How do unfashionably bred horses succeed on the racetrack? Their start to life might have a fair bit to do with it.
They may not have been the types of horses buyers were clamouring for in the sale ring, but it’s a story we hear all too often in racing – the rags to riches, the unwanted yearling, etc.
But whatever these horses lacked in commercial appeal, they more than made up for with other hidden qualities. Those ‘intangibles’ are typically fostered on the farm that raised them.
In the perpetual search for future track stars, the farm can be as important, or even trump, pedigree.
Golden Grove, a relative minnow of the Hunter Valley studs, is living proof of this.
At the very top of their list of graduates is the world class sprinter NATURE STRIP, passed in for $90,000 as a yearling and one of only two Group 1 winners by NICCONI.
A glance down their other stakes winning alumni, doesn’t reveal anything remarkable in the way of breeding.
Indeed, our most recent stakes winner THE BLACK CLOUD, purchased from Golden Grove for $100,000 in 2022, has “bugger all” on her page – in the words of respected thoroughbred journalist Trevor Marshallsea.
Similarly, when INDEFENSIBLE was bought for $90,000 the following year, the acquisition was induced primarily by type (there were no stakes or even metropolitan winners in the first two dams!) and her vendor which was of course Golden Grove.
INDEFENSIBLE, an impressive last start winner at Warwick Farm, can post her fourth victory in 10 career starts when she heads to Randwick on Boxing Day.
So you can imagine our delight when we found a Golden Grove product by SHAMUS AWARD (like THE BLACK CLOUD) with both type AND pedigree at this year’s Inglis Premier Sale.
And he’s since developed into an equine colossus as this recent video attests: CLICK HERE to watch.
SHAMUS AWARD x WITH A BIT OF DASH 2yo gelding
