TYCOON ON SONG

Highly rated juvenile, Alezan Thunder might have been a disappointing no show for the Group Two Karrakatta Plate at Ascot on Saturday, but her sire Written Tycoon still chimed in with a two state double following wins to Tykook (ex. Takook by Keltrice) at Moonee Valley and Xatel Ekwa at Newcastle.

A smart 3YO who races out of the Terry and Karina O’Sullivan stable, this was the first win in Melbourne for Tykook (below), who had previously notched up three wins in Adelaide and has now banked nearly $170,000 in stakes.

Meanwhile, Xatel Ekwa was stepping out for only the second time in the 1500m Maiden at Newcastle but won with plenty in reserve, stretching out to score by over three lengths for Randwick trainer Craig Carmody.

Having earlier run third on debut on a heavy surface at Kembla on 17 March, Xatel Ekwa is clearly above average and may well be on target to join her year younger full brother, Andre Roo Hoo, a dual stakes placegetter in Melbourne last spring.

After taking out the Australian First Season Sires’ premiership, Written Tycoon still reigns supreme among his peers with a 2.33 Average Earnings Index.

By the by, full marks to whomever came up with Xatel Ekwa: she is out of the Flying Spur mare Solar Song and is named after the Hungarian Sun Goddess who rode through the sky mounted simultaneously on three horses. She was clearly much nicer than her daughter Xoli Kaltes who ‘baked me her to came to court her’ (think I might have been married to her!). Fortunately, Xatel Ekwa rescued the young men whenever she twigged to what was happening (clearly a mother-in-law with a difference).

Hoofnote: A good show in the Karakatta Plate would have been a nice follow up from the stakes placing to Ben Pearce’s Gaps In Me Knees (ex. Trisha’s Dispair by Kenny’s Best Pal) in the Raconteur Stakes-LR at Ascot last Saturday.

Bred by Cromartry Park in WA, Gaps In Me Knees has now raced on four occasions for a win and three placings and could develop into a real money spinner for her owner.