Weekly spotlight on breeding

Breeding authority Peter Wharton presents all the harness racing news on breeding from Australia, New Zealand and North America every Friday brought to you by Garrard’s Horse & Hound.

Tatlow Stakes to Art Major colt

Heza Son Of Agun, the season’s latest two-year-old classic winner, in beating a useful field in the $50,000 Tatlow Stakes at Geelong, gives the impression that he could develop into one of next season’s top three-year-olds.

Bred and raced by Melbournians Tony and Pam Coniglio, Heza Son Of Agun is a well developed colt by Art Major from Itz Nosurprisesthere 1:58 ($216,900), the winner of six races including the NSW, Queensland and Tasmanian Oaks.

Besides Heza Son Of Agun, she is also the dam of the Breeders Crown 3YO Silver winner Itzamajor Surprise 1:56.1 ($100,765) and the Group 2 placegetter Itz Longtall Sally (1:57.5).

Their dam, Itz Nosurprisesthere, is a McArdle mare from Itz Queen Of Newyork, by New York Motoring from Itz Regal, by Clever Innocence. It is an interesting fact that there is a double strain of Meadow Skipper blood in Itz Queen Of Newyork (grand-dam of Heza Son Of Agun), through both New York Motoring and Clever Innocence. It was the Meadow Skipper line that gave Australia and NZ one of its greatest sires in recent years in Bettor’s Delight.

Itz Nosurprisesthere is a half-sister to the NZ Listed winner Itz Cherry Ripe, who took a record of 1:51.4 in North America, and to Itz All About Me, dam of the NZ Kindergarten Stakes and Franklin Cup winner Itz Bettor To Win 1:54.3 ($218,092).

Titian Raider in 1:50

The three-year-old Titian Raider has joined the growing list of Australian bred horses to enter the 1:50 list. He recorded 1:50 when he was successful in a NSW Breeders Challenge semi-final at Menangle last weekend.

By the Somebeachsomewhere horse Sunshine Beach – a world champion three-year-old – Titian Raider is out of Fromelles, by Western Terror (a son of Western Hanover) from Sure Sign, by the Abercrombie horse Life Sign, a Little Brown Jug winner and one of the finest pacers bred in North America.

Fromelles, the dam of Titian Raider, took a mile record of 1:58, won 10 races and earned $31,139. She was a half-sister to the NSW provincial winners Hayes And Kydd (1:58.2) and Go Lassie Go (1:59.7), being out of the Albion Park winner Sure Sign (1:57.3), a half-sister to the Moonee Valley winner Montana Thunder (1:58.6).

In the back removes of Titian Raider’s pedigree are pacers of the calibre of Twelve Paces 1:57 ($263,058), Im Rockaria (WA Pearl), Dillion Titian (Melbourne Pacing Cup), Jolie Hanover, Risky Red (NSW Tatlow) and Ablazin Star (1:55).

Irish Black Label top Victorian filly

When she won the $50,000 Tatlow Stakes at Geelong, Irish Black Label scored her third success and her second at Group level, and she is entitled to be rated this season’s top two-year-old filly in Victoria.

Earlier in the season, she won the $125,000 Australian Pacing Gold Bullion at Melton. From four starts she has won three and has been once placed for $114,480 in stakes.

Bred and raced by Bill and Anne Anderson, of Lauriston Bloodstock, Irish Black Label was gotten by Bettor’s Delight from the Art Major mare Rosie Oreilly (1:56.5) and is her first produce to race.

Rosie Oreilly, an APG heat and semi-final winner, ranks as a sister to the Victoria Sapling Stakes winner Abouttime 1:52.9 ($107,000) and a half-sister to the exported None Bettor 1:48.8 ($744,995), being out of the Christian Cullen mare Limerick Star (1:59.2), a half-sister to the Golden Wattle Cup winner National Gallery (1:54.4), dam of the Melton winners Rocknroll Icon 1:53 ($176,153) and Honolua Bay (1:51.9), the exported Mach Up 1:53 ($113,878) and Looking Fabulous (1:54.7).

Sniper’s Lair, an unraced half-sister by Changeover to National Gallery, is the dam of Major Fernco (1:52.8), a winner at Albion Park on the same night as Irish Black Label won.

Beat Vincent’s half-sister

Chrissy Chic proved too strong for her three-year-old rivals in a NSW Breeders Challenge semi-final at Menangle. She closed brilliantly after enjoying a perfect trip to comfortably defeat Vincent’s half-sister Bettor Be Kept, who made all the running.

Chrissy Chic was bred and is raced by Chris Cumming.

She is a filly by the Art Major horse Major In Art, a Metro Pace winner from The Old Maid family, from Beach Baby Beach (1:56.7), a Harold Park winner by Jenna’s Beach Boy from Camberwellprincess (2:00.3), by Ramsey Hanover from Kybean Lady, by the Kilmore Cup winner Free Vance.

Chrissy Chic is the best winner from this family in recent years, but in an earlier decade it produced a NSW Sires Stakes champion in Kybean Striker, who won 26 races.

Burnham Boy bred to be good

Burnham Boy, the winner of the Southern Supremacy as a three-year-old and the winner of four races at Menangle to date, is one of the best four-year-olds in NSW at present.

He has earned $152,190 in stakes from nine wins and 20 placings in 46 starts and has graduated to a NR108 mark.

Burnham Boy is a four-year-old gelding by Bettor’s Delight from Tinisha Franco (2:01.1), a daughter of Topez Franco, dam of winners in Franco Torro (1:57.5), Magicol Topaz (1:58.1) and Candlestick Park, who, in turn, left the exported Major League 1:50.8 ($195,710) and McCovey Cove 1:53 ($170,095) and River Belle (dam of the Group 3 winner Miss Riviera Belle 1:52 and Blazen River 1:49.2).

Jennifer Topaz, a lightly raced daughter of Topez Franco, left the Gloucester Park winners Cromac Johnny 1:51.6 ($239,320) and Cromac Jamie 1:55.1 ($121,741).

Topez Franco was out of a Group 3 winner in Tammera, by El Patron from Tiawana, by Bachelor Hanover from Monte Bello, by the U Scott horse Morano. Tammera was also the dam of the NZ Kindergarten winners Franco Trubrooke 1:52 ($322,432) and Franco Tamboura (1:58.5) and the NSW Listed victor OK Boyo 1:58.8 ($127,219).

Other members of this family, which was founded in NZ by the Four Chimes mare Moor Chimes, were the Australian Derby winner Im Yosemite Sam, Mongolian Hero (1:49.6), Lizzie Maguire (NZ Harness Jewels), Jaccka Taurus (Bathurst Gold Crown), My Cap (Vic. 4YO Bonanza) and Courage Tells 1:54.2 ($433,861).

WA Pacing Cup prospect

One of the stronger WA Pacing Cup candidates, particularly among the youthful brigade will be Babyface Adda, who has proved himself in the top flight and has won by his way back to a NR91 mark with two recent Gloucester Park successes.

His latest winning run in a $25,000 Free-for-all over 2130 metres was a brilliant performance. He unleashed a flying 56 seconds last 800 to beat Galactic Star and Ideal Liner.

A tough customer, Babyface Adda is a five-year-old gelding by Rich And Spoilt (a grandson of Falcon Seelster) from the NZ bred Sonatina (1:58.2), a winner of three races. Sonatina was a half-sister to an outstanding racemare and dual Oaks winner in One Dream 1:56.7 ($846,467), being by Art Major from Solitaire, by Soky’s Atom from Nardia, by Nardin’s Byrd from Olga Korbut, a Group 1 winning half-sister by Lordship to the champion NZ juvenile and later premier sire, Noodlum.

Babyface Adios is the first produce of Sonatina, whose family includes such pacers as Islandspecialmajor (1:49.8), the NZ Cardigan Bay Stakes winners Montana DJ and Our Agile, Sole Ambition (Redcliffe Cup) and Luminesce (1:54.9).

Third on end

Former En Zedder Kiwis Are Flying won his third race on end and his seventh from eight starts on Australian soil at Albion Park last weekend. He is by the Cam’s Card Shark horse Bettor’s Delight, the leading sire in both NZ and Australia for the last decade.

Kiwis Are Flying is out of a brilliant racemare and NZ Oaks winner in Kiwi Ingenuity 1:52.1 ($516,821), who produced others in Team Kiwi (1:51.8), Kiwi On Show (1:52.2) and the Melton winner The Kiwi Way (1:55.4).

Kiwis Are Flying, a former NZ mares’ mile record holder at 1:52.1, was by Christian Cullen out of Kiwi Express (2:01.8), by Miles McCool from the Clever Innocence mare Another Kiwi, a daughter of Supreme Kiwi, the dam of the Taylor Memorial Mile winner Kiwi Supreme (1:57.4) and a member of the same family as champion NZ pacers in The Gold Ace, Sly Flyin and Smiling Shard.

Evicus to Miss Papenhuyzen

The $50,000 Evicus, the richest race in Tasmania for two-year-old fillies, and run at Elwick, was won decisively by Miss Papenhuyzen, a filly by Sweet Lou from the smart racemare Robyn Scherbotsky (by McArdle), who took a mile record of 2:00.6.

She has won twice and been four times placed from six starts for $40,751 in stakes.

Miss Papenhuyzen’s dam, Robyn Scherbotsky, who won nine races, was a half-sister to the Albion Park winner Change The Nation (1:55.6), being out of the Holmes Hanover mare Reincarnation, a sister to the dual NZ Winter Cup victor Kliklite 1:56.7 ($156,213), dam of McKay 1:55.7 ($236,445) and the Group 2 winner Top Tempo 1:56.5 ($225,513), who, in turn, is the dam of the Group 1 winners Speak No Evil (1:50.9), Musical Delight (1:53.1) and Queen Of Pop (1;55.6).

Reincarnation was out of Jessica MacFaber, by El Patron from Jill MacFaber, by Lopez Hanover and tracing eventually to the taproot Miss Kate, the ancestress of this year’s NSW Oaks winner Anntonia, the outstanding racemare Spellbound, Just Hope (Bathurst Gold Tiara), Henry Hubert (NZ Hannon Memorial), Miss Halfpenny and many others.

My Hard Copy dies

My Hard Copy, whose death is reported, was a top flight pacer and dual WA Pacing Cup winner.

In 2015 he lowered the WA mile record to 1:51.6 winning a heat of the Inter Dominion Championships, held at Bunbury. His other major successes were the 2018 Fremantle Cup and 2018 Pinjarra Cup.

He finished up with a stake tally of $1,271,592.

The American Ideal horse stood two light seasons at the stud.

By Peter Wharton for Harnesslink