narrow second placing over 2000m at Rosehill on June 13, and Charlton is hoping for a change of luck.

"He probably hasn't had a lot of luck for his past four runs, to be fair," Charlton said.

"You could make a case that he's been unlucky in all of them, but he's building into the preparation very well."

King Pedro ran second at Gosford over 2100m two starts ago, when nabbed late by Monopolistic after taking off early, which followed a first-up seventh over 1600m at Randwick on Anzac Day when he encountered a chequered passage in the straight but was beaten only a length.

The Stayer's Cup will be his first start at 2400m since a another narrow second placing in benchmark 78 grade at Randwick on December 20.

King Pedro's recent misfortune means he has only two wins from 14 starts and has a rating of 77, which is why he has just 54.5kg on Saturday, and Charlton said he could be entitled to a crack at Stakes grade if he performs well this weekend.

"We toyed with going to the Caloundra Cup (next week), but if he was to run well in the Stayer's Cup he could go to the Grafton Cup two-and-a-half weeks later," Charlton said.

"He's clearly got a good future, probably at a grade better than this, and he should stay well."

King Pedro will be joined at Rosehill by Maison Louis, last year's Queensland Derby winner, who will be out to bounce back after a poor run in the Listed Winter Cup (2400m) back to 2000m in the $200,000 Listed McKell Cup.

"His runs prior to last weekend have all been with plenty of merit, just with barriers draws and things not working out, so I would be confident he can run well at Listed grade." - NZ Racing Desk

Jumping future beckoning Diamond Jak

Group Three performer Diamond Jak (NZ) (Jakkalberry) has shown a propensity for jumping and he could make his raceday debut over fences in the coming month.

The Mark Brosnan-trained seven-year-old was runner-up in his first hurdle trial last year and went one better at his second public outing over the smaller fences at Cambridge on Monday.

“He did everything right,” Brosnan said following his trial.

While Diamond Jak pleased his trainer with Monday’s effort, the same couldn’t be said for his last two raceday appearances at Ellerslie, which have left Brosnan scratching his head.

A fortnight ago, Diamond Jak was slow to begin, losing five lengths at the start, and eventually ran eighth in a 2100m contest which was taken out by his stablemate Fly My Wey.

The son of Jakkalberry returned to the Auckland track last Saturday to contest The Lawn Shed Winter Series – Stayers Final (2100m), and this time he stood in the gates, and by the time he did jump, he had cost himself a 10-length deficit.

Those performances have put him on the naughty list with stipendiary stewards, and he is now required to barrier trial to their satisfaction before he returns to the races.

“We have got to go back to the trials because of his barrier manners and not wanting to jump out, so we have got to get a certificate to race first,” Brosnan said.

“It is the second time he has done it, so it is a bit of a concern. I think it is all in the head.”

While Diamond Jak has been leading towards a jumping future, Brosnan’s hand may be forced to try him over fences sooner rather than later, however, he still believes he has a future in both disciplines.

“It looks like we might head down that path (jumping) because if he is a little bit slow out of the barriers it won’t be such a worry,” Brosnan said. “But I don’t think he is a spent force on the flat.”

Brosnan said Diamond Jak, who is the winner of eight races, including the Listed Kaimai Stakes (2000m), will likely make his hurdle debut before season’s end.

“He will probably have one or two (jumping starts) before the end of the season,” he said.

Stablemate Fly My Wey (NZ) (Sweynesse) also competed in the Stayers Final on Saturday, where he finished eighth, and he will now head to the winterless north next month for his next target.

“He just got caught too wide in my opinion,” Brosnan said. “He will now go to Ruakaka in three weeks.”

Meanwhile, Brosnan is pleased with the way his Group One performer Sterling Express (NZ) (Shamexpress) is coming up ahead of his spring campaign.

The son of Shamexpress came of age this term, winning the Gr.2 Foxbridge Plate (1200m) before running fourth in both the Gr.1 Proisir Plate (1400m) and Gr.1 Howden Insurance Mile (1600m).

He showed his spring form was no fluke when finishing runner-up behind First Five in the Gr.1 BCD Group Sprint (1400m) at Te Rapa in February, before rounding out his season with a fourth placing in the Gr.1 Otaki-Maori WFA Classic (1600m) and another runner-up result in the Gr.2 Japan Trophy (1600m).

Brosnan said Sterling Express has been back in work for just under two months, and he is pleasing him with his progress.

“Sterling Express is on his way up, he has been back in for six or seven weeks,” he said. “He will go to the Foxbridge and Proisir, and then we will work from there.

“He seems bright and really well, so we can only hope.” - Joshua Smith LOVERACING.NZ News Desk

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