Coolmore Stud Comments

From Coolmore Stud's latest newsletter:

So, you think you'd swap a Fastnet Rock colt for a High Chaparral?

David Ellis just has - and he's a man who knows a thing or two about buying racehorses!

Well, to be fair, he didn't actually swap the two. What happened is that he has replaced a Fastnet colt - who sadly died after breaking a leg at trackwork - with the High Chaparral colt that topped this week's NZB Ready to Run sale in New Zealand on Wednesday.

He's stunning 2yo colt out of unraced Zabeel mare Deduction is certainly bred to be good, the dam indeed a three-parts sister to Might and Power and a half-sister to both HK G1 winner Lucky Owners and to the dam of Fastnet Rock's own 4x G1winner  Mosheen.

Offered for sale by Regal Farm, the star colt was knocked down for $430,000 to Te Akau Racing's David Ellis.

“I genuinely think this is the nicest colt I've bought here at Karaka since Darci Brahma ,” commented Ellis.

“He's an absolutely stunning colt, bred on the same cross as [High Chaparral colt] It's a Dundeel. At the Karaka Sales in January I bought four colts for a syndicate that had the misfortune of losing the Fastnet Rock colt when he broke his leg at trackwork just a couple of weeks ago. So I have bought this colt to replace him. He's a colt that we could send to Christchurch for the G1 2000 Guineas and then train on for the G1 New Zealand Derby and the big staying races in Australia.”

It must not have been lost on a judge so astute as Ellis that this year's NZ G1 2000 Guineas was won by a Coolmore-sired colt in Fastnet Rock's fabulous son Atlante. And nobody is more aware than he that this year's NZ G1 1000 Guineas, too, was won by a Coolmore-sired 3yo.

Encosta de Lago it was who sired that 3yo filly when Australian-bred daughter Costa Viva won last Saturday's Thousand Guineas and shot to favouritism for New Zealand's prestigious Filly of the Year series championship.

Allowed to settle back in the field, the Jason Bridgman trained Encosta filly came with a late rush to win the G1 1600m Classic by nearly a length.

“It played out well for her with a bit of early tempo and he [rider Leith Innes] ended up in a lovely spot and set it up for the last shot and he executed it perfectly ,” said the trainer.

“We were quietly confident heading into the race. She had been in great form and her work was really good. It is never easy in a G1 event to be over-confident but we were happy that we had a horse that was going to be competitive and with the right run she was capable, so it was very pleasing."

Costa Viva was previously an easy winner on debut at the end of August, then runner-up in the G3 Hawkes Bay Breeders Stakes before winning at Listed level, so she now boasts three wins and a 2nd placing from just four starts.

“This filly has done absolutely nothing wrong and David (Ellis) bought her at the Gold Coast and she didn't get broken in until June as a 2yo,” Bridgman said.

“She's a terrific filly in the making and the logical focus is the Filly of the Year series so we'll be following that path with her.  We have to find out now whether she will run 2000m. In order to take the Series out they need to be able to stay as well and that will be answered in time.”

A $100,000 Magic Millions National Sale purchase for the Te Akau boss from the draft of Tyreel Stud as agent, Costa Viva was bred by Tarcoola Stud and had a few months prior been purchased for $90,000 at the Inglis Melbourne yearling sale by our own Colm Santry.

Tarcoola boss Ken Williams must by now have plenty of respect for Colm, who also purchased as a yearling Choisir's G1-winning filly Sacred Choice.

With three of the ten races in the Filly of the Year series now completed, this G1 victory has propelled Costa Viva to the top of the leader board with 15 points. The next race in the series will be the 1600m G3 Euglogy Stakes on 14 December, with the series culminating in the G1 New Zealand Oaks on 15 March.

Costa Viva becomes Encosta 's 21st G1 winner.