THOROUGHBRED

Fertile ground for Group 1 winners

Group One winners continue to flow from the fertile breeding grounds of the country's oldest commercially operated farm with Trelawney Stud's roll of honour emphasising the stud's far reaching influence.

The Cambridge nursery has a particularly proud and unique association with Australasia's greatest race as the source of seven Melbourne Cup winners.

Hiraji, Foxzami, Macdougal, Hi-Jinx, Polo Prince, Galilee and Silver Knight all graduated from the stud. Ironically, the most famous thoroughbred to sport the Trelawney brand was unplaced for the only time in his career in Flemington's showpiece event. The champion Tulloch finished an unlucky seventh in the 1960 cup won by Hi-Jinx but with 36 wins,12 seconds and 4 thirds from his 53 appearances, his place in turf history was guaranteed. Indeed he was an inaugural inductee into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame and has been similarly honoured in New Zealand.

Established by Seton Otway in 1930, the Taylor family purchased Trelawney in the early 1990's and under the management of Brent Taylor the farms success rate continues to be impressive. "Our aim is simply to provide quality racehorses and in the past 12 months we've enjoyed Gr.1 success with Red Ruler (International Stakes) and Lights of Heaven (Australasian Oaks) and the top two year old colt Antonio Lombardo," he said

A close relation to the latter promises to be one of the stars of Trelawney's 2012 Premier Sale draft to Karaka with a colt by O'Reilly out of Antonio Lombardo's grandam Rationaine (Centaine) tipped to be a headline act. "He's a really nice individual with a lot of quality and it's a pedigree cross that has worked very well," Taylor said. By Pins, Antonio Lombardo is out of Rationaine's daughter Petit Verdot ( A Carnegie (IRE) sister to Gr.1 winner Amalfi), while the O'Reilly brothers Vigor (Makybe Diva Stakes-Gr.2) and Joey Massino (Avondale Guineas-Gr.2) have added further performance to a royal family.

"We've also got a beautiful Starcraft colt out of Fire Song, who was a Gr.2 winner in Sydney and the Encosta de Lago colt out of Astrodame is a lovely Type." The dam is by Flying Spur and won the Stocks Stakes-Gr.2. Among the fillies is Antonio Lombardo's half sister by O'Reilly who earns a special mention from Taylor and is sure to be the subject of widespread attention. "The Street Cry filly is out of the Stravinsky mare La Sizeranne who was a Gr.2 winner in Australia and is from one of New Zealands best families, while the Alamosa is another top filly and out of the Gr.2 winner Astralita who's the dam of a stakes winner. We've got a good blend of yearlings out of quality racemares by proven stallions and exciting young sires."

In the Select division, a standout is the Lucky Unicorn colt out of the American bred Distant View mare Bunyah. "He's got good length and strength and he's a half brother to African Pulse, who we sold a couple of years ago and he looks one out of the box the way he beat Karuta Queen during the Melbourne carnival," Taylor said. Expectations are also high for a daughter of four time Gr.1 winner Alamosa (NZ) (O'Reilly-Lodore Mystic by Centaine (AUS) and the Snippets mare Exquisitely. "She's a half sister to Exquisite Choice (Redoute's Choice) who has won four for us and has really strengthened up, so hopefully she can get some black type," Taylor said.

Keeper,O'Reilly,Savabeel,Zabeel,Pins,Lucky Unicorn,Alamosa,Iffraaj,Pentire,High Chaparral,Falkirk and Darci Brahma all claim representation in the consignment, as well as Australian based sires Encosta de Lago,Sebring,Starcraft,Northern Meteor,Street Cry,Flying Spur and Haradasun.

"We have a broodmare band of just over 40 and manage another 40 mares.Our matings are first and foremost focused on racetrack performance with commercial viability a secondary consideration and what I think will cross well, and I offer advice to clients. Sending mares to Australia is expensive and obviously you have to get a mare of the quality to warrant that, so it's a matter of balance." Trelawney also operates a racing team that usually numbers around 10 across Australasia. "Predominantly our model is to sell the colts and race the fillies. We also go out to the market and buy, and last year we bought a half-sister by Choisir to Sebring." With her commercial pedigree she will eventually be a valuable addition to the stud's band of broodmares.