29 August 2023 | APGold
The $2.1 million Eureka 2023 is now looming large on the Harness Racing scene with a field of ten to line up behind the Menangle starting gate this coming Saturday night. With the field restricted to Australian bred 3 and 4 year olds, it is not surprising that some of the competitors would have been sold as yearlings.
In fact six of the ten runners chosen by the various Slot holders are graduates of APG Yearling Sales in either Sydney or Melbourne in 2020.
The APG Graduates
Those six horses are:
- Captain Ravishing – Vendor Sloys Company.
- Catch A Wave – Vendor Benstud S/Breds and P and Z O’Shea.
- Leap To Fame – Vendor Redbank Lodge.
- My Ultimate Ronnie – Vendor Ron Littler.
- Ripp – Vendor Lauriston Blooodstock.
- Speak The Truth – Vendor S and T Hunter.
These six horses were sold for a collective price of $359,500 [an average of almost $60,000 each] and have now banked a total of $3,242,515 for their six lucky owners . . . with plenty more to come.
Three of the starters for Eureka 2023 – Encipher, Magician and The Lost Storm are homebreds whilst the second 3 year old selected, Captain Hammerhead, was sold at the 2021 Nutrien Sale in Melbourne.
Captaintreacherous, the $3 million winning son of Somebeachsomewhere, leads the way as the Sire of runners with 5, whilst champion Sire Bettors Delight has 3 runners and Sweet Lou and Somebeachsomewhere one each.
Eureka 2023 Broodmare sires
The Broodmare sires of the ten entries are broken up a bit more evenly with Art Major leading the way with 3 credits, then Bettors Delight with 2 and single credits to Blissful Hall, Christian Cullen, Falcon Seelster, Rocknroll Hanover and Sportswriter.
There is often no rhyme or reason as to where outstanding horses come from. Certainly these 10 runners in The Eureka 2023 field are all well bred, based on their Sire and Broodmare sire. However most of them are sons or a daughter of mares with limited or just handy ability.
Six of the runners are from mares who won between $13,000 [Catch A Wave’s dam won $13,422] and $52,000 [Magician’s dam won $51,882].
The Lost Storm’s dam, the Rocknroll Hanover mare Ayshe Whitby, ran an inglorious second last at her only start at Kalgoorlie in WA before retiring to stud to produce The Lost Storm as her first colt.
The three runners from mares who excelled to some degree on the racetrack are:
- Ripp – from Musical Delight 1.53.1, who won $248,910.
- Leap To Fame – from Lettucereason 1.55.9, who won $180,073.
- Captain Hammerhead – from Rogers Passion 1.56.6, who won $136,446.
A Few Words from some Industry Regulars
Shannon Price is the trainer and owner through her Raboki Pty Ltd company of Speak The Truth. She is based at Alberton in Queensland and is a regular buyer at Yearling Sales on the East Coast of Australia. In March 2020 Shannon attended the Sydney APG Sale and took a liking to LOT 545, a Bettors Delight colt from Private Bronski. Six years earlier Shannon had attended the Yearling Sales in Christchurch, NZ where she also took a liking to a Bettors Delight colt from a Christian Cullen mare. She was the under-bidder on that colt at around $75,000 and that day missed out on being the owner of Lazarus.
“I went to that Sydney sale in 2020 looking to buy a Bettors Delight colt and did in fact have a close look at Leap To Fame. However I settled on the colt out of Private Bronski as I had raced against her in Queensland as well as most of her outstanding brothers and sisters” said Shannon last week.
“He was a January foal so the small side but he reminded me so much of his granddam Bronski Gorgeous, although he did have the Bettors Delight colour.”
“Back in February I purchased a Slot for $11,000 in The Hayden Race so then I had to get Speak the Truth ready for that race and now here we are in The Eureka 2023.“
Wayne Loader, a well respected former Committee Member of the Bathurst Club, has also been a regular buyer at the APG Sales over the past 4 or 5 years. He and his wife Julie attended the APG Sale in Melbourne in 2020 and amongst the three yearlings they purchased that day was LOT 171, a colt by Somebeachsomewhere from Musical Delight – now known as Ripp.
“We attended a Melbourne Sale for the first time looking for some bloodlines that weren’t available in Sydney. We earmarked this Somebeachsomewhere colt on his strong maternal pedigree and liked what we saw at the Sale”, remarked Wayne recently.
“He was a big colt, but very athletic and well proportioned and at $40,000 was cheaper than we expected.
“Dougie Hewitt has done much of the work with him from the start including stable naming him Bondi and now here we are in a $2 million race.”
Will you be at Eureka 2023?
As the field prepares to roar down the Menangle track on Saturday night, these stories of triumph and dedication underscore the heart and soul of harness racing. The Eureka 2023 event promises not only a showcase of excellence but a celebration of harness racing in Australia.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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