News Update 22nd February, 2017.
Yorkshire Park has been active at the Christchurch NZ yearling sales purchasing two fillies on day one of the sales. I was really pleased with our purchases and appreciate the support of Ashburton trainer John Hay who inspected both fillies for us on the day.
Lot 182 Lutetia Midfrew – by Sportswriter out of a Mach Three winning mare and a half sister to the very well performed Libertybelle Midfrew, Lulli Midfrew and Luisanabelle Midfrew. To date the mare has left 3 foals including the very well performed Eyre Crusher runner up in the WA Derby winning on 8 occasions. This Sportswriter filly took my eye as a lovely relaxed and very good walking filly, she looks like she will go as a two year old and has some growing still to do. Really like this one.
Lot 221 Rosa Parks – by Net Ten Eom (USA) out of the good performing broodmare Niftey Franco by Badlands Hanover. And yes you will recognise the breeding here as she is a half sister to the Yorkshire Park owned Whitney H. Niftey Franco has left the very well credentialed Glenferrie Hood 22 wins and $233K in prize money. We had a big opinion of Whitney H before injury struck and this filly went through the ring at a bargain price. She will be raced in partnership with John & Ineka at Ashburton and we hope she can emulate the deeds of her brothers and sisters. Couldn’t let this bargain go.
In other news our colts set for the April 2 sales all headed off to the preparers this week with the trotting colt by Majestic Son heading to Kath McIntosh at Northern Rivers and the Sportswriter and Auckland Reactor colts heading to Blanche Poole at Rhiannon Park.
News, News, News
What a great time of the year to be a Harness racing enthusiast with the Victoria Cup, Hunter Cup, Victoria Derby, Great Southern Star and many of the Country Cups taking place across regional Victoria. Top that off with the APG yearling sales in Melbourne last weekend and you really do get a bit excited. Watching the best horses, trainers and drivers in action really does give you a lift and gives you the confidence to move forward in our harness racing endeavours.
On the racing scene at Yorkshire Park, Whosashadylady has returned to work after having a month in the paddock so we look forward to the Bettors Delight 3 year old filly returning to make her race track return in the coming months. Stylish Icon will most likely go round at Swan Hill next Wednesday 16th February which will be her first start since finishing 4th at Melton a month ago. She is coming along nicely and getting stronger all the time. Watch The Dream has been a bit indifferent with her form after really good efforts for a 2nd at Bendigo and Kilmore to a disappointing performance last Monday night at Kilmore again. She pulled hard in the run and did get a little stirred up after two false starts but really didn’t flatter at all in the run home. She will be in at Shepparton on Sunday 12th February and a change of tactics with her might be on the cards.
On the breeding scene we have positive test results for My Little Black Dress (Heston Blue Chip), La Tonneralla (Love You) and Jewel Bromac (Alta Christiano) so all of our 7 mares this year are in foal. Our four fillies born this season are progressing well and we look forward to having them home shortly.
It was a long day on Sunday at the Melbourne APG Yearling sales but congratulations should go out to the team at APG for the way in which the sale was marketed and conducted. The crowd was the best I have seen for a few years and the vendors and preparers should be congratulated on the way the produced the yearlings for sale. Special thanks to our preparer Blanche & Dean Poole and their team of workers for the wonderful job they did with our yearlings. They looked terrific and behaved very well through out the three days.
Two of the three yearlings we had in the sale were sold, Courage Under Fire Colt is off to the Barry Dunn stable and the Pet Rock colt will head to Great Western and the stables of Kerryn Manning and Grant Campbell. Our Alta Christiano colt didn’t reach his reserve price so we decided to bring him home and we will look at what we do with him for the future. He is still for sale but if that doesn’t eventuate we will look at possibly syndicating him and looking for a trainer to take him on.
The next step will be the Melbourne Autumn sale with two colts by Sportswriter and Auckland Reactor and a trotting colt by Majestic Son for the Australasian Premier Trotting Sale on the 2nd of April. All three colts will head off to the preparers next week to start their preparation.
That’s about all for now.
Good luck and good punting.
Yorkshire Park team.