Little Avondale Newsletter August 2010
LA AUGUST 2010 NEWSLETTER
Things are gearing up nicely for the start of the breeding season; the first mares have been relocated to the foaling paddocks close to the house and teasing of the mares started in earnest on Monday.
Cat’s training for the New York Marathon has intensified with her latest training effort a 33 kms mission around the local roads in two hours and thirty eight minutes. And yes for all the Doubting Thomas’s, Sam has been joining her ‘once or twice’ on his bike!
Bookings for both stallions remain steady and should be on par with last seasons numbers.
Towkay and Zed
Itsabuzz (Towkay-Te Awahou) won during July over 1400m at Foxton and Surf Patrol (Towkay-Out On Bail) bought up win number 15 for Towkay progeny from Sue Hartys mare Out On Bail when she took the three-year-old event at Awapuni on Saturday 10 July.
Zed is getting a number of repeat bookings from broodmare owners impressed with the quality of their foals to date. While you wouldn’t expect a son of Zabeel to leave too many two-year-old runners a number of his progeny have natural muscle at a young age- probably the Danehill factor- so you never know and the reports from breakers so far are positive with prominent comments being they move well, are tough but receptive to their education.
We have incorporated a new pedigree matching service which you can access through the homepage of our website. The G1 Goldmine Stallion Match tool allows breeders to see how compatible their mares are with either ZED or TOWKAY.
The value of a well balanced pedigree and incorporating nicks in a pedigree shouldn’t be underestimated. We’ve highlighted before the incredible affinity Towkay has with mares carrying the blood of Fair Trial and a nick that has been developing successfully overseas that breeders can capitalise on with Towkay is the duplication of the broodmare Best In Show who features in the fifth line of Towkays male line family. Mares by stallions Masterclass and Thorn Park, who are both descendants of Best In Show, would replicate this nick with Towkay.
South Island Sale
We didn’t get the money we were after for two of our three LOTS so they come home and will be prepared for the Horses In Training Sale in November. The Dankse-Her Hidden Talent colt sold to A & K Tyler of Invercargill for $11,000.
Interestingly we’ve passed some yearlings in recent years that have turned out to be pretty decent racehorses and these include the group one place getters Rapid Kay and Can’t Keeperdown and the recent addition to Gai Waterhouses stable in last seasons promising three-year-old stayer Tullamore; bidders on the Towkay and Fastnet Rock colts at Christchurch take note…
Other News
A cold and damp morning failed to deter an enthusiastic group of clients and public from coming out to the farm for our open day. Congratulations to our former head groom Helen Phinney who won a $1,000 discount off a service to Towkay and Tania Skinner the recipient of a 50% saving on a Zed service.
Read more...
Open Day Winners Using Service Discounts To Good Effect
Open Day Winners Using Service Discounts To Good Effect
A cold and damp morning failed to deter the hardy clients and public from coming out to the farm for last Sundays open day. Congratulations to our former head groom Helen Phinney who won a $1,000 discount off a service to Towkay and Tania Skinner the recipient of a 50% saving on a Zed service.
Helen will use the prize to send her Testa Rosa mare Eutrophy to Towkay while Tania intends to send her 5 race winner and stakes placed mare Tuscany Dancer/Heritage to Zed. Last weekend was a particularly satisfying one for Helen with Happy Man (Mossman-Eutrophy) a horse she bred winning on debut at Rotorua last Friday.
Happy Man was purchased from our 2008 National Weanling Sale draft by Craig Lees for $38,000 and is now trained by Tony Pike in Cambridge.
Surf Patrol (Towkay-Out on Bail) continued her run of form with another win this time in the three-year-old event at Awapuni on Saturday 10 July. The Mike Breslin trained filly now heads to a $45,000 race at New Plymouth this Saturday.
The LA bred National Treasure (Pins-Trigon Lass) pictured left, made it four wins from just eight starts and undefeated in his last three outings with his latest Hong Kong success on 14 July. The three-year-old gelding was another astute buy by John Foote Bloodstock who purchased him for $180,000 from the Anzac Lodge draft at the 2008 Karaka Ready To Run Sale.
Our draft for the South Island Two-Year-Old Sale heads south early August to have the final touches put on them by our consignor Ranganui Farm and our record of having sold the likes of Hong Kong group 2 winner More Bountiful along with a host of individual winners at this sale should see our three lots (130, 169 and 173) under close scrutiny from buyers in particular lot 173 who is the only entry by leading stallion Fastnet Rock.
Little Avondale Newsletter JULY 2010
Pedigree Upgrade for Fastnet Rock Colt in South Island Sale
As the only lot by leading sire Fastnet Rock (pictured right)in the South Island Two-Year-Old Sale on 6
August, LA’s colt (LOT 173) - from the Stravinsky mare Moonstrummer was always going to be in demand but the recent win of Mirrasalo in the Group Three Tatts Qld Tattersalls Cup on 26 June will have heightened interest. Moonstrummer’s dam Moon Vision is a half sister to the former leading racemare St Therese who in turn is dam of Mirrasalo.
The three LA lots (130, 169 and 173) at the South Island Two-Year-Old Sale sell under the Ranganui Farm banner.
Two past sale graduates from LA Stud’s draft at the South Island Sale include the 1994 sale topper Centani (Centaine – Sweet Echo) for $67,500 who went on to win 10 races and Aus$173,000 including the Albany Cup at Listed Level and more recently in 2006 More Bountiful (Van Nistelrooy – Cantaine Gu Li who was sold for $38,000 to John Foote Bloodstock. He went on to win 6 races in Hong Kong including the HKJC Charimans Trophey Gr. 2 and accumulated HK$6,335,000.
A graduate of LA’s draft at the 2006 South Island Two-Year-old Sale, Gold Key (Shinko King-Musical Honor) was successful over 1400m in Singapore on 20 June. As an example of the opportunities that exist at the South Island Sale Gold Key was purchased from our draft for just $10,000 by Keep The Peace’s part owner Paul Bellingham and re sold four months later at the Ready To Run Sale for a considerable profit.
The farm has had a great last week in Hong Kong having bred three winners. The LA and Brian Collins bred Sparkling Feeling (Towkay-Auxerre) started the ball rolling with his 1400m success on 27 June. Sparkling Feeling was purchased for $40,000 by Robert Roulston Bloodstock from our 2007 Karaka Premier Sale draft.
The LA bred Ambitious Owner’s(Towkay-Melissa Moon) win in Hong Kong on 1 July was Towkay’s seventh individual winner in Hong Kong for the season and consolidated the stallions position within the top 20 on the Hong Kong Sires Premiership.
National Treasure (Pins-Trigon Lass) made it win number three in just seven Hong Kong starts with his latest success on 3 July. Bred by LA and J Duncan the three-year-old gelding was an $180,000 purchase by John Foote Bloodstock from the Anzac Lodge draft at the 2008 Karaka Ready To Run Sale.
Read more... Little Avondale Newsletter JUNE 2010
LA Newsletter June 2010
Last month has seen a changing of the guard with the farms racing team as horses such as Aspinal head for winter spells and early spring horses like Rampant (Towkay-On Honeymoon) come back into the stable – less than 80 sleeps until the Mudgway!
Our small draft for the South Island Sale – including a Fastnet Rock colt – have headed south for their sale preparation at Samantha and Jane Pascoe’s Ranganui Farm in Canterbury while Sam has finalised our Ready to Run Sale candidates and cast his eye over our weanling crop.
Towkay and Zed
Both stallions will stand this season at unchanged service fees with Towkay (pictured left) remaining at $6,500 plus GST and Zed at a $1,000 plus GST booking fee.
Towkay represents wonderful value when you consider he averaged $68,000 across the Karaka Yearling Sale series for 14 yearlings with a median of $57,500.
The son of Last Tycoon has enjoyed another consistent season that has him currently sitting within the top 20 stallions on the Hong Kong Premiership, leaving two group winners in High Octane and Singaporean star Ace Aliado (seven wins from eight starts) and the highly promising group two placed filly Blonde Bombshell.
Xpectation (Towkay-Wooden Doll) registered another win in the United States with her latest success coming in a US $32,500 Allowance race at Arlington in Washington on 22 May.
The Lorraine Jameson bred Casey (Towkay-Kincia) registered a third career success with her win over 1600m at Matamata in May. Kincia has been an excellent broodmare for Lorraine with her four foals of racing age all winners and yearling sale receipts of $327,500.
Central Districts Stallion Parade 13 June
Local breeders turned out in good numbers to view the 15 stallions paraded.
Sam took bookings on the day to both Zed(pictured right) and Towkay and Zed in particular looked in spectacular shape, reflecting his continuing physical development since retiring to stud as a five-year-old in 2007.
Nom Du Jeu and Road To Rock had both let down well and the farms decision to take shares in both  stallions looks set to pay dividends. Sound Lover and Dancing Daze will visit Road To Rock this season while Sam has yet to decide which mares he will send to son of Montjeu.
Farm Weanlings
Once again LA will have a number of Darci Brahma yearlings to sell next year and at this early stage Sam is especially taken with a colt he bought privately recently, from the mare Sporty Spice.
The farm has a lovely filly by General Nediym the sire of this year’s Karaka Million winner; by the Carnegie mare Generous Nature she’s a tough spunky filly who moves well in the paddock.
Read more... Towkay And Zed Parade This Sunday
View Towkay and Zed at Stallion Parade this Sunday
This Sunday the 13th June is the annual Central Districts stallion parade and Towkay and Zed will be floated through to Wellfield Lodge in Palmerston North at 311/29 Kairanga Bunnythorpe Road where they will be paraded at approximately 2.30pm.
The CD branch of the NZTBA have done a fine job in revigorating the event and with the support of New Zealand Bloodstock Insurance, Totally Vets, Wenham Grain and Feed and Gavelhouse it’s a not to be missed opportunity to evaluate your stallion options with a view to the upcoming breeding season.
On the back of another consistent season that once again has him in the top 20 stallions in Hong Kong, averaging $68,000 across all sessions of the Karaka Yearling Sales and producing group winners Ace Aliado (seven wins from eight starts) and High Octane along with highly promising group two placed filly Blonde Bombshell, Towkay is once again available to breeders at the competitive fee of $6,500 plus GST.
On the racing front Towkay had the rather unique distinction of siring three second place-getters at last Saturday’s Wanganui meeting.
The LA bred Lame Excuse (No Excuse Needed-Flight Queen) made it three wins in a row with his 1200m success at Timaru yesterday. Lame Excuse sold for $7,000 from our 2006 National Weanling Sale draft.
Sam looks forward to seeing you at Wellfield Lodge on Sunday.