The Tart on Top

Following in the footsteps of her impressive winning dam Rapid Kay (Towkay), three-year-old Darci Brahma (Danehill) filly Clos De Tart commenced her career with a stylish win, by two and a half lengths, on April 24 at Te Aroha.

Placed third on two occasions at Group One level, Rapid Kay was also a debut winner in April [2003] who impressed on yielding ground in a career of five victories from 1300m to 1600m. Trained by Mark Walker (see footnote) at Te Akau stables in Matamata, she remained etched in the mind of Te Akau principal David Ellis after beating his future Champion Three-Year-Old and Horse of the Year King's Chapel (King of Kings) in the Canterbury Stakes (Listed, 1600m) at Riccarton.

Ellis subsequently secured Clos De Tart for $70,000 at the 2011 New Zealand Bloodstock Premier Yearling Sale, from the draft of Little Avondale Stud, and she is owned by The Racy Ladies' Syndicate (Mgr Karyn Fenton-Ellis).

“It was a really gutsy win when she (Rapid Kay) beat King's Chapel down south,” said Little Avondale stud master Sam Williams. Then in the Captain Cook Stakes (Gr. 1, 1600m) she was shuffled back to last from a perfect position on the rail and flew home to be beaten a head and a head, third.

Showing similar traits, Clos De Tart closed off from the rear to take out the Barry Brown Winners Circle Maiden 3YO over 1200 metres. Jockey Matt Cameron settled her second last of nine runners before pushing her into contention from seven lengths off the pace at the 600 metres and drawn widest in search of better ground at the 400m she drew clear to win easing down.

“She is a filly that always showed plenty from the outset,” said Te Akau trainer Jason Bridgman. “She went very good trials as a two-year-old and showed then to handle rain-affected going. There was a little bit of a question mark, fresh-up on heavy ground, and she has had a couple of setbacks, but it is very rewarding for the owners who have been patient.

Being by Darci Brahma, a five-time Group One winning stallion also purchased by David Ellis as a yearling for $1.1m, Clos De Tart has plenty of Te Akau influence in her genes.

“With the season Darci Brahma is having, he is really stamping this three-year-old crop and with what we are seeing at the trials and races he is leaving horses that can also handle rain-affected going. So, he is leaving all sorts of horses at very good levels,” said Bridgman.

Matt Cameron said: “She is quite a laidback horse, but I didn't expect to be that far back. She dropped the bit and struggled to get through it across the top, but I gave her one behind the saddle and she really grabbed the bit and took off. Being a Darci Brahma, they try one-hundred and ten percent and although not the biggest horse she scampered through it nicely. She is going to get over more ground and it was a good solid effort.

Unfortunately, Rapid Kay was a sad loss this season to Little Avondale Stud. “She died this year,” said Sam Williams. “She was one of my favourite mares on the farm and had the coolest temperament and nature. It was getting late in the season and I wasn't going to breed her this year. So, I had a new staff member in the crush that morning and I said ‘see this mare over here (in a foaling paddock beside the yards), that's Rapid Kay, she's a really gutsy mare', and the mare called out to me. She came trotting straight up to me, put her head into my tummy, walked five yards and dropped to the ground - dead. We got the vet out straightaway and spent the next seven or eight hours trying to save her. She got a blood clot in her artery system to her large intestine, but we couldn't find anything at the time until we did the autopsy. Thankfully, we have her half-sister Skittle (Pins) who we still own and she has won five.

“I would really to congratulate Karyn (Fenton-Ellis) and the girls in the syndicate for a top win and hopefully there will be more to come,” said Williams. “Everyone at LA Stud is very, very proud.

Karyn Fenton Ellis added "I asked a terrific group racing women friends to join me in having some fun racing together.  "Bubbles" as we call her - and how appropriate - is our first filly to race and she comes out on top, I am just thrilled for the Racy Ladies' Syndicate.  Well done to Justine Lady Hogan and daughters Erin and Nicola, Cathie Holmes, Alison Rowe, Meagan Schick, Nicky Hurst, Deirdre Neville-White, Cheryl Renouf, Leslie Browne, Christine Abel, Helen Gaye Bax and Raewyn Duggan.

"We have had some real fun already together - a "naming" lunch, an AGM each year that involves an overnight stay with dinner (to which we do allow the men to join us), trials and racing and much more.  I sadly couldn't make it today but was thrilled that Alison, Meagan and Nicky were on course to do the honours for us."

The phrase ‘fortune favours the brave' played out for Alison Rowe.

“I said, ‘some of us tarts must go and watch the tart. When I saw her I said, ‘wow, she looks good', so I said to Nicky (Hurst) I'm putting twenty dollars each way on her. Then, Nicky went up to put ten each way and mucked it up and ended up putting twenty each way [a nice result at $5.50 & $2.00], and she won so well which is what really intrigued us.

Footnote: Now in his third season of training horses for Te Akau in Singapore, Mark Walker is currently eight wins clear on the Trainer Premiership with a tally of thirty-one.