A Good Eye

The value of a particular mare escalated when Unforgotten (Fastnet Rock) won the $1m Australian Oaks (Gr. 1, 2400m) on Saturday at Royal Randwick.

Special Memories (Fastnet Rock), a stakes performed sister to Unforgotten, out of Memories of You (Galileo), was purchased as a yearling by Te Akau principal David Ellis for $400,000 at the 2014 New Zealand Bloodstock Premier Sale, from the draft of Curraghmore Stud, for owners Carol Marshall and Nessie Paykel.

“Nessie and I were over the moon with the win by Unforgotten, you'd think that we owned her, and it's made Special Memories a very valuable mare,” Marshall said. “Funnily enough, it was Nessie's birthday on Saturday. She was 95, so it's a big boost for her.

“David (Ellis) sorted her out for us to buy and it ended up being between Love Triangle, an Encosta De Lago filly that Te Akau trained for Coolmore, and Special Memories. Both fillies sold for the same amount and we actually went over our budget by $100,000 so we were very lucky to get her, really.”

Special Memories vindicated the high opinion Ellis had of the filly when winning as a two-year-old after finishing second on debut, and she returned at three to finish third to stable-mate Risque (Darci Brahma) in the Armadillo Stakes (Listed, 1600m) and fourth, also to Risque, in the 1000 Guineas (Gr. 1, 1600m), both at Riccarton.

“She was a filly that had it all as a yearling: beautiful temperament, terrific walk, quite precocious, and a fantastic pedigree,” Ellis said.

“Carol (Marshall) was an exceptionally good trainer of horses in her own right, including million dollar earner Giovana (Blue Traveller) and being asked to select a horse for her and Nessie was an honour.

“Nessie is the wife of the late Maurice Paykel, who founded Fisher & Paykel. He was a great racing man, and the father of David Paykel who we trained Zarzuela (Zabeel) for and she was one of the best fillies we've ever trained. We also trained O'Darci (Darci Brahma) for Bob (Morris), Carol, and Nessie, and he won three out of three before a mishap at the trials ended his career.

“She (Special Memories) is the filly I recommended to them and we had to go over budget to buy her, but to buy the good fillies by Fastnet Rock out of Galileo (Sadler's Wells) mares that's what you've got to do.

“I am absolutely stoked for them, as they're people that I've admired all my life and for them to have the sister to Unforgotten and carrying her first foal is a dream come true.”

Now in foal for Marshall and Paykel to Tavistock (Montjeu), the value of Special Memories and her progeny has skyrocketed thanks to Unforgotten.

“It's amazing how much black print we've got in the family now, with Special Memories a stakes filly, Unforgotten a Group One winner, and her second dam, Most Precious (Nureyev), was twice Group One placed as a two-year-old in France,” Marshall said.

“She let herself down through over racing in her races, but she's a lovely mare and let down beautifully. She had one service to Tavistock, due early in August, so we're lucky there.”

Marshall said a decision would be made in the next six weeks as to who Special Memories is served by. “If she goes to Australia, she would have to go by June because she's in foal early”.

“Unforgotten is rated so highly. She ran a race record (2:27.2) in the Oaks, so it's extra special for us to be breeding from her sister. And the rider Hugh Bowman is my favourite,” she said.

Unforgotten was also bought as a yearling from the draft of Curraghmore Stud, at the 2016 NZB Premier Sale, selling to Chris Waller Racing for $360,000, and now established a record of five wins from nine starts for $1.1 million in prize money.

The win by Unforgotten is another feather in the cap for her dam sire Galileo (Sadler's Wells). The Champion sire continues to strengthen his statistics as a broodmare sire, helped in no small way by the Group One winning feats of Hall of Fame (Savabeel) and Age of Fire (Fastnet Rock) in New Zealand, both also purchased as yearlings by David Ellis.

Ellis has recently returned from purchasing five fillies at the 2018 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.

“We've bought some beautiful fillies at the Easter Sale, with plenty of depth in their pedigrees, and the way good quality mares are being sought after by studs here (NZ) and in Australia, if we can get the right results with them on the race track then they're worth a hell of lot more,” Ellis said.

“It's incredible how good some of these Fastnet Rock fillies are and the yearling I've just bought by him in Sydney, out of Cierzo, a Blue Hen mare that has already left two Group One winners, is great value.”