10th February 2010 - Vol 54

Victoria Derby trifecta

The $200,000 Group 1 Victoria Derby, run at Moonee Valley’s ‘farewell’ meeting was a triumph for Stallion Station as the home of the sires of the three placegetters Courage To Rule (by Courage Under Fire) 1^st, Lincoln Royal (by Mach Three) 2^nd and Lanercost (by Courage Under Fire) 3^rd.

In a race billed as the strongest Derby in the last decade, Courage To Rule, who only narrowly qualified for the final, was forced to do some work in the early and middle stages before slotting into the one-out one-back trail at the half-way point.

Relishing the fast tempo being set by fellow countryman Lincoln Royal, Greg Bennett eased the gelding three-wide rounding the home turn and the pair staged a barnstorming finish to claim the thick end of the prize.

Courage To Rule averaged a smart 1:58.9 for the 2575m mobile with the last half in a blistering 55.8 seconds (27.7 and 28.1).

In winning, Courage To Rule emulated the feat of his sire Courage Under Fire, who captured Australia’s oldest classic eleven years earlier.

Seldom guilty of a bad race, the John Green and ‘Bunty’ Hughes trained gelding took his lifetime earnings to $287,103, the result of five wins and 10 placings from 21 starts. He had been placed in several Group or Listed races including the NZ Sires’ Stakes 2YO Final, Harness Jewels, NZ Yearling Sales Open 2YO and 3YO Finals and Waikato Guineas.

Courage To Rule beating Lincoln Royal and Lanercost
in the Victoria Derby

Breeding of Derby Winner

Courage To Rule, the New Zealand owned and trained winner of the $200,000 Group 1 Victoria Derby at the Moonee Valley farewell harness racing meeting, has an interesting and successful breeding background.

The gelding, who is a son of the 1999 Victoria Derby winner Courage Under Fire, was bred in NZ by West Australian couple Gary and Susan Lyons, trading as Caulfield Park.

Coincidently, Gary Lyons is the principal of the giant breeding conglomerate Stallion Station, where Courage Under Fire has commanded full books for the last two years.

Courage To Rule's dam, Rule The Roost, was bought by Lyons off Christchurch breeder Paul Browman in foal to the Abercrombie import Shiney Key in 1999. The foal died soon after birth.

Lyons had earlier secured one of Rule The Roost's offspring, Make The Rules (by Soky's Atom), off the former Bromac Lodge studmaster. He won 14 races at Gloucester Park and finished runner-up in the Golden Nugget before being sold to North America where he took a mark of 1:51.6.

"I liked him so much that I bought his dam," Lyons said.

Browman originally bought as a weanling for $3,400 at the National Bloodstock Dispersal sale at Karaka in 1990.

Rule The Roost was a daughter of the No Nukes horse Payson's Brother and tracing back to Norice on her distaff side.

"She only had a few starts including a third in the Golden Slipper," Browman said. "She had all the ability in the world but was a 'firecracker'."

Browman bred four foals out Rule The Roost, of which three were successful - Holme To Rule (by Holmes Hanover), Rock N Rules (by Caprock) and Make The Rules.

Holme To Rule won three races and $15,808, Rock N Rules won twice on WA country tracks and took a record of 1:58.8, while Make The Rules finished up with a stakes tally of $220,075.

For the Lyons' couple she produced four foals in Precious Ruler (by Precious Bunny), a 1:59.3 Nelson winner, Delight In Decree (by Bettor's Delight), a winner of four races to date, the deceased Atomic Ruler (by Soky's Atom) and Courage To Rule.

Delight In Decree won a NZ Sires' Stakes heat at Timaru as a two-year-old.

"She hurt her leg in the float on the way to Alexandra Park for the final and was unplaced," Gary Lyons said.

Delight In Decree will be retained by Lyons as a future breeding prospect.

Lyons bred Rule To Roost to Courage Under Fire and, deciding to disperse some of his breeding stock, sold the foal at four months to Browman and gifted him the mother.

Courage To Rule is that foal.

Unfortunately Rule To Roost failed to produce after leaving Courage To Rule in 2006 and died while in foal to McArdle in May 2008.

Mendelico measures up

When she won the $20,000 Angelique Club Cup at the Moonee Valley ‘farewell’ meeting, Mendelico scored her fourth feature race success on end, and she is entitled to be rated the season’s top female pacer.

Coming off the outside of the second row, Mendelico settled down near the tail before being switched three-wide by John Caldow approaching the bell. The bonny mare speared to the top soon after and had established a race-winning lead inside the final furlong.

Despite getting tired on the line, Mendelico held on to win by a head from the fast closing Jazzam. The winning mile rate for the 2100m was 1:56.8.

Earlier in the term, the Pacific Fella mare won the $50,000 Group 2 George Johnson, the Mother of Pearl and the Richmond Lass.

From 16 starts this term, she has won 11 and been three times placed for $111,523 in stakes.

Mendelico

Lancome lifts the prize

Courage To Rule was not the only Courage Under Fire progeny to hit the headlines on the first Saturday in February.

Lancome, a classics winner as a juvenile, maintained her devastating form by taking out the $175,500 (Listed) NZ Yearling Sales Series Final for three-year-old fillies at Addington.

Starting from the No. 5 gate, Blair Orange sent the star filly to the front 500 metres after the mobile despatched the field and from thereon always appeared to have her rivals covered.

Booting clear rounding the home turn, Lancome pulled out a final quarter in 27 to win by two lengths in a brilliant 1:56.7 rate for the 1950m.

The winner of seven of her 14 starts, Lancome boasts a bankroll of $239,181 – a total that could be doubled by season’s end!

Righteous filly wins again

The two-year-old Tiffany Twisted is proving a splendid advertisement for her sire Righteous Hanover in Western Australia.

The filly posted her second win from three attempts at the recent Gloucester Park midweek meeting.

After galloping and losing 20 metres at the start, Tiffany Twisted sat at the rear of the five-horse field until the home turn.

Switched four-wide by Ryan Bell, she finished with a wet sail to win comfortably on the line.

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