Muscle Hill mare dominant in Listed Sires Stakes Aged Trotters Classic

Thursday night harness racing at Addington Raceway may have been without some of the stars of the track with most of the big guns making their way north for the North Island’s autumn carnival, but it may have just unearthed a star in the making.

Headlining the eight-race programme was the ninth running of the $40,000 Listed Sires Stakes Aged Trotters Classic, attracting a tidy field of nine classy trotters more than capable of staking winning claims on the night.

In the end, the cream rose to the top with the blue-blooded daughter of Muscle Hill in Paramount Empress proving superior on the night with a powerful front-running display.

The Nathan and Mark Purdon trained four-year-old mare had resumed a week earlier having not been sighted since a G1 New Zealand Oaks placing back in November last year.

She was far too good for the rating 47-60 opposition on that occasion and despite a serious rise in grade for a trotter with only eight starts to her name, the manner in which she won suggests a big future is in store for the Studholme Bloodstock product.

PARAMOUNT EMPRESS REPLAY

“She’s very professional for such a lightly raced horse and you can tell she wants to be a good girl,” said Natalie Rasmussen after the race when talking to Nigel Armstrong of IRT Harness Racing Unhinged.

“I thought it was a big class rise for her tonight, so to lead all the way and hold on I was really proud of her.

“She is a well-bred girl, and I’m sure Brian (West) will be wrapped too,” she said.

Co-breeder and owner, Brian West, wasn’t on track having taken the opportunity to get across the ditch and holiday after another frenetic yearling sales season.

I managed to track him down as he was galivanting between restaurants but like any harness tragic, West found the time to break from the festivities and watch the Listed feature on his phone.

“I’m delighted with the result,” said West.

“Especially after everything we went through with her being withdrawn from the yearling sales and retaining her ourselves. She had what they call a rotated leg where it starts turning out from the shoulder. It was quite severe and if I showed a photograph of her as a young horse, you would be saying, wow, she couldn’t be a racehorse.

“Kerry O’Reilly broke her in and took her right through to the first couple of workouts before giving her the Mark Purdon stamp as a filly with a big motor, noting she was powerful and strong for her age.

“She was ready to start as a two-year-old but in a couple of private workouts at the All-Star’s place, she just put the brakes on and didn’t want to run so we considered that maybe it wasn’t a good idea to push on and race her in case she did it there. Mark suggested we give her six months out and try her again, and this is where we are now.

“I’m not sure what the immediate plans are going forward but Mark has told me recently she is the sort of mare who should go on with it and climb through the grades like a nice trotter,” he said.

Paramount Empress trotted the 2600m journey in 3:20.5, with a mile rate of 2:04.0 and final fractions of 57.1 and 28.1 en route to win number five from just her eighth start.

It was the third time in succession a Muscle Hill progeny had taken out the Listed feature with Midnight Dash winning the last two editions.

Paramount Empress is out of Paramount Queen, a Group Three winning daughter of Love You who was also twice Group One placed in the two and three-year-old Ruby’s at the Harness Jewels. Her full brother Paramount King and half-brother Paramount Gee Gee (Pegasus Spur) were both age group stars also having won Group Ones as two-year-olds with the latter being a five-time group one winner with $500,000 in stakes to boot.

Paramount Queen also has a half-sister in Paramount Faith who is the dam of current Open Class star, Muscle Mountain, highlighting a family that is littered with trotting royalty via the deeds of the super-producing dam and grand dam, Paramount Star (Sundon).

“She has always been a well-muscled and strong filly. She certainly has inherited the high speed and the great gait, and that comes from her grandmother Paramount Star,” said West.

“Paramount Star had the most amazing gait, a powerful gait like the European trotters I saw when I spent time over in France. When Paramount Queen won the Hambletonian, Robert Dunn stopped me and said what a magnificent gait she had, assuming it had come from her own sire in Love You. It wouldn’t have hurt her, but ‘Star’ had a huge role in passing on her gait and speed and it’s evident in how she has bred on at stud,” he said.

The New Zealand Sires Stakes have done a tremendous job over recent seasons of diversifying from their core business which for over 40 years has primarily supported and fostered the elite age group talent produced on these shores.

Tonight’s race was conditioned for 4YO and older trotters who had not won a G1 race, or a race with an advertised stake of $55,000 or more, giving opportunities to the owners of the trotting talent that is bubbling under without the arduous task of taking on the Muscle Mountain’s of the world.

“It is a great race and has been around for a number of years and it’s especially conditioned for the trotters who haven’t had the success in the bigger races,” said Martin Pierson, Executive Manager of the NZ Sires Stakes.

“On a personal note, I was thrilled to see a Muscle Hill progeny win the race with another daughter in Time Up The Hill running into third. Peter O’Rourke who made his semen available was good enough to sponsor the race this year and it was a very pleasing result.

“This filly was obviously beautifully bred, but she had some serious challenges as a young horse and Brian elected not to pay her up as a yearling. She has overcome enormous obstacles, but it was certainly worth the late payment and now with a Listed race like that next to her name she is a very valuable broodmare going forward.

“I find what we call our conditioned races generally tend to draw the better fields, that was on the smaller side tonight, but it was still a great race, and we are really looking forward to the ‘Uncut Gem’s’ on the 5th of May,” he said,” he said.

For complete Addington race results, click here.

by Brad Reid, for Harnesslink