BEL ESPRIT … SEE HOW IRAN

Arion Pedigrees reveals that Bel Esprit has produced winners in nine countries: Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Korean, Macau, Malaysia, South Africa and the Philippines (indeed, in the last two mentioned, Bel Esprit has a 100% winners to runners record!).

However, we only found out today that Bel Esprit also has a winner in Iran: and not just any winner either.

Two years ago, at the Gold Coast National Horses in Training Sale, Eliza Park sold a Bel Esprit filly from Jill Mary to Iranian buyer, Reza Allahdadi, along with a God’s Own filly from Sun Maid.

Well, in turns out that the God’s Own has won several races, while the Bel Esprit is the No. 1 horse in Iran for the second year running!

Iran racing might seem a long way from the members’ enclosure at Flemington or Randwick, but fans are as keen as mustard and I’m pretty sure there would be a few Aussie tracks over the moon if they could attract the same sort of crowds.

Check out the YouTube video for an overview of Iranian racing … I especially liked the clip on the bloke who said he’s been going to Gonbad-e Qabus racecourse since 1974 is yet to leave the track a winner (must be a Middle Eastern cousin of sorts!).

Keep in mind that Eliza Park will consign 13 youngsters to this year’s Gold Coast National Horses in Training Sale (which is staged next Wednesday [19] and Thursday [20] October) and won’t only be Iranian buyers inspecting this lineup! Especially as apart from a Bel Esprit, there’s also four Written Tycoons.

WEDNESDAY WHOPPER

A woman went to a psychiatrist and said she was in great distress over her husband.
"He thinks he's a horse. He sleeps standing up and he neighs instead of speaking. He even insists on being fed oats in a bag," said the woman.
"It's terrible!" "How long has this been going on for?" asked the doctor.
"Six, maybe eight months," she replied. "You have let things go too far," said the doctor. "Your husband will require a great deal of treatment and it will be very expensive."
"I don't care about the expense," said the wife. "I will pay you anything - anything at all to make my husband stop thinking he's a horse."
"But it will cost many thousands of dollars. Can you afford this amount of money?" asked the doctor.
"Why of course we can," said the woman. "He's already won three races this season!"

BEL ESPRIT – A SAFE BET!

From a breeding perspective, Bel Esprit has been studied every which way: pedigree, performance, sale ring commerciality, colour, sex, what he likes for breakfast … you name it.

One study which hasn’t been performed thus far – well, at least until Champion Picks came along – was how Bel Esprit progeny fared at the tote.

We sometimes forget that the punting dollar is what makes the wheels of the thoroughbred industry turn and it stands to reason that a study of a sire’s progeny – based on track ‘profitability’ – has some merit.

David Duffield of Champion Picks takes up the story:
We (Champion Picks) recently looked at Australia’s best trainers and jockeys for punters to follow, but have never really analysed sires in any depth.
Breeding is a much discussed topic in horse racing circles, but almost never from the perspective of a punter. Commentators focus on sire earnings, winners and black type but as punters, wouldn’t it be good to know how profitable our top sires are?
The top 10 sires of last season (ranked by earnings) are listed in the following table, but we’ve added a column for Profit On Turnover:

Bel Esprit had a phenomenal year for his followers with his progeny winning 13 cents on the dollar. That makes him a winner of the sires profitability table with as much authority as his mighty mare Black Caviar shows in demoralizing her rivals.
Following the offspring of the other 9 leading sires would have lost 9 cents on the dollar.
No surprise then that the standout sire in the under 1800m distance range was Bel Esprit at better than 14% profit. High Chaparral progeny also recorded a profit, albeit from much less runners than the others.
Hopefully this article has given a little insight into a neglected punting angle. Because while I don’t suggest blindly backing Bel Esprit progeny, I will suggest that the best punting edges are to be found in two areas.
Firstly, by taking a contrarian approach and debunking many of the racing myths that are no longer (or possibly never have been) true.
The second area is related to the topic of this article and it boils down to accessing and analyzing information that isn’t readily available to the everyday punter.

ANOTHER TYCOON … CHIN CHIN

And they just keep on coming! Following on from two Group Two seconds with his progeny on Saturday (click here for further information), Written Tycoon was at it again yesterday with Chinzia winning the opening event at Wangaratta.

Trained by Brian Cox, the flashy chestnut sat just off the lead throughout before striding to the lead late and scoring well on the line.

It was only the second run for Chinzia who finished second over 1000m at Wagga on 23 September.

Chinzia is out of the Al Hareb mare, Embers – a fantastic mare who now has six winners from six to race.

Primarily a North American black type family, Chinzia was bred and is owned by Dick and Swal Sloane … lovely people.

MAGNUS MIS LAUNCHES CAREER

First season sire, Magnus, has kicked off his stud career in memorable fashion with Imprimis running a memorable half length second in the Listed $100,000 Herald Sun SuperRacing Stakes (1000m) at Flemington yesterday.

Imprimis led for most of the journey but found the highly vaunted Cambiaso a tad too strong on the wire. Connections have already declared the winner to be a leading hope for next year’s Blue Diamond and, naturally enough, trainer Mick Cerchi was very pleased with the performance of Imprimis and clearly harbours further stakes aspirations for his $55,000 weanling purchase.

Imprimis (pictured above on the rails) has certainly been built for speed: her sire Magnus was a Group One winning sprinter who campaigned on three continents AND is a half brother to the dam of world champion Black Caviar, while Imprimis’ dam, Tendency, is by one of the most precocious influences of recent times in Rory’s Jester.

But as impressive as Imprimis was, also keep in mind the performance of Magnusificent, who appears to have the ability to live up to his name.

And, while Magnusificent’s finishing position doesn’t reveal much – the race replay certainly did.

Seemingly a spent force with 200m to go and at the very rear of the field, jockey Craig Williams peeled Magnusificent around the other runners and the colt flew home to finish just over three lengths off the winner.

It appears that racegoers will again be taking heed of Magnus’ name in the formguide!

Photo by Bruno Cannatelli

TYCOON’S AUSTRAL-ASIAN APPEAL

If you’ll excuse the pun, Written Tycoon is rapidly gaining prestige throughout South East Asia.

Certainly the Champion Australian First Season Sires’ stocks have grown considerably across the Tasman in recent weeks via the deeds of Roger James flyer, Prestigious Miss, who is now shaping as one of the finest 3YO fillies in New Zealand.

A winner as a 2YO in June, Prestigious Miss grabbed the eye (and some black type) with a brilliant third to Anabandana in the Gold Trail Stakes-G3 at Hawkes Bay in mid September.

It was a super run given that she was still running last well into the straight and was peeling ground off them with every stride at the finish.

New Zealand’s Champion 2YO with dual Group One victories, Anabandana has now won her last five on the trot.

However, but it was Prestigious Miss’ second to Antonio Lombardo in Saturday’s Hawkes Bay Guineas-G2 that has really put the stamp on her potential.

Prestigious Miss was shuffled back in the run and seven lengths to make up in the run home and didn’t really see daylight until the final furlong. Super effort when you consider Antonio Lombardo is probably NZ’s finest colt.

But it’s not only Prestigious Miss flying the flag for her sire. The aptly named Masthead produced a cracking effort in the Urbis Roman Consul Stakes-G2 to just miss by a head behind hot favourite, Foxwedge.

The banner horse for Written Tycoon as a juvenile, Masthead has furnished into an athletic 3YO whose two runs this season have produced a fourth (beaten less than two lengths) behind Sepoy in the Danehill Stakes-G2 at Flemington and Saturday’s second at Randwick.

Written Tycoon’s other recent highlights include Trump and Peter Morgan’s promising youngster, Printed, but it’s also the ‘form’ of runners in South East Asia that could prove to be very timely.

Speedy filly Xicar won at her most recent outing in Korea, scooting away to score over 1300m, while in early September, Power Tycoon (below), scored in thrilling fashion over 1050m at Taipa in Macau.

It certainly augurs well for the Gold Coast Magic Millions National Horses in Training Sale on 19-20 October with Eliza Park presenting five Written Tycoon 2YOs to an audience which will undoubtedly include a sizeable buying bench from South East Asia. And New Zealand. And Randwick. And Flemington!

ADDITIONAL DOUBLE FOR BEL

Interesting deuce for Victoria’s Champion Sire yesterday with the David Hayes’ trained, Spirited Addition, winning his second race on the trot at Morphettville, while Peter Moody’s Belle of the Court made short work of her rivals on debut at Murtoa.

Firstly to Spirited Addition: hailing from the Jugah mare Costly Addition and bred by Springhill Park Stud, this youngster has plenty going for him with two wins and two placings from five outings … and it could easily have been three wins after he jumped awkwardly and was beaten a lip on debut at Morphettville in July.

The authority of his last two wins would indicate David Hayes has plenty of options coming into spring for this classy sprinter.

As for Belle of the Court … she has a long way to go to match the deeds of another Peter Moody trained female by Bel Esprit! Still, you can only win and while a Murtoa maiden is not normally much to write home about, Belle of the Court led throughout – as a $1.80 favourite – scoring easily by over three lengths.

In another aside, Belle of the Court is bred and raced by David & Jenny Moodie’s Contract Racing whose ill-fated Crystal Lily gave these wonderful supporters of the Victorian thoroughbred industry a multitude of thrills.

Unfortunately, the Golden Slipper winning filly happened to run into Black Caviar on numerous occasions, finishing second to the superstar in both the William Reid and Newmarket.

Belle of the Court is out of the winning Dehere mare Miss Lenglen (two winners from two to race) who is, in turn, a daughter of Contract Racing’s Group One winning mare Miss Kournikova.

There would indeed be some justice if the Bel Esprit rises through the classes and adds some further silverware to the Contract cabinet.