OWN-ERSHIP

Following on from his sensational run last month where he closed out the calendar year with a two state double on 31 December, God’s Own has continued with a batch of winners in January, including a gutsy win to St Gabriel at Morphettville on Saturday (and a tremendous second by Canonized at Flemington) plus a cracking win to God Help Us in South Australia on Sunday.

Bred by Matt Brown’s Monterey Stud, St Gabriel (ex. Celtic Swing mare Not Jude’s Choice) is trained on track by David Balfour and led them all the way in a merry dance over 1800m at Morphettville.

Conversely, Mick Kent’s Canonized (ex. Grand Lodge mare Rather Grand) came from the heavens at Flemington but just failed to peg back the winner in a thriller over 1400m.

Owned by a bunch of doctors, they probably had to give themselves each a heart starter after the John Richards bred Canonized came from last at the 400m to just fail on the wire. The 3YO has now won two from four and picked up a cheque each time.

Meanwhile, it was a welcome victory for the Kevan Wacey bred and part owned, God Help Us (ex. Stravinsky mare By Any Means), who scored in a thriller over 1600m at Strathalbyn.

A BIG FUTURE … GODWILLING!

Home-bred 4YO, Godwilling, appears to be a sprinter with a big future and could well figure in autumn calculations for leading NSW trainer Kris Lees.

The son of God’s Own has now pieced together two wins and a half length second from just the three outings following his commanding victory over 1100m at Canterbury on 16 December.

The lightly raced sprinter certainly has a lot to live up to … bred at Eliza Park by principal Lee Fleming, Godwilling is out of the Group winner and Golden Slipper placegetter, Millrich (ex. Rubiton).

Sold to Frampton Racing at the 2009 Australian Easter Yearling Sale, Godwilling (below) is one of six winners by Millrich (from seven to race) including the multiple stakes winner and promising young sire Danerich … each of them bred at Eliza Park.

YOU THE (WO)MAN

OK, regardless of what the handicappers say, most of us reckon Black Caviar is the best in the world. Full stop.

Frankel, smankel we say and a good proportion of us believe she’d hand his you-know-what to him if they met over 1400m. Not that we’re biased :)

For the moment though we’ll just to console ourselves in the knowledge that Bel Esprit’s girl is still the BEST mare in the WORLD and still the BEST sprinter in the WORLD according to the latest international rankings released this week.

AAP takes up the story:

Australian champion Black Caviar has achieved the highest ever international rating for a mare in the latest world rankings.

The International Federation of Horse Authorities released its rankings on Tuesday with the unbeaten English middle distance start Frankel on top with 136.

Black Caviar was next and was also named the world’s best sprinter.

During 2011, Black Caviar won all her eight starts including six at Group One level and extended her career winning sequence to 16.

She was given an interim rating of 130 after her Newmarket Handicap victory in March and this was lifted to 132 in the final listings.

“The rating assigned to Black Caviar reflects her absolute dominance in the Newmarket Handicap where she gave weight and trounced her rivals to win in the fastest time ever recorded in the 138 year history of Australia’s iconic sprint race,” Greg Carpenter, Australia’s representative on the rankings committee, said..

Her ranking exceeds the previous highest for a sprinter of 125 by Oasis Dream in 2003 and the best by a mare of 130 by Goldikova in 2009.

Black Caviar headed the older sprint division ahead of Australian bred and Singapore trained Rocket Man (125) and Hay List (122) (by Statue of Liberty) who ran second to the mare in the TJ Smith Stakes and the BTC Cup.

The rankings take into account all performances throughout the world, irrespective of where individual horses raced or were trained, during the calendar year.

To merit inclusion in the rankings, a horse must have been rated at 115 or above.

Of the 351 to make the rankings in 2011, 47 were Australian-trained.

Three-year-olds Sepoy and Atlantic Jewel were also declared champions in their respective age and distance categories.

Sepoy was given a rating of 123 for his victories against older horses in the Group One Manikato Stakes at weight-for-age and the Group Two Caulfield Sprint under handicap conditions against older horses.

Atlantic Jewel (121) was the champion three-year-old filly in the intermediate distance category for her seven length win in the Wakeful Stakes (2000m).

Atlantic Jewel was assigned a rating of 121 for that win, the same rating she achieved for her victory in the Thousand Guineas (1600m).

She shared the title of champion filly in the mile category with outstanding French trained filly Immortal Verse who defeated Goldikova to win the Group One Jacques Le Marois.

Joining Sepoy and Atlantic Jewel in the three-year-old listings were Helmet (119), Manawanui (118), Mosheen (116), Smart Missile (116), Streama (116), Foxwedge (115) and Induna (115).

Dual Cox Plate winner So You Think was assigned a rating of 126 for his three wins at Group One level in Europe.

For the second successive year, the highest rated performance in a race further than 2700m was produced by Americain for his fourth in the Melbourne Cup under 58kg, 1.25 lengths behind the winner Dunaden who carried 54.5kg.

Americain’s performance was rated superior to Orfevres (122) win in the Japanese St Leger, Masked Marvels (121) victory in the English St Leger and the Ascot Gold Cup win of Fame and Glory (121).

In winning the Emirates Melbourne Cup, Dunaden achieved a rating of 118, the fifth best performance in a staying race in 2011.

Carpenter said the reason Americain rated considerably higher than Dunaden was because he conceded his rival 3.5kg, which equated to about six lengths over 3200m.

THEY’RE OFF!

Good luck to all vendors and buyers as today marks the start of the yearling sale circus, traditionally kicking off with the Gold Coast Magic Millions at downtown Bundall.

Eliza Park is proud to present nine yearlings, including sons and daughters Bel Esprit, Magnus, Statue of Liberty, Ad Valorem, Bernardini, Duke of Marmalade, Hard Spun and Street Sense.

For a full rundown of the Eliza Park draft – including photos, pedigrees and videos – click here.

Tollesprit - a close relation in blood to Lot 670, the Bel Esprit colt from Jezeera

IN THE HEAT OF THE DAY

Saw a cartoon recently that summed up horses perfectly: basically it opined that horses are only afraid of two things – things that move … and things that don’t.

Yearling handlers presently on the Gold Coast would concur about the ‘flighty’ nature of their charges, especially when it comes to bunting that he even shows of a hint of flapping.

However, as ANZ Bloodstock reported yesterday, the Gold Coast heat has produced a win for valour over discretion for the Bel Esprit colt from Jezeera.

ANZ takes up the yarn …

The day before the Magic Millions Yearling Sale on the Gold Coast begins the heat was well and truly on at the sales complex on Monday, writes Darryl Sherer. Under a sweltering sky the temperature soared and it was hard work for those working their way through inspections, and even harder for staff and horses.

The more ingenious of horse staff found different ways of keeping their horses cool but the prize of the day belongs to Eliza Park Stud manager Jenny Saunders. Standing with the Bel Esprit colt out of Jezeera (Jetball), the bay was happy to stand in front of an industrial fan dispensing a fine mist of water, keeping both horse and handler cool.

“He loves it,” Saunders said. “I tried it this morning and he loved it, he drags me over to it now.” Lot 670 is, like Bel Esprit’s unbeaten daughter Black Caviar inbred to Vain, and he is a three-quarter brother to the Group-placed Tollesprit. He has been out plenty of times to take advantage of the relieving mist. “We left 40 degree heat in Victoria last week and now we’re here but we expect the heat and it’s great that the fans are here to help, it makes a difference.”

Eliza Park’s John Jeffs reported that inspections had been steady. “We’ve been busy and getting busier, which is good. We have got some nice horses here and certainly the Bel Esprit colt is already proving very popular.”

A GOOD DAY IN CALIFORNIA

Eliza Park globetrotter, Phil Marshall, is currently wending his way back to the land of Oz after spending Christmas in the UK: taking a detour to the US of A for a peek at Pressday.

The Group One winning 2YO is now in the stables of California trainer, John Sadler (left), and according to Phil, has come up a treat.

“John (Sadler) is very, very sweet on Pressday (below) and has an ambitious program set out for the horse,” Phil points out. “If all goes well he should make his American debut in the Group Two Arcadia Stakes over 1600m on turf on 4 February, while his main aim is the Group One Kilroe Mile on 3 March … probably the best turf mile race in the USA.”

Poised to stand at Eliza Park this spring, Pressday’s chances of shuttling will rest largely on his performances in the States: “As a grandson of Red Ransom, we feel he (Pressday) has genuine international appeal and if we can get a reverse shuttle deal it will help secure the horse’s future,” Eliza Park principal, Lee Fleming, told AAP last month.

“John has had good results with horses from Australian and New Zealand,” Lee adds.

Indeed, Sadler trained New Zealand-bred mare Black Mamba to a Grade One victory, while Red Arrow, a weight-for-age placegetter in Australia for Anthony Cummings, also made a winning transition to United States racing under his care.

Horses trained by Sadler have earned more than $US70 million and he has won titles at Hollywood Park, Santa Anita and De Mar.

Internationally, Sadler is best known as the trainer of Our New Recruit, winner of the 2004 Golden Shaheen Stakes in Dubai.

GREAT ADVERT FOR PADDOCK CLEANERS

LIFE ON THE FARM

Despite Mother Nature turning up the heat, it’s worth noting that Eliza Park’s Tracey Doolan snapped the following photos in the first week of January. Looking good!