QTIS Horse of the Year last season to Group 3 winner this season - that's the progression made by 3YO filly Pennino who won the Group 3 Gold Coast Guineas (1200m) at Aquis Park Gold Coast on Saturday.
Simultaneously, she also surpassed her older brother Balboa Rocks who won the Listed Sunshine Coast Cup at Corbould Park in January this year. The siblings became the 11th and 12th stakes winners for Wattle Brae Stud's veteran Group 1 winning sprinter Easy Rocking. Both are from the winning Clang mare Alpha Girl and are bred and raced by the same connections - Darryl Dunk, partner Susan Buckley and Bryce Lloyd.
Having also bred and successfully raced Alpha Girl to win two races, connections decided to keep her and send her to stud. "The first couple didn't do too much but she then had successive stakes winners (Balboa Rocks and Pennino). Sadly, her 2017 filly had to be put down after birth but she's now back in foal to Easy Rocking," Dunk told Aushorse webnews.
Dunk also told Aushorse that the names of the black type winners are both associated with the successful Rocky film series. Balboa Rocks is almost a mirror image of film hero Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) while Pennino is named after Adrian Pennino (Talia Shire) - the girlfriend then wife of Rocky Balboa.
Easy Rocking and the deceased Clang have been stalwart sires for the Queensland breeding industry. Recent statistics show Easy Rocking has sired at least 320 winners and has progeny earnings of more than $16 million while daughters of Clang have produced more than 120 winners with progeny earnings passing $6 million.
Trained by Sunshine Cast based Darryl Hansen - who also trains Balboa Rocks - Pennino recorded three wins and two placings as a 2YO to become overall QTIS Horse of the year last season. Resuming In December as a 3YO filly after a four months spell, Pennino indicated last December a black type win was a probability - rather than a possibility - when in three successive races she ran fourth in the Listed Mode Stakes, third in the Listed Gold Edition Plate and second in the Group 3 Vo Rogue Plate - all at Doomben. Then after another four months break she returned to Doomben to run fifth in the Listed Mick Dittman Plate on a heavy track before winning the Group 3 Gold Coast Guineas - also on a heavy track.
Her race record now reads four wins and four placings from 13 starts and total earnings of $413,750 which includes just over $100,000 in QTIS bonuses
Marksfield wins Bundaberg Battle
VETERAN sprinter Marksfield has booked his spot in this year's Battle of the Bush final after carrying top weight of 61kg to win the second qualifying race at Bundaberg's sand track on Saturday.
Racing Queensland webnews reports it was a huge effort from Marksfield having found the front early and then knuckling down to fight back after being headed by Glenn Richardson's Bel Seleva in the run home - that horse coming off six consecutive victories.
The 8YO gelding has now made it two-for-two at Bundaberg for Toowoomba trainer Matt Kropp and boosted his overall record to 12 wins and 22 placings from 78 starts with overall prizemoney of more than $222,000.
Bred at Oaklands Stud on the Darling Downs, Marksfield is by Chateau Istana (GB) from the Maizcay mare Imperial Way. A son of dual Group 1 winner Grand Lodge, Chateau Istana (GB) was a high class galloper who won five races, including three at two. His best win came in the Group 2 Flying Childers Stakes at Doncaster and he also sired a Group 2 winner in his first crop when 3YO colt Golden Chateau scored a 100-1 boil-over win in the Group 2 Gauteng Guineas (1600m) at Turffontein in South Africa.
Marksfield is from his third crop. All up, he left six crops before being exported to China in 2013 and his sire record currently stands at 62 winners and progeny earnings of more than $3.3 million.
Rewald rewarded at Charleville
DUAL licensed trainer/jockey David Rewald dominated Charleville races on Saturday when he scored a treble in successive races on the six-race program.
In fact the entire Quilpie Diggers' Race Club meeting was transferred from Quilpie when about 50mm of rain in the past week made Quilpie's Bulloo Park track unsuitable for racing. Instead, Quilpie held a phantom meeting with the races live streamed back from Charleville onto a big screen at the racecourse at Bulloo Park.
One of the few trainer-jockeys in Queensland, the 58-year-old Blackall-based rider obtained his trainer's licence six years ago to extend his career in the industry. Racing.com statistics indicate David only needs another two wins to take his overall tally to 450 wins, which now includes his Charleville treble of You're Not Wanted, Wicked Woody and I Kan Conquer - all three horses owned by David's partner Linda Bourke.
Class B winner You're Not Wanted is a 3YO filly by Group 1 winner Wanted. Quilpie Charleville Newmarket winner Wicked Woody is an 8YO gelding by Wicked Style (USA) and now has a win/place ratio of just over 50 per cent with 11 wins and 21 placings from 59 starts while Class 2 Plate winner I Kan Conquer is by Love Conquers All.
The feature 1600m Quilpie Cup was won by Yeezy, a 5YO gelding by Husson (Arg) from Dialogue co-owned and trained by Bevan Johnson, Miles. It was his second win in succession having won at Gladstone on April 20.
National Yearling Sale catalogue now online
THE quality packed catalogue for the 2019 Magic Millions Gold Coast National Yearling Sale is now online.
With 553 lots, the auction will boast progeny by 126 individual stallions including 20 exciting first season sires.
The National Yearling Sale has established itself as one of the best performing in the region with graduates having won races including the Golden Slipper, Victoria Derby, KrisFlyer International Sprint, Kelt Capital Stakes, Oakleigh Plate, Australian Oaks, Dubai Golden Shaheen, Queensland Oaks, Rosehill Guineas and New Zealand's feature sprint the Telegraph Handicap.
Buyers will race for more with a National Yearling Sale purchase as almost all of the catalogued lots are eligible to be paid up for the $11m+ Magic Millions Race Series. In a further boost most yearlings catalogued are eligible for rich state based bonus schemes and they include:
- BOBS Eligible: 392 lots
- QTIS 1st Payment or Fully Paid: 87 lots
- Super VOBIS Nominated: 36 lots
Book One of the sale will be held on June 5 and 6 with Book Two on June 7, followed on the final day by the National Racehorse Sale.
The catalogue for the 2019 Magic Millions Gold Coast National Yearling Sale is now available for download via the Equineline iPad app and can also be viewed online at http://www.magicmillions.com.au. Printed copies of the National Yearling catalogue will be distributed shortly.
Dual G1-winning sprinter Jungle Cat to stand at Telemon
RECORD-BREAKING sprinter Jungle Cat will stand the upcoming Australian breeding season at Queensland's Telemon Stud, Innisplain.
Darley-owned Jungle Cat has an impressive international resume winning at the highest level against world-class sprinting opposition in both Dubai and Australia and stood his first season at Darley's Kildangan Stud in Ireland.
The fastest son of Ifraaj from the Forest Wildcat mare Mike's Wildcat will be offered in his first southern hemisphere season at an introductory fee of $12,000 (plus GST).
Trained by Newmarket-based Charlie Appleby, Jungle Cat achieved Group 1 success in the 2018 Al Quoz Sprint (WFA) (1200m) in Dubai and the 2018 Rupert Clarke Stakes (1400m) as top weight. "He's a model of consistency at the top level and a straightforward horse to train, good minded and very sound," Appleby said.
Delighted and humbled to be entrusted with such a high calibre young stallion, Telemon Thoroughbreds owner Dan Fletcher said Jungle Cat was a genuinely elite, multiple Group 1 winning sprinter with an enticing pedigree given the prevailing genetics of Queensland's mare population.
With Darley and Telemon already enjoying a young but successful relationship with Golden Slipper winning sire Sidestep, Darley Head of Sales Alastair Pulford, said Darley was delighted to provide Queensland breeders access to another top stallion prospect in Jungle Cat. "His Australian form is easy to relate to and he represents a great sire line," he said.
Telemon Thoroughbreds general manager Joe Heather said Telemon had been monitoring Jungle Cat as a potential stallion since his win in Group 1 Al Quoz Sprint. "It's a race that we know through the exploits of Buffering. Jungle Cat's win there generated a rating that stood alongside the absolute elite Australian sprinters, so it should have come as no surprise that the horse he defeated, Stormy Liberal, returned to America and duly won the Breeders' Cup Sprint.
"Jungle Cat's next start was in Australia where he gave them all weight and a beating in the Group 1 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes at Caulfield. To get the attention of our breeders, it was so important he came here and not only showed his quality, but the fact he is made for our conditions. To be a Group 1 winner on Australian soil is a huge positive," Heather said.
In his final race, Jungle Cat faced a field of the best sprinters in the land in the VRC Sprint (1200m) down the Flemington straight, placing third. "That run was the clincher for us. Horsemen know how hard it is to travel, so for him to put up a performance like that on foreign shores and coming back in trip is a true testament to his quality. He's top class and it's a privilege for us to stand him," Heather said.
Enquiries on Jungle Cat can be directed to Joe Heather on 0413 712 465 or joe@telemonstud.com.au