Table of contents for November 2022 in Turf Monthly

Easingwold was a West Australian horse that helped highlight breeding in that state at a time when the great Eurythmic was taking the east coast by storm. The colt was unbeaten as a 2yo including a win in the prestigious Karrakatta Plate. He continued his form as a 3yo with wins in the All-Aged Stakes, December Stakes, WA Derby, Osborne Stakes and St Leger. Returning as a 4yo, he won the Spring Stakes at Kalgoorlie over 2000m on 1 August by three lengths with a further six lengths to the third horse. Four days later he won the Kalgoorlie Cup over the same distance in race record time. Easingwold then won the City Stakes at Boulder over the same distance at his next start before heading to Victoria. He finished…

Delaware stands at Woodside Park in Victoria and becomes the first son of the remarkable Frankel to go to stud in Australia. That alone should ensure some interest in his progeny as his sire continues on from his brilliant racetrack career to an outstanding stud career. We cannot even touch on the prospects of Delaware without mentioning Frankel, the unbeaten British champion rated by many as the world’s greatest racehorse. Of course Australian’s query this assessment with our own Black Caviar appearing at Royal Ascot at the same time as Frankel. Frankel won fourteen starts with an amazing record of ten of these being Group 1 races. In fact, his last nine wins were at the highest level and included races like the Juddmonte International, Queen Anne, Queen Elizabeth and…

Sometimes when researching articles for the magazine you come across something that stands out. We take form guides for granted these days, but they were not always available in yesteryear. Great papers like The Sportsman and The Sporting Globe filled this need. Even then, there are things that just are special, and the following is one of those for me. It is an extract from a Melbourne Cup Supplement in the Perth Daily News on Monday 31 October 1936 and written by the racing analyst that went by the name of Trenton. He did quite a remarkable job in the days before videos or race footage were available. His assessment of eventual winner, the 100/1 chance Wotan might not have been his finest moment, but then again he was in…

We go to production too early to know the result of the 2022 Cox Plate, but this year marked the 100th anniversary of what is now our most prestigious WFA race. It is a remarkable race, and while the unique Moonee Valley track has led to the downfall of many fancies, it adds to the spectacle. In recent times we have been privileged to see the mighty Kingston Town win three Cox Plates only to be surpassed by the wonderful Winx. The Honour Roll of the Cox Plate really is a who’s who of the Australian Turf with Phar Lap, Sunline, Flight, Tobin Bronze, Northerly, So You Think, Hydrogen, Tranquil Star, Beau Vite and Young Idea all dual winners. There is something of a perception that the Cox Plate has…

Glenfiddich is another of our Freshman sires standing at the luxurious Aquis Park Stud in Queensland. The stallion comes to the stud with a career that could have been so much better had he not had the misfortune to run into some outstanding colts at the peak of their powers. His biggest win was at Group 2 level, but he was twice placed in Group 1 races. The son of boom stallion Fastnet Rock joins an amazing roster at Aquis and it certainly makes us wonder where he fits among such an expansive group. The stallion had his first start in the time-honoured Maribyrnong Plate, finishing fifth behind Hard Landing. A ninth behind the good colt Hanseatic in the Merson Cooper followed before going for a spell. Resuming in the…

One would imagine that as the first Cox Plate winner, that Violoncello would have a special place in Australian Racing history, but his name is likely relegated to the answer of an obscure trivia question unfortunately. The stallion has an interesting story being bred by James de Rothschild in Great Britain in 1916. He was by Valens, a somewhat moderate stallion who was perhaps more notable as being a grandson of the great Bend Or. Violoncello was to be only his fourth stakeswinner with two of the others in King Sol and Volta winning the best sprint races in Britain in the King’s Stand Stakes and July Cup respectively. As a result, Violoncello was kept to the shorter distances in the Northern Hemisphere in contrast to his local success. The…

Aclaim represents a new direction for Aquis Farm in Queensland, being the first shuttle stallion that stud has brought to Australia. The stallion has gotten off to a great start in the UK where he topped the first season list in terms of the number of winners. History will tell us that success in the UK is no guarantee of success under local conditions, and in fact could even be a portend for poor performance. After all success with one broodmare population often means that a stallion is incompatible with another population. We can run a similar argument with any number of factors, and it usually is in different forms. We read how winning a certain race can be a factor in predicting success, but this line of argument certainly…

Jonker is another of the Aquis Park Freshman sires for 2022. He represents an interesting diversion from many of those we have looked at, and some incredible bloodlines that have become highly valued in Australia. Unlike many of our Freshmen, Jonker breaks one of the unwritten laws of the modern thoroughbred stallion, in that he had 30 race starts, considered too many for a stallion by many breeders. Perhaps our look at history suggests that this has been a relatively new rule as many of our star stallions of the past were required to prove themselves on the track before going to stud. It seems an odd reflection on the past that it was once considered a sign of weakness if a stallion was retired too early. It is certainly…