Kicking off a big day at Newcastle on Saturday is the running of the Max Lees Classic run in honour of the late, great trainer. It is a 900m dash for the juveniles, one which has been won by some nice types. We take a look at the background of this year’s 12 gallopers – all of whom are making their debuts.
1 ELIO
Ole Kirk – Iconista (Denman)
Bred on a close 3 X 3 cross of the high class 2Y0 Bel Esprit, this Warwick Farm trial runner-up hails from the second crop of his Caulfield Guineas/Golden Rose winning sire who has done such a good job with his first runners.
Boasting six strains of Vain, two of Marscay and two of Better Boy (a very Australian pedigree!), he is the second foal (the first is unplaced) for the Doomben maiden winner Iconista whose dam is the Listed winner Belcentra whose grandson Burma Star won a Listed race during the recent Flemington carnival.
The Gr.1 winners Black Mamba and Tully Thunder also hail from the family of Elio, a Warwick Farm trial runner-up who made his way through the sales ring on two occasions – fetching $70,000 as a Magic Millions weanling and $250,000 as an Inglis Classic yearling.
2 FINAL GIFT
Acrobat – Miss Gigi (Reward For Effort)
The second runner for a Fastnet Rock stallion who won his only start (at two), this home-bred gelding hails from the same prolific Mumtaz Begum family as Jonker who won this race at his debut in 2017.
Bred on a 3 X 4 cross of Danehill with his dam sire being that stallion’s Blue Diamond Stakes winning grandson Reward For Effort, Final Gift is the second (the first unplaced) of only two foals for the four time NSW provincial winner Miss Gigi who died young.
Miss Gigi’s closest stakes winning relation is her Gr.3 Royal Ascot winning third dam One Way Street whose progeny Grape Tree Road (a Gr.1 winner at three in France), Red Route and Windsor Castle were all Group winners.
Final Gift showed improvement at her second trial, following up a local last with a Wyong second.
3 SEEIAYE
Russian Revolution – Blue Blazers (I Am Invincible)
A $27,500 pinhook from the Inglis Weanling Sale who resold for $65,000 at the Magic Millions, he is by Snitzel’s dual Gr.1 winning sprinter Russian Revolution who raced twice at two; successful both times.
Seeiaye is the second foal (the first being the promising Columbia Blue) for the unraced Rosehill trial winner Blue Blazers whose full brother Super One won in Group company in Adelaide and Singapore.
A Rosehill trial winner, Seeiaye boasts strong male line-breeding patterns with crosses of Canny Lad, Danzig, Lunchtime, Storm Bird, Northern Dancer, Mr Prospector and His Majesty.
4 TENENBAUM
Snitzel – C’est Beau La Vie (Bernardini)
As a $750,000 Easter graduate, he is the race’s most expensive purchase and his pedigree is one that brings together the speed of the Redoute’s Choice/Snitzel sire line and the stamina of a family that produced the only triple Melbourne Cup winner.
That horse of course being Makybe Diva whose Tesio Stakes winning half-sister Valkyrie Diva is the grandam of this valuable colt who has won both of his trials.
This dual trial winner is a full brother to this year’s Hong Kong Derby winner Cap Ferrat who ran second to Tom Kitten in the Spring Champion Stakes before heading overseas.
His Listed winning dam is a half-sister to the stakes winner Jolly Banner and Wales whilst his grandam is one of the four stakes winners for her dam Tugela – the mighty one of those along with Musket and La Amistad.
5 DYNAMIC DIVA
Strasbourg – Yacht Club (Beneteau)
A home-bred who debuts off a local trial third, she is by the BRC Sires Produce Stakes winning I Am Invincible horse Strasbourg who stands in South Australia at a fee of $5,000.
She is the third live for Yacht Club who raced just six times, winning her first two.
Her first foal, also by Strasbourg, is the five time winner (including his latest at Bendigo a few weeks ago) Harry’s Yacht.
She is one of the two descendants (Pomelo Chamomile the other) of the prolific mare Gibside Fairy (a mare who strongly influences I Am Invincible’s pedigree) lining up here.
Yacht Club is a half-sister to Lim’s Objective, the Champion 3Y0 of Singapore/Malaysia. And her grandam is the Western Australian Oaks winner Hasty Departure.
Dynamic Diva’s sire is bred on a Canny Lad/Danehill cross, the opposite to Beneteau’s sire Redoute’s Choice.
6 FARHAH
Farnan – Heeya (Pride Of Dubai)
Kris Lees so aptly won this race named in honour of his late father last year with the now retired Gobi Desert and in this year’s edition of his home-track feature juvenile contest he has two chances with this filly the roughie of the pair; Pomelo Chamomile more fancied in early markets.
Third to that filly (who has the same breeder – Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalifa Al Maktoum) in a local trial before a Wyong third on Monday, Farhah has been retained by her breeder and she certainly has long term value with the superstar Frankel amongst her relations.
Her Lancashire Oaks winning third dam Rainbow Lake did a great job producing four stakes winners including the dual Gr.1 winner Powerscourt and the dual Listed winner Kind – Frankel’s dam.
Farhah boasts an interesting pedigree with three strains of Danehill and a 3 X 3 cross of Street Cry whose sire Machiavellian hails from the same family as Danehill, as does Machiavellian’s dam sire Halo.
7 JAIPUR MAISON
Zousain – Miss Amelia (More Than Ready)
Raced by her breeder Richard Pegum having been passed in for $250,000 on a reserve of $275,000 at the Magic Millions, she is a member of the third crop of her BRC Champagne Classic winning sire Zousain (also bred by Pegum), a son of Champion Sire Zoustar.
Jaipur Maison is a full sister to the Gr.3 winner Amelita out of a renowned speed family with her dam being the Silver Slipper Stakes winner Amelia’s Dream, daughter of another juvenile stakes winner in Shalt Not.
Jaipur Maison, who has finished second and fourth in Randwick and Warwick Farm trials, is bred on a 4 X 3 cross of Redoute’s Choice.
8 MYSTICAL
Exceed And Excel – Rainbow Falls (Dubawi)
From the penultimate crop off her high achieving sire, Mystical is this race’s second most expensive purchase, secured at the Magic Millions for $425,000.
The Warwick Farm trial runner-up is the second locally bred foal (the first Yulong’s yet to race Toorongo Falls by Kingman) for an unraced imported Dubawi mare from an Australian family.
Rainbow Falls is out of the Gr.3 winning juvenile Colour whose dual Listed winning dam Regrowth is also dam of the Gr.3 winner Boognish, grandam of the Gr.2 winning stallion Derryn and third dam the Magic Millions 2Y0 Classic winner Arabian Summer.
This is the prolific Easy Date family that has also produced two high class stallions in Snippets and Not A Single Doubt as well as the Gr.1 winners Rewaaya, Forensics, Ertijaal and Oohood.
9 POMELO CHAMOM ILE
Maurice – Barooda (Dubawi)
The second runner out of a mare by the great Dubawi, she is the cheapest purchase lining up in this race having been bought as an Inglis weanling for $10,000.
By a multiple Gr.1 winner best known for his older progeny, Pomelo Chamomile(who defeated Farhah in a local trial) is the second foal (the first retired after two unplaced jump-outs) for the unraced imported mare Barooda whose stakes placed dam Al Anood by Danehill produced eight winners.
Four of those are stakes winners – the South African Champion Stayer Enaad, the local Listed winners Ghaanati and Al Aneed and Pride Of Jenni’s Blue Diamond Stakes/ATC Sires Produce Stakes winning sire Pride Of Dubai.
Al Anood is a half-sister to the high class stallion Invincible Spirit from the family of fellow Gr.1 winners Mishriff, Nayarra, Chinese White, Uni and Pinatubo.
10 REGAL HUSTLE
Dirty Work – Vegas Queen (Casino Prince)
A $35,000 Inglis Classis graduate, she hails from the second crop of Written Tycoon’s Schillaci Stakes winning son Dirty Work.
Boasting a pedigree with strong male influence – duplications of Last Tycoon, Kenmare, Danzig and Danehill within five generations – Regal Hustle is the second (her first is yet to race) of only two foals for the Echuca maiden winner Vegas Queen who died young.
Vegas Queen’s dam Queen’s Ransom by Red Ransom won at debut at Sandown at two and she has amongst her relations the 1000 Guineas winner Lady Of The Pines.
Regal Hustle has filled placings in Warwick Farm and Rosehill trials.
11 WILD COURAGE
Wild Ruler – Unbridled Courage (Leroidesanimaux)
From the first crop of a Moir Stakes winning Snitzel horse, this $20,000 Inglis Classic purchase has been out of the placings in two Warwick Farm trials.
She is the second foal (the first being the Warrnambool maiden winner Courageous Lass) for an imported Listed winner whose dam is a half-sister to the stakes winners Bold Caleb and Secret Launch.
Further back this is a family Australia knows well with Wild Courage’s fifth dam Grand Luxe (daughter of the famed matriarch Fanfreluche) being the dam of Rolls; dam of Flying Spur and grandam of Encosta de Lago.
12 YAMASHITA
Tiger Of Malay – Pillow Talk (Foreplay)
Purchased at the Inglis Classic for $40,000, this easy Kembla Grange trial winner is a member of the first crop for a dual Group winning son of Extreme Choice.
She is the last of six foals produced by the city winner Pillow Talk whose three to race are all winners including Yamashita’s three time winning stablemate Artful Persuasion.
Pillow Talk is out of the metropolitan winning Dehere mare Image Of Reality whose grandam is the VRC Oaks winner Sandy’s Pleasure whose grandam Sanderae won that same Flemington Classic.
