Track Talk

We’ve seen some great performances from Mill Park Stud bred, raised and or sold graduates over the last twelve months, plus we were also represented by our first Group 1 performer in South Africa!

Guard Of Honour, Gretna, Pretty Punk, Girl Sunday, Mall It In, It’s A Myth, Booker, Cappadocia, Waging War, All Too Huiying and Danish Twist to name but a few have kept up the outstanding farm tradition by performing exceptionally well on the track.

Special mention must go to the talented Dane Shadow mare Danish Twist (pictured above) who is a possibility to head to stud this season for her connections. In the last twelve months she has finished in the top five in five stakes races including a narrow third in the Group 1 Coolmore Classic at Rosehill Gardens.

A stakes-winning half-sister to multiple Group 1 winner and Mill Park graduate Happy Trails, Danish Twist is a mare that any stud master would be proud to have on their farm.

Of the young brigade coming through, interestingly it is the half-brother to Happy Trails and Danish Twist in All Too Hard colt, All Too Huiying (pictured below as a yearling), who could prove an exciting three-year-old and one to watch. 

While still a maiden, the Gary Moore-trained colt was stakes placed on two occasions including a third behind Whispered Secret at Listed level with that winner going on to record a Group 1 third next time out.

The Matthew Ellerton and Simon Zahra-trained Booker (pictured below), a juvenile filly by Written Tycoon produced an exciting debut victory in May at Flemington before heading to Adelaide and finishing second in the Group 3 National Stakes, with fellow Mill Park Stud graduate It’s A Myth (Sepoy) taking third in the same race.

Morphettville Racecourse has always been a happy hunting ground for Mill Park Stud graduates and in the last 12 months two noteworthy stakes winners at the track were Listed Hill Smith Stakes winner Pretty Punk (pictured below), a daughter of Rebel Raider, who is in turn himself a dual Group 1-winning son of Reset, raised and sold by the farm.

Speaking of Reset, another stakes winner by the Darley-based sire that has been raised at the farm is Mail It In, a four-year-old who defeated war horse Extra Zero to win the Listed Birthday Cup by almost four lengths before a length fourth in the Group 3 Lord Reims Stakes.

An exciting experience for the team was to see Naafer, a colt by Lonhro that we sold at the 2016 Inglis Easter Yearling Sale to Shadwell Stud put in some great performances in South Africa for the Mike de Kock stable.

Second on his debut, the colt was too good at his second start before being thrown into the deep end at his third. Finishing second to stablemate and Champion Two-year-old contender Mustaaqeem in the Group 1 SA Nursery, Naafer (pictured below) went to contest another two stakes races before being turned out for a break, and he should come back as three-year-old to watch!

As we head into the new season in a few weeks it is always an exciting, as well as nervous time awaiting the new crop of two-year-old’s to step out on the track, so stay tuned!

To view the complete August Newsletter, click HERE.