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Australian Champion filly Typhoon Tracy ended her outstanding career with a win over the boys in last weekend's C.F. Orr Stakes (gr. I), her second win in that event. The daughter of Red Ransom is out of the South African sprint star Tracy's Element (by Last Tycoon), and is one of five stakes winners from 17 starters from the cross (TrueNicks A++). She will begin her career with a visit to Street Cry (IRE) (TrueNicks,SRO), and this one definitely gets our seal of approval, as it emulates the pattern that created the mighty Zenyatta (by Street Cry out of a mare by a son of Red Ransom’s sire, Roberto).

The Sir Ivor line – pretty much extinct everywhere else in the world – continues to flourish in Australia and New Zealand, and one of the strongest sources is Lonhro (AUS) (TrueNicks) (by Octagonal, by Zabeel). He had a major weekend with Obsequious (TrueNicks A), winning the Light Fingers Stakes (gr. II), and Beaded (TrueNicks A++) the Geoffrey Belmaine Stakes (gr. III), both at six furlongs. Obsequious is out of mare by Commands (AUS) (TrueNicks) (by Danehill), a cross that has already supplied five Lonhro stakes winners. What is more notable, however, is that she is also inbred 3x4 to super tap-root mare Eight Carat (dam of Octagonal, and granddam of Commands). Strictly speaking, Obsequious is the first stakes winner to be inbred to Eight Carat, although she is not the first to have Eight Carat doubled in the pedigree (that honor went to Fair Trade, who is by Command’s brother, Danewin, and inbred 2x3 to their dam, Cotehele House). These two are the only stakes winners to date from over 100 starters with the Eight Carat double, but we’d expect to see the strike-rate improve as it is exploited with better class individuals, and through compatible nicks. Beaded is out of a mare by Fanfreluche’s brother, Night Shift, and for some reason, the cross of Lonhro and Night Shift mares works exceptionally well, producing four stakes winners from only nine starters. Lonhro also has a stakes winner out of a mare by Flying Spur, who looks an obvious play here, being a Danehill son from the Fanfreluche family.

Speaking of the veteran Danehill stallion, Flying Spur had himself a nice little two-year-old double, too. Three-year-old Miss Gai Flyer (TrueNicks A++) won the Boronia Stakes. She’s out of a mare from a Southern Hemisphere crop by Gilded Time. Two-year-old Satin Shoes (TrueNicks A) captured the Widden Stakes. She’s out of a mare by Volksraad (by Green Desert), so a Danzig/Danzig cross. Flying Spur actually has two stakes winners from four starters out of Danzig line mares, although we note that both have Danzig combined with Sir Ivor in the dam. This might be significant, as Flying Spur’s granddam is a Sir Ivor/Northern Dancer cross. Volksraad’s sire, Green Desert, is a reverse of this cross, and Volksraad is out of a mare by Secretariat (half brother to Sir Ivor’s sire, Sir Gaylord). Satin Shoes’ dam is out of a mare by a son of Sir Tristram, so she’s also Danzig (Northern Dancer)/Sir Ivor.

Not for the first time, it seemed difficult to turn around in Australia last weekend and not bump into a More Than Ready (TrueNicks,SRO) putting up a big effort in a stakes event. The very quick More Joyous (TrueNicks A++) took only 1:08.6 seconds to add the Freeview Breeders’ Classic (gr. II) to her record. She’s out of Sunday Joy, a daughter of Sunday Silence, which means she is a Halo/Halo cross, with that horse 3x3 in the pedigree. There is a lot of Almahmoud (granddam of Halo) here, as the second dam, Joie Denise, is by Danehill, who is 3x3 to Almahmoud’s daughter, Natalma (who is, of course, dam of Northern Dancer). More Than Ready’s other weekend graded winner was Dreamaway, who took the one-mile W A Champion Fillies Stakes (gr. III). She is out of a daughter of Danehill, and so the fourth stakes winner for the direct cross. The second dam is by Sir Tristram, so the dam is a reverse Northern Dancer/Turn-to cross to Southern Halo, the sire of More Than Ready, with the Sir Tristram through the genetic relatives Halo and Sir Ivor.

Current hot two-year-old in Australia is the well-bred Sepoy – winner of the colt’s version Blue Diamond Prelude (gr. III) – who is by Elusive Quality (TrueNicks,SRO) out of Watchful by Danehill. The dam is a sister to the QTC Derby (gr. I) victress Camarena (who produced the AJC Sires’ Produce (gr. I) heroine Camarilla to Elusive Quality). The granddam, Canny Miss, is a three-parts-sister to Champion Two-Year-Old and veteran sire, Canny Lad. Elusive Quality never quite proved to be the answer to the question “what do we do with a Danehill mare?” that connections might have hoped, but he does have four stakes winners and seven stakes-placed horses from 52 starters on the cross. With Elusive Quality’s dam being by Hero’s Honor, a Northern Dancer/Graustark cross, and Danehill being Northern Dancer/His Majesty (brother to Graustark), one might have hoped the nick would have worked a bit better.

Still with Danehill mares, Encosta de Lago (from the Fairy King branch of Northern Dancer), out of a half sister to Flying Spur, is still trying to establish himself as a good option. He did add another stakes winner on the cross when One Last Dance captured the filly edition of the Blue Diamond Prelude (gr. III). Encosta de Lago has 77 starters out of Danehill mares, and with those kind of numbers, and high-quality mares, it’s not easy to produce a positive strike rate. Encosta de Lago now has seven stakes winners from those 77 starters (very nearly 10%), which is a solid B+ on TrueNicks. When you get a B+ with this kind of sire and dam involved, your improving on some pretty good stock, so we’d say the cross is definitely shaping as a positive.

Filed under: Australian Racing