Hastings' Weekly Round-Up
BC draws a Sovereign blank, BC-bred KOALA is bound for Ireland, while the "Awards' Night" photographs are now available for purchase with proceeds generously going to New Stride Thoroughbred Adoption
Breeding Shed Beckons for Koala
WYN Racing’s KOALA, a six-time winner at Hastings who raced out of WYN’s Oaklawn base over the winter, has been retired from the track and sold as a broodmare prospect, writes Nigel Reid.
Purchased privately from WYN by Ireland-based bloodstock agent, Conor Quirk, the six-year-old chestnut is slated to visit Coolmore’s Ashford Stud-based sire, AMERICAN PHAROAH before hopefully heading to her new home in Ireland later in the year.
Conor Quirke spoke to WYN recently and explained a little behind the motivation for his purchase.
“So how did Koala come onto my radar? I am a bit of a pedigree buff and tend to get lost in pedigrees at times!
“NO NAY NEVER was a colt by the late SCAT DADDY bred in Kentucky, but made his mark at Royal Ascot and throughout Europe with a strong two-year-old campaign. He now stands at Coolmore’s headquarters here in Ireland.
“While trawling through his pedigree one evening I happened upon KOALA, who is a “first cousin” of No Nay Never. In equine terms that isn’t a very close relation, but that, paired with Koala’s half sister ULTIMA D being a decent performer on the turf at Kentucky Downs, gave me enough optimism to pursue KOALA as a broodmare prospect herself. I have to admit I wasn’t too familiar with Hastings as a racetrack, I can confess that now I have watched plenty of replays from there and would love to go racing there sometime!
“KOALA is a six-year-old, which is as old as you would want a broodmare to be starting her breeding career, and this years breeding season is well underway. So the window of opportunity was closing as one cold night here in Ireland I set about tracking KOALA down.
“I initially contacted the WYN Racing’s Facebook page. Chris Ceraldi jnr duly replied with some further videos, but expressed the family’s wish for her to race on. She ran creditable races at Oaklawn, showing her usual high cruising speed and tenacity. I am very grateful that eventually I reached an agreement with the family to purchase KOALA.
“As we speak, she is en route to Kentucky, where she is pencilled in for a maiden mating with triple crown winner AMERICAN PHAROAH, who has shown a great aptitude for producing turf horses all over the world. She will hopefully travel back to Ireland during the summer months, where she can acclimatize to our abundance of grass and rain! We have a small stud farm, Hunting Hill Stud, in north Cork. If any of your readers are in the area they are more than welcome to visit!
“The intention in the coming years would be to mate KOALA with high-achieving European sons of Scat Daddy to blend her American (or Canadian!) speed with the European turf horses.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Ceraldi family and KOALA’s trainer Ian Jewell for being so helpful in the purchase process. I would love to meet at Royal Ascot or the Breeders’ Cup some day — hopefully we’ll be cheering on Koala’s babies!”
Quirk’s decision to choose AMERICAN PHAROAH as a mate looks anything but accidental. ULTIMA GRACE, out of KOALA’s half-sister ULTIMA D (Scat Daddy), is also by the Triple Crown hero and, after some eye-catching morning works at Keeneland and Payson Park in Florida during the spring, made a sensational debut at Keeneland this week; justifying short odds and winning her Maiden Special Weight ‘handily’ for trainer Wesley Ward. ULTIMA GRACE’s four-year-old full-sister, BOOBSIE D, remains unraced but was a $225,000 weanling purchase at the 2020 Keeneland November Sale.
Awards’ Night — Official Photos by Willow Penno
Willow Penno has generously agreed to donate net proceeds from the sale of offical Awards’ Night prints to New Stride Thoroughbred Adoption Society. Payment is by voluntary donation, with a minimum donation set at a more-than-reasonable $35 for each print. If you’d like to purchase one of Willow’s “Official” photos as a memento of another marvellous Awards’ Night, please email her directly on kr1stal1st@icloud.com — and remember, when you buy, you’re also helping to support the horses that give us everything.
Broodmare for Sale
LITTLE BLACK DRESS (Lent), formerly a third-place finisher in the “Black Type” CTHS Sales Stakes and now a young broodmare with a foal by POP ARTIST at foot, is for sale.
Bred here in BC by Sandra Loseth, Little Black Dress is a CTHS Yearling Sale graduate who broke her maiden at the first time of asking before going on to hit the board at Stakes level.
Interested parties can contact Pocket Aces Racing Stable on 604-374-4896
Awards’ Night Gallery #2
New Stride News
Awards’ Night Gallery #3 - Hall of Fame Inductees
Awards’ Night Gallery #4
Bloodhorse Daily Headlines — Friday, April 19
Sovereign Awards
British Columbia drew a blank at the annual Sovereign Awards, held in Toronto on Thursday evening.
Nominees INFINITE PATIENCE, apprentice rider Fraser Aebly and photographer Allan de la Plante all lost out to eastern rivals, while BC-born Sahin Civaci, formerly of this parish and now a very succesful Woodbine-based rider, was also overlooked with rider honours going to fellow Woodbine jockey, Kazushi Kimura.
The Sovereign Award for Canada’s Horse of the Year went to the Irish-bred imported mare, FEV ROVER (Gutaifan), who was purchased by owner Tracy Farmer for $972,000 from the 2021 Tattersalls December Sale in Newmarket before moving to Ontario. The six-year-old won the Grade 1 E.P. Taylor Stakes and the Grade 2 Nassau Stakes at Woodbine last season, as well as the Grade 1 Beverly D Stakes at Colonial Downs in August.
Previously a Group 2 Shadwell Prix du Calvados winner at Deauville, France, FEV ROVER also landed the Grade 2 Canadian Stakes Presented by the Japan Racing Association in 2022.
A full report on Sovereign Awards can be found by clicking the blue button or the picture below…
