Racing Queensland will implement designated race regions across the state from next week in a bid to further quarantine the industry from the current COVID-19 pandemic.
With a raft of biosecurity measures already in place, including patron-free racing and a mandatory 14-day self-isolation period for licensed participants, RQ will introduce measures from Sunday that will provide five key thoroughbred regions and four key greyhound regions as part of a multi-staged approach to health and safety. Given the imminent introduction of regionalised racing, RQ has resolved to abandon the up-coming winter carnivals for thoroughbreds, greyhounds and harness participants. As part of the decision, thoroughbred racing will be consolidated to 15 racetracks and jockeys will be permitted to race in one of the five designated regions. Trainers and stable staff will be further restricted to one of eight zones. During this period, horses or greyhounds will NOT be permitted to be transferred between zones for the purpose of racing. Furthermore, any horse or greyhound that is presently domiciled inter-state and does not enter Queensland by 11.59pm on Sunday March 29 will not be allocated a region and will no longer be able to race until further notice. Horses or greyhounds will be permitted to be transferred across regions for non-racing purposes such as agistment or re-homing. Queensland will be divided into five regions incorporating eight zones with racing restricted to 15 venues. 1 Metro North Zone • Host Clubs Brisbane RC and Sunshine Coast TC. • Restricted to trainers located at Eagle Farm, Doomben, Deagon and Sunshine Coast. • Race days – Saturday BRC (Doomben or Eagle Farm) (Metro Hybrid) and Wednesday SCTC Provincial. Capacity for additional Friday night product at SCTC if required. 2 Metro South West Zone • Host Clubs Gold Coast, Ipswich and Toowoomba. • Restricted to trainers located at Gold Coast, Ipswich, Toowoomba, Gatton, Beaudesert and Warwick. • Race days – Fridays Gold Coast (Metro Hybrid) and Sunday Ipswich and Toowoomba (every fourth week) (Provincial). Capacity for additional Saturday night product at Toowoomba if required. 3 Darling Downs Zone • Host Clubs Roma and Charleville. Races every Saturday. 4 SEQ Coast Zone • Host Club for meetings Bundaberg RC. Races every second Sunday. 5 Central West Zone • Host Clubs Barcaldine and Emerald. Races every Saturday. 6 Central Zone • Host Clubs Rockhampton and Mackay. Races every Tuesday . 7 North West Zone • Host Club Mt Isa RC. Races every second Saturday. 8 North Zone • Host Clubs Cairns and Townsville. Races every Thursday. TRAINERS AND STABLE STAFF • Trainers and Stable staff (track riders and stable hands) are restricted to attending race meetings within their designated zone only. Trainers and Stable Staff are restricted to working at a single training location. Any trainer or stable staff member wishing to relocate must get permission of the QRIC Stewards and complete 14 day self-isolation prior to recommencing work. JOCKEYS Metro Zone Jockeys can select to operate in one Metro Zone exclusively and must comply with the following: • Provide notification to RQ and QRIC of chosen Metro zone for activity. • Are restricted to only attend race meetings within that designated zone. • Are restricted to only attend track work or trials/jump-outs at a single training location within that zone. • Any Jockey wishing to relocate to another zone must get permission of the QRIC Stewards and complete 14 day self-isolation prior to recommencing track work or racing. Regional Zone Jockeys can select two adjacent zones to operate in and must comply with the following: • Provide notification to RQ and QRIC of chosen zones for activity. • Are restricted to only attend race meetings within their designated zones. • Are restricted to only attend track work or trials/jump-outs at a single training location within that zone. Widden Stud stallion Your Song left another Group winner in Miss Exfactor at Rosehill on Saturday and he’s got plenty of firepower left. A Group One winner of the BTC Cup, Your Song stands at Widden and Miss Exfactor became his fourth Black Type winner when taking the Group 3 Birthday Card Stakes for Joe Pride. Your Song has already left 46 individual winners in Australia this season, but it is interesting to see that the future looks very bright for the stallion. He served his biggest book of mares in 2017 when covering 183 mares for the result of 138 live foals. That has resulted in the horse being well represented at yearling sales around Australasia this year with 39 Your Song yearlings selling under the hammer. The yearlings sold for a total of $1.81 million and an average price of $46,525 which is his best average price since 2018 when he average $65,318. Miss Exfactor was a $70,000 Magic Millions Book 2 purchase from the Widden Stud draft and she now has the overall record of five wins and seven placings from 18 starts with prizemoney topping $322,000. She is the best of three winners from Search for Fame, a three-quarter sister by Quest for Fame (GB) to Group II winner Impaler who won 11 races 900 to 1600 metres. She comes from the Cotehele House family and relations include Danewin and Commands. Farnan’s emphatic Golden Slipper victory is a shot in the arm for Queensland. The son of Not A Single Doubt jumped to the lead from an outside barrier in the $3.5 million feature and lead all the way for his fifth win from only six starts. Farnan is a son of Tallow, a Street Cry mare out of a Lion Hunter mare. A stakes winner who won three times from only 12 starts, Tallow was sold at the 2017 Magic Millions Broodmare Sale on the Gold Coast by John Singleton’s Strawberry Hill Stud. The mare cost $250,000 and was carrying a foal by Not A Single Doubt that turned out to be Farnan. Signing the buyer’s docket was a good friend of Ontrack in David Lucas, who was acting as agent for Phoenix Bloodstock. The mare ended up with David’s son Ben at his property near Boonah some 80ks south west of Brisbane and that’s where she foaled Farnan who carries the brand of Lucas Bloodstock. Just to show how tough a game thoroughbred breeding can be, Tallow missed at her next two matings to Snitzel and once to Sebring but she is currently in foal to freshman sire The Autumn Sun. Farnan’s Golden Slipper gave Gai Waterhouse her 7th win in Australia’s premier race for two-year-olds and the first for the partnership between Gai and Adrian Bott. Gai’s has few peers when it comes to juveniles and after gaining her trainer’s licence in 1992 Gai Waterhouse became the first female trainer to win a Golden Slipper with Ha Ha in 2001. She has since prepared Dance Hero (2004), Sebring (2008), Pierro (2012), Overreach (2013) and Vancouver (2015) to win the world’s richest and most prestigious juvenile race. Waterhouse values the Golden Slipper probably more than any other race. “This is the stallion-making race of Australia,’’ she said. “Many of the leading sires have won the Golden Slipper, even the fillies like Ha Ha became champion filly of her generation,’’ said Gai. Ontrack’s talented sprinter Tavisan is in great order for a new racing preparation. Tavisan won three races in his last preparation, including the $100,000 Apache Cat Classic at Cranbourne and he was sent to the spelling paddock at the end of November. Caulfield trainers Mick Price and Michael Kent Junior also operate a satellite stable at Warnambool and that venue allows horses to access the beach and sandhills to work. Tavisan has been under the care of Matthew Williams at Warnambool and he’s got the horse up to galloping stage and saddled him up for an impressive Campberdown jumpout victory last week. Purchased by Ontrack’s Grant Morgan from Hallmark Stud’s draft at the New Zealand Blookstock Premier Sale in January for $135,000, Tavisan is a son of Tavistock, best known as a sire of stayers. However, Tavisan is clearly a speed horse and like his sire possesses abundant speed. He has now had 17 starts for four wins and four minor placings and has banked $264,267 for his ownership group Arctic Shock is getting ready to hit the tracks in a new preparation for Ontrack and her large and enthusiastic ownership group. The daughter of Shocking hasn’t been seen since her brilliant win over 2040 metres at Moonee Valley in late November. Prepared by recent Group 1 winning duo Chris & John Meagher, Arctic Shock went straight to the spelling paddock after that win and is now gearing up for a return to the races. Arctic Shock had a trial at Cranbourne on March 3 and is to trial again this week in readiness for a return to the races. The Cranbourne trial was good as Arctic Shock went to the line hard held by jockey Ben Melham. Provided she comes through her Victorian races in good order she will head to Queensland for some staying races over the Winter Carnival. Arctic Shock is a daughter of Group winner Art Beat and has now won three times and been placed six times from only 13 lifetime starts. She was Group placed at three and the aim is to win further Black Type races with her. Arctic Shock is the second foal of Art Beat to race and her first foal Azabeat is a dual winner. The mare has an unraced two-year-old Tavistock filly named Opoho Dreaming in work with the Moroney-Gerard stable in New Zealand. Art Beat has a yearling filly by new stallion Vadamos on the ground and last spring foaled a colt by Derby winner Tarzino. After relocating to Victoria, underrated stallion Foxwedge continues his strong recent form with stakes wins for Lunar Fox and Villami. Foxwedge now has 43 black type earners with his oldest progeny four year-olds. He has earned a strong reputation of getting a good filly, thanks to his best flagbearers Volpe Veloce, Foxplay and Urban Fox, all Group 1 winners. Lunar Fox won the Group 2 VRC Sire Produce Stakes at Flemington to take his record to five starts for two wins and a second from only five starts for veteran Victorian trainer Terry O'Sullivan who trains in partnership with daughter Katrina O'Sullivan. Meanwhile at Randwick, Villami resumed with a dominant win at in the Listed Fireball Stakes (1100m).
The Gerald Ryan-trained daughter of Foxwedge and the Group-winning mare Galapagos Girl, Villami resumed dominantly at Randwick and has now won twice and placed on four occasions from only eight starts. The tough world of commercial thoroughbred breeding is amply illustrated when you look at figures surrounding a stallion like Foxwedge. After starting his career in New South Wales as a Newgate Farm foundation stallion, Foxwedge enjoyed plenty of success and he served books ranging from 120 to 163 mares, but dropped to just 68 in his final season there in 2018. He was relocated to Victoria’s Woodside Park in 2019, he covered 67 mares last year and appeals as an attractive prospect for breeders down South to take advantage of the lucrative bonuses on offer under VOBIS. Hawkes Racing looks to have unearthed yet another headliner in Master Of Wine. The imported stayer ploughed through a bottomless track at Rosehill last Saturday and in spite of stepping from 1400 metres to 2000 metres he bolted away with the Group 3 Sky High Stakes. He’s now the winner of his last four starts for John, Michael and Wayne Hawkes and looks to have the rich autumn staying races well and truly in his sights. Among the ownership group in Master of Wine, is former leviathan Gold Coast based bookmaker, Laurie Bricknell. Master Of Wine is a classic example of the stable’s patience and ability to move horses around their Melbourne and Sydney stables. Master of Wine is a son of Maxios, an unbeaten two-year-old who trained on the be a dual Group One winner. Maxios is yet another son of one of the world’s great sires in Monsun who leaves stakes winners at an incredible 15% strike rate. Darley stallion Kermadec is on his way thanks to a brilliant win by his two-year-old filly Montefilia at Newcastle. The David Payne-trained filly ran down the leaders on debut and gave Kermadec that important first winner from only seven racetrack runners in Australia and New Zealand. A brilliant miler for leading trainer Chris Waller, with a Group One Doncaster win at three, Kermadec is a son of Teofilo and his first crop of horses met with strong demand when sold at Australasian sales in 2019. His highest price yearling was a colt sold at the Inglis Premier Sale in Melbourne for $520,000 while another 19 of his progeny made $100,000 or more. Montefilia was one of these, fetching $130,000 at the Magic Millions Sale on the Gold Coast after being sold as a weanling for $62,000 the previous year. Ontrack purchased a Kermadec colt out of Gemini Miss at the 2019 Magic Millions Sale and he’s in pre-training before returning to the Kris Lees stable at Newcastle. Named Zodiacus, the colt is showing good ability and this latest preparation should see him get to the races for the first time. Meanwhile at the Magic Millions Adelaide Yearling Sale, another colt by Kermadec fetched an impressive $270,000 this week. Considering the Adelaide sale typically averages around $40,000, this was a strong result for Kermadec. The colt was purchased by Victorian based bloodstock agent Justin Bahen, together with Caulfield trainer Clinton McDonald. Top juvenile trainer Gai Waterhouse is chasing her seventh Golden Slipper with star colt Farnan. Gai and training partner Adrian Bott prepare Golden Slipper favourite Farnan and should the colt win the $3.5 million race on Saturday week it will give Gai her an unparalleled 7th victory in the time honoured event. Gai currently shares the Golden Slipper honours board with her late father Tommy and Farnan is now the Slipper favourite following his dominant Todman Stakes win. Farnan is the sixth foal of the good race mare Tallow who was purchased at the 2017 Magic Millions Broodmare Sale on behalf of Phoenix Thoroughbreds by David Lucas, a good friend and client of Ontrack. Tallow was in foal to Not A Single Doubt and the resultant foal was Farnan, who was put through the ring at the 2019 Magic Millions Sale and knocked down to Aquis Farm and Phoenix for $550,000. Farnan was in fact foaled and reared in Queensland, on the Lucas Bloodstock farm at Boonah. He carries the farms LUC brand on his near side. Farnan has now won four of his five race day starts and now heads to Rosehill in a fortnight to add to Gai’s previous winners Ha Ha (2001), Dance Hero (2004), Sebring (2008), Pierro (2012), Overreach (2013) and Vancouver (2015). It’s a well-trodden path for Gai as Pierro and Vancouver also won the Todman before their Slipper wins. Gai’s history of success and Adrian Bott’s youth and enthusiasm has reinvigorated the stable and is a major reason for Ontrack Thoroughbreds joining the Tulloch Lodge setup. We currently have an unraced Lonhro 2yo colt in work with Waterhouse and Bott and bought a Capitalist filly at the January Magic Millions Sale for the stable. The Capitalist filly is out of Urban Groove, a Listed winner for Gai in a short but spectacular career which ended with a fourth placing in the Group One Flight Stakes. Alligator Blood’s trainer David Vandyke produced another promising three year-old in Roman Republic at Doomben last week. The debut win added another tick to the amazing combination of Vandyke and jockey Ryan Maloney. The win of Roman Republic at Doomben maintained the duos incredible winning strike rate of 40% for the season. The pair have been in the headlines with Alligator Blood and are in line for their biggest ever pay day when Al takes on the $5 million All Star Mile at Caulfield this Saturday, but away from the Group One meetings they have also overachieved. Of Vandyke’s last 50 runners Maloney has ridden 18 of them for 9 wins and 5 minor placings. Roman Republic is a typical Vandyke runner, not going to the races until halfway through his three-year-old season having been given plenty of time to fill out his imposing physique and be mentally ready to debut. A son of Bart Cummings’ Australian Derby winner Roman Emperor, Roman Republic was bought by Vandyke out of Book Two at the 2018 Inglis Classic Sale for $42,000. A son of Montjeu, Roman Emperor is yet another staying horse who struggled to break through when retired to stud. However it would be incorrect to label him a failure because from very small crops he’s only had 52 individual starters for 28 winners of 81 races, including a stakes winner in Emperor’s Way. Sadly Roman Emperor died of an aneurysm in October last year but he looks to have a capable representative in the form of Roman Republic. Ontrack’s highly promising filly Baroda is back in action with Black Type and more QTIS bonuses on her radar. The good looking daughter of Epaulette completed a hat-trick of wins at Eagle Farm on February 1 and was sent to the paddock for a break after three city wins on the trot. She had a three weeks at Waverley Park in South East Queensland before returning to the Gold Coast stables of Toby and Trent Edmonds last week. The plan laid out for her will see the $200,000 Listed Inglis Scone Guineas (1400 metres) on May 16 firmly on her programme. The race is restricted to graduates of the Inglis Sales Series and is run at set weights. Ontrack has identified a leadup QTIS race in Brisbane for Baroda as we attempt to secure valuable Black Type form for the filly. Securing Black Type will add considerable value to Baroda and Ontrack has had considerable success in enhancing the value of race fillies by adding Black Type, particularly in Queensland. In recent seasons Savanna Amour, Test The World and Cymbalism were all sold off the track at a considerable premium thanks to judicious placing during their racing career. Meanwhile also on the Gold Coast, Ontrack is preparing for the upcoming Magic Millions QTIS sale (16-17 March).
The sale will provide us with the opportunity to secure another group of promising QTIS eligible yearlings to hopefully follow in the footsteps of our smart QTIS flag bearers in Savanna Amour and more recently, Baroda. In particular QTIS fillies are worth their weight in gold. A Saturday Metro win at two or three brings home an amazing gross prizemoney cheque of almost $80,000 for QTIS fillies. With trainers Tony Gollan, David Vandyke, Toby & Trent Edmonds and John & Chris Meagher all lined up in readiness, there will be some good ownership opportunities coming up. Make sure you express interest at our website. Hawkes Racing once again demonstrated the benefits of family and inter-state stables with a Group double at Flemington and Randwick. John, Michael and Wayne Hawkes saddled up Sylvia’s Mother to win the Group 3 Frances Tressday Stakes at Flemington and then Dawn Dawn completed the dose in the Group 2 Guy Walter Stakes at Randwick. Hawkes Racing operate stables at Rosehill and Flemington and both stables are enjoying a rich vein of form with their last 10 runners netting 3 wins and 5 minor placings. Ontrack commenced working with the stable in 2019 and will continue to place well credentialed youngsters with Team Hawkes. Many dual state operations can falter. It seems the key ingredient for success may well start at home with ‘blood’ the vital factor. The Hawkes team has long taken advantage of having three key arms to the stable through patriarch John Hawkes, and sons Michael Hawkes (Rosehill) and Wayne Hawkes (Flemington). There seems to be no substitute for the strong glue of family which binds these stables together.
Whilst operating on a smaller boutique level, the family team of John & Chris Meagher tick the same family box. Team Meagher was seen to good affect recently with the Group 1 win of Pippie. The Meagher’s have enjoyed good success through its Eagle Farm and Mornington stables. The ability to move horses inter-state seamlessly has enormous appeal. Having trainers and key staff familiar with horses is a huge asset when it comes to moving between states. Rock star stallion Savabeel continues to deliver with Probabeel winning yet another Group One for the Kiwi champion. Savabeel is always the star turn when the Ontrack New Zealand Horse and Wine Tour hits Waikato Stud and on Saturday Probabeel became his 19th individual Group One winner when she scored an amazing win in the Surround Stakes at Randwick. Waikato Stud has now bred 41 Group One winners and is firmly established as a breeding powerhouse in Australasia. Savabeel, a Group One winning son of sire sensation Zabeel, has now sired 98 individual Black Type winners with Adelaide Ace in the Gr.2 Autumn Classic at Caulfield his latest winner at Listed level. Amazingly Zabeel had sired 99 Black Type winners at the same stage of his amazing career. The Ontrack New Zealand Horse and Wine Tour takes place November 19-24 this year and Waikato Stud and Savabeel will once again be a highlight of the trip. Waikato Stud claimed another leading vendor title at January’s Karaka Premier Sale with 58 yearlings sold for a total $9,902,500 averaging $167,839. This is the seventh consecutive year that the Waikato nursery has topped the vendor table. Probabeel’s win was also a welcome change of fortune for her owners, Cambridge Stud principals Brendan and Jo Lindsay. It’s been a horrible time for the team at Cambridge over the past 12 months with three crushing blows with the loss of stallions Tavistock, Burgandy and Roaring Lion. Meanwhile at Morphetville, the Lindsay colours were also on display with some further black type success in South Australia. Brazen Beau 2yo filly Dottie Dee (NZ) was runner up on debut in the Listed Cinderella Stakes (1100m).
Dottie Dee was secured by Cambridge boss Henry Plumptre for the Lindsay’s from the 2019 Magic Millions Sale where the Willow Park consigned filly fetched $240,000. Based on the narrow three quarter of a length defeat, Dottie Dee looks a sure fire coming winner for the training partnership of Ciaron Maher and David Eustace. The stable is enjoying a highly successful juvenile year. |
PREVIOUS ARTICLES |