“Anyway, Booker was bred by Tony Fairburn and Bill Rigg who have both been mates forever and they also decided to keep a share and race her with Midge and I. After Sunday, it’s fairly safe to say that they’re glad they did.”
The Griffiths’ originally owned Darley’s Northwood Park property at Seymour in Victoria, selling the property to Sheikh Mohammed in 2006, but keeping 2,000 acres next door where they run mainly cattle but a few horses as well.
“We’ve cut right back on our breeding but still race and sell a couple here and there,” Griffiths adds. “We usually race around three or four at a time and mainly fillies and mares, but we’ve also got a couple of colts which are both siblings to Booker – a 2YO Helmet half brother and a yearling colt by Written Tycoon.
“I love that family … Booker’s dam, Noondie, is a winning Flying Spur mare and a three quarter sister to Perth stakes winner Tranquility, while she’s also related to dual Toorak winner, Umrum, Danehill winner, Tan Tat De Lago and that good horse who won the Classic Mile and Classic Cup in Hong Kong, Sun Jewellery.”
Mill Park’s Chris Watson fully concurs with Griffiths assessment of the filly and believes she was the real stand out of his Melbourne draft.
“It’s easy to see why Barrie liked her so much,” Watson recalls. “Right from the word go she was a ripping specimen … very strong, just had a real presence about her. You naturally hope that everything coming off your farm does well, but let’s put it this way, she’s definitely one that hasn’t surprised me with her ability on the track.”
But is she in the same mould as other notable Mill Park ‘graduates’ such as Fawkner, Go Indy Go, Happy Trails, Mummify, Gold Guru and Divine Madonna?
“Well, it’s a bit early to tell, but based on her run on Sunday, against that opposition, she’s definitely heading in the right direction."
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