| FEATURE RACE COMMENT |
YEAR: 2010
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De Lovely showed talents her mother didn't whe she slayed the best fillies in town at Addington last Friday night. She sped away from 13 others in the $125,000 Wayne Francis Memorial New Zealand Oaks, cracking the New Zealand record of 3:11.8 set by Pullover Brown by running the 2600 mobile in 3:10.9.
This was a steamy mile rate of 1:58.1, and driver David Butcher said there was "no real let-up" in the tempo of the race from the start. Butcher was up and gone from the second line soon after the start, with the pace set at various times by the stablemates Meredith Maguire, then Secret Potion and from the 800m by Lancome.
Butcher had De Lovely tucked in within three lengths of the leader at that stage, and most were starting to feel the pinch turning in. De Lovely descended on them so quickly that she was level, past and clear inside 50 metres. "Her mother" - Copper Beach, who won the Oaks in 2004 - "couldn't have done that," said Butcher. "She could wind up and keep going, but this filly is better gaited and has more sheer speed. She could be as quick as anything I've driven, and that puts her up there with TinTin In America."
Butcher has noticed a new dimension to her growing abilities, and after a quiet race last week he wasn't afraid to see if she had it. "I asked a bit more of her tonight, and she stepped up a notch."
The race was also a triumph for the rising 29-year-old Falcon Seelster, who has had a long and remarkable influence as a sire in Australasia. Nevele R purchased the horse in 1995, and he has been notable for endless numbers of top performers, 269 who have gone 2.00 or better. As a broodmare sire, the exciting Franco Emirate is from the Falcon Seelster mare Elisit Franco, who won three of sixteen starts and is the dam of a yearling colt by Live Or Die.
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It was another classic David Butcher drive and another Geoff Small New Zealand Oaks. De Lovely burst away from her rivals in New Zealand Record time last Friday night to give Small his fourth win in the Group 1 feature.
The pace was on from the outside with Suidelike Meisie firstly then Meredith Maguire leading. Butcher was first to move from the midfield on De Lovely and once Secret Potion had found the front he ended up lobbing the one-one for the ride home. Lancome made a dashing move to lead down the back straight the last time but life didn’t change for De Lovely and Butcher until he showed her clear air rounding the home bend.
De Lovely burst out of the one-one like a cannon and quickly put the race beyond doubt. Lancome fought well and the remaining minors were battled out between Meredith Maguire, Royal Cee Cee and Secret Potion.
De Lovely pulled together a nice link with her win also. The Wayne Francis Memorial NZ Oaks was won by a daughter of Falcon Seelster, a stallion Francis was instrumental in bringing to our shores in the mid nineties.
The crowning glory of De Lovely’s win was the New Zealand record she posted. 3.10.9 clipped 0.9 of a second of another Small Oaks winner’s time, Pullover Brown, in 2003.
Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 26May2010
YEAR: 2011
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Lance Justice can look back on November as being bad but not awful. While the Inter-Dominion Pacing Grand Final is a loss in waiting, the Victorian trainer still left New Zealand and the Cup carnival with enough to be cheery about. Smoken Up followed his game New Zealand Cup second with a better effort to beat Franco Emirate in the Woodlands New Zealand Free-For-All, ending the gloomy possibility that he could have been placed but beaten in every Addington start.
Before the relief and happiness that brought, Justice had sent home the promising 3-year-old Mark Dennis and Discrimination, a lucky find in Southland. Discrimination could be the mirror image that Justice thought might happen but never would. He is an unraced 4-year-old gelding by Tinted Cloud and the tenth foal from the Vance Hanover mare, Disbar. The half-brother to big winner Disprove (11 wins) was bred by Michael House, and sold to Justice clients by Tony Barron, who qualified the horse in April.
"He reminds me of 'Trigger' in every way - his looks, his manner, the way he hangs; everything about him is so similar," said Justice. "He's going to win heaps of races. And he's four. You know you can't do anything with Tinted Clouds until they're that age."
After his free-for-all win over New Zealand's best except Terror To Love, Smoken Up is obviously still a long way off letting his star fade. "Now that he's nine, I thought it would only be a matter of time when he started on the downhill slide. I'm not sure he's ready for that yet," he said. "He was a totally different horse today than he was for the Cup. He had 18 hours in transit on his way here and he just stood there when I painted his feet on Cup morning. On Friday he was all over me, pushing and playing. And in the prelim I knew he wanted to be there - he never lets a horse go past him in the warm-up, and that's what he was like. He was just so much sharper."
Justice knows that great success and pleasure from it is not an everlasting condition. "I had a call from the owner of Sokyola a fortnight or so back wanting to know why I didn't take on the New Zealand Cup with the horse. Well, as we know, Sokyola was a Sydney horse and won two Miracle Miles. That was his race. And with Smoken Up, he's learn't to travel. It was not put to me all that lightly."
Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 16Nov2011
YEAR: 2011
2011 RICOH FREE-FOR-ALL
Paul Davies, the bloodstock agent who buys horses for Otago owner, Russell Nieper, remembers the day Jim Curtin trialled Franco Enirate at Addington. "He came back laughing," Davies remembers. "He said he had just driven the fastest quarter he had ever trialled a horse there and he had trialled a lot of horses. He thought he was a bargain even though the price was substantial," Davies said.
The Nieper, Davies, Curtin triumverate have been a force in harness racing for several years since the retired Otago supermarket owner first contacted the agent. "It was a ring out of the blue. Russell said he had raced a lot of horses and a lot of slow ones and was looking for a new direction."
Highview Badlands, a substantial yearling purchase, was among the first, a winner of the West Coast bonus and nine in all which Davies had recommended to Nieper. Quick Reflection and Radar Installed are among several Nieper successes buying tried horses. "Russell was happy to go that way instead of breeding and it is my job to sort them out. Franco Emirate became available after he had won one race. The price was substantial but it has proven worthwhile. Russell is a great owner and client. He lets Jimmy make the racing decisions and he backs my judgement in buying horses, some of them for very good money. You can hardly do better than working with somebody like that."
Nieper started out racing horses with colourful southern personalities such as Noel Crighton and Murray Hamilton and said he had his share of success with both. "Young Pointer was placed in a Rowe Cup and now I have got into gallopers with Murray as he moved into them and I have a share in Kid Columbus which won the Grand National Hurdles at Riccarton this year. I have had a good association with those blokes." Only a week before Franco Emirate's triumph at Addington the Nieper/ Curtin team was posting a double at a modest Manawatu meeting with Hokonui Ben.
Jim Curtin is always a man to take one step at a time. To drive another horse to win the New Zealand Cup when he could have been driving his own - and possibly could have won all going well - is a rare feat but the product of some astute thinking. "It wasn't just the starts. The standing starts showed me he was a little immature for those big races at this stage. We will see how he goes in the free-for-all on Friday before I get down to details about what happens next. The Miracle Mile might be a possibility but ideally I would like to go over later for races like the Victoria Cup."
Franco Emirate never gave his $1.50 backers any cause for concern while Mark Purdon and Grant Payne's All Stars stable produced the next three home, headed by Ohoka Dallas in the hands of Colin De Filippi.
On a more important note, Jim's wife Sandy noted that when Franco Emirate wins a race with a rug as a trophy it is invariably red. "I'm glad. I like red and he looks good in it. If he goes to Australia he will certainly be wearing a red rug."
Credit: David McCarthy writing in HRWeekly 10 Nov 2011
YEAR: 2011
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Nevele R Stud said goodbye to one of its favourite sons when Falcon Seelster was put down on Friday.
A former great racehorse and then champion sire, Falcon Seelster was 30 and in failing health. Stud General Manager Peter O'Rourke said it was a matter of ending his discomfort. "We'd hoped that there was a chance he could brighten up with the warmer weather, but that wasn't happening. He couldn't get up three days in a row, and then he couldn't get down to rest. We didn't want to see him suffer," he said.
Falcon Seelster was bought by Bob McArdle and Wayne Francis from Castleton Farms in 1995. He was a superior performer on the track, capping his career with a world record 1.51 mile on Jug Day and earning more than $US1m. For the start of his stud career, Falcon Seelster was a shuttle stallion until his status as an EVA Shedder prevented him from returning for good until 2003.
"With Holmes Hanover gone, it's the end of an era," said O'Rourke.
As a sire, Falcon Seelster surpassed his ability on the track with a galaxy of great performers - 11 Australasian Group 1 winners Elsu, $2m; The Falcon Strike, $1.2m; Howard Bromac, Seelster Sam, All Hart, Franco Seguel, De Lovely, Franco Jonquill, Seel N Print, Coburg and New York Fashion. Six of those horses were Derby winners, and two - Elsu and The Falcon Strike - were Australasian Grand Circuit champions.
He has sired eight in 1.50, including Attorney General, 1.48.4, Allstar Blue Jean, 1.48.8, Franco Catapult, 1.49.4, and Ross The Boss, 1.50. He has sired 108 Australasian winners of more than $100,000, 720 Australasian bred winners, and 88 in 1.55 or better. Seven have won more than $1m including Nevele R Stud sire, McArdle ($2.4m).
All told, his stock has won more than $110m.
Falcon Seelster is making his mark as an exceptional broodmare sire, his daughters having left Bondy, Laurella, Fiery Falcon, Franco Emirate, Fly Like An Eagle, Millwood Meg, Ohoka Arizona, Veste, Mr Yankee, In The Force, Rona Lorraine, Im Mark Antony, Mach And Me and Lilac Stride - all Group 1 Winners - plus Franco Jamar and Pembrook Benny.
He has 32 yearlings, 61 mares due to foal, and his frozen semen is available.
Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 21 Sept 2011
YEAR: 2012
2012 MAURICE HOLMES VASE
Franco Ledger secured his place in the Christchurch Casino New Zealand Cup with a barnstorming finish to cut Franco Emirate out of first in the Group 3 Maurice Holmes Vase at Addington last week.
Considering the competitive lead-up opportunities in Southland compared to those available in Canterbury, this was a cracking training effort by Hamish Hunter. The last horse to achieve a similar result for the province at this time of year was probably Giavanetto, for the late Murray Gray and driven by Jack Smolenski.
Franco Ledger had not raced since beating seven others at Invercargill on April 22, and his best effort from six previous starts at Addington was a third behind Gold Ace and Terror To Love in March over 2600m.
Hunter's previous Cup hope was Malaz, who ran fourth in 1986, 26 years ago. Like Franco Ledger, Malaz started his campaign by winning fresh-up at Addington in August, and followed that with three unplaced starts before the Cup. Hunter's brother Henderson was 27 when he won the Cup with Trusty Scot in 1978.
Standing starts have been Franco Emirate's achilles heel, but he was safe enough and looked the winner when he loomed up wide on the turn and hit the front soon after. Rangataua Ray was honest again, edging past the pacemaker Ohoka Texus who ran with his usual freedom in front until being swamped late. Stunin Cullen was in the bunch and fifth, leaving the impression that he will improve with every start.
Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 12Sep12