The man who has found fame as the breeder of Black Caviar will be chasing a quick racetrack return on his latest broodmare investment with Miss Keepsake at Eagle Farm on Saturday.
Rick Jamieson spent $400,000 at last month’s Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale to add Miss Keepsake to his Gilgai Farm broodmare band which includes Helsinge, the dam of Black Caviar.
In 2005, Jamieson paid $115,000 for Helsinge and a mating with Bel Esprit produced a filly foal who now, as Black Caviar, is about to take an unbeaten record onto the international racing stage in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes.
Jamieson sold Black Caviar as a yearling but he will be part of the Australian entourage to watch the mare grace Royal Ascot.
In his absence, the Joe-Pride-trained Miss Keepsake has been confirmed for the $500,000 Tattersall’s Tiara, a Group One weight-for-age race for fillies and mares on Saturday.
The Tiara is the final Group One race of the Australian thoroughbred season and it could be the last chance for Miss Keepsake to boost her black type credentials before joining Helsinge at stud.
“Nothing definite has been decided about her future and it will all depend on how she goes in the Tiara,” Gilgai Farm manager Meaghan Strickland-Wood said.
“We’ve got our fingers crossed she runs well.”
Miss Keepsake, who posted her only Group One success at Eagle Farm when she won the 2010 Queensland Oaks, will be on her second trip to Brisbane in the space of a month.
“She has been through a bit, going through the sale ring and coming back to the stable and then trialling,” Pride’s stable foreman Dominic Bracks said.
“But she has taken no harm. She trialled very well. She’s a tough little mare.”
Miss Keepsake found form during the Sydney autumn with a Kembla Grange win before chasing More Joyous home in the Group One Queen of the Turf Stakes.
She has been unplaced in two subsequent starts but looked sharp in a narrow Warwick Farm barrier trial 11 days ago.
