Entirely Platunium (left) and Leebaz as yearlings at Windsor Park Stud's Halidon Hill Property
Photo Sue Schick
The team at Windsor Park are watching the racing at the Sydney autumn carnival with excitement and anticipation, and in particular, a four-year-old gelding in the Hawkes Racing stable - Entirely Platinum (Pentire [GB]- Platinum Blonde).
"It's always nice to breed a good winner over the big Aussie carnivals and following Entirely Platinum's win in the Group Three Sky High Stakes, it looks like he has a big future and I am sure the Hawkes will have some lofty targets for him," stated Windsor Park's General Manager Steve Till.
"He was a magnificent colt foal who progressed into an outstanding individual as a yearling, and I'm sure even though I haven't seen him recently, he is still a top physical specimen. The colt really was a superb individual who grew into a well-developed yearling with an excellent temperament and he did attract a lot of attention. Pentire was going well that season on both sides of the Tasman and all the stars aligned and we got $520,000 for him from the Hawkes stables who bought him for a big syndicate of owners."
In a new campaign which kicked off in Sydney over the past few weeks, Entirely Platinum has won three races. This time last year he won his first race at his third start, and was put aside. During the spring he had five starts for a win and five placings and was once again it was back to the paddock to grow.
Entirely Platinum is the eighth foal of Platinum Blond (Kapstaad – Jewel Box [AUS]) and her second stakes winner. She has also left two stakes-winning performers and three other winners. Her first foal was by Volksraad (IRE) and was the stakes winning mare Foxy Blonde who won six races including the Group Three White Robe Lodge Handicap. At stud she has left seven winners from seven to the races.
A second mating with Volksraad bred Roving Owl who won two races in Australia, and was stakes placed on two occasions, and the mare's third foal by Danske raced in New Zealand as James Blonde and ran second in the Listed Lindauer Guineas Trial before being sold to Hong Kong where he won three races as Travel Leader.
Yet another mating with Volksraad produced Stripes of Honour, a winner of four races, while two fillies, Quality Blond (Star Way [GB]) and Copper Blond (Thorn Park [AUS]), have both won races before going to stud. She has only produced one more foal since Entirely Platinum.
"Platinum Blond is a dear old girl who has a Mastercraftsman (IRE) colt at foot. We would dearly love to get a filly out of her so we will be trying to get her in foal again. We haven't got a filly from this family and it would be nice to get one. We do have members of different branches of this family but not this particular branch," added Till.
"She was bred by our former good neighbours Alan and Linda Jones, and is out of Jewel Box (Nassau [AUS]-Betty Box [IRE]), a full sister to their top mare Alynda (nine wins including the Group One Railway Handicap). In fact Alan used to practically ride the mares over to be served!" he quipped.
"And of course coincidently Enternal Platinum's co-trainer is Michael Hawkes and his wife Clare is Alan and Linda's daughter."
Jewel Box, the dam of Platinum Blond, won two races in Australia and left the stakes winning mare Ash Blond whose six wins include the Listed ARC Welcome Stakes. She produced five foals in total, including Gemscay, the dam of the stakes winners Penny Gem (Pentire) and Fairygem (Viscount [AUS]), and Trinket Box the dam of Analyst (Deputy Governor [GB]), a stakes winner of 12 races in Macau.
Alynda also produced eight winners including the stakes winners Alinsky, Altrista, Capestad (Kapstaad) a blood brother to Platinum Blond, and Zalinda who is the dam of the successful stallion Fast'N'Famous (Redoute's Choice [AUS]).
Alan Jones sold Platinum Blond to Windsor Park's good client Bob Cheak, who raced the top horses Silver Wraith and Silver Nymph in the late 70's and early 80's. Platinum Blond won one race, and when Cheak died Windsor Park purchased most of his mares from his estate and she was one of them.
Entirely Platinum is the 41st stakes winner by the Rich Hill Stud stallion Pentire, and she is the only stallion outside of Windsor Park that Platinum Blond has visited.
"Pentire is a stallion we have always admired, and that particular year we were looking to send one or two mares out for service. We selected her as a mare to go to Pentire. We had two or three options but we decided to send her, and she produced this magnificent colt," said Till.
"Penny Gem had some bearing on it being by Pentire from the same family and being such a good race mare. The pedigree worked well as a cross and it was a good physical mating. Also again we were looking for a filly and we would have been happy to have a Pentire filly from this family to breed on from, but that didn't transpire so we took him to Karaka."
In another ironic twist, another mare that Windsor Park sent out for service that year was Polish Princess who visited Zabeel. That mating produced a colt who was a paddock mate to Platinum Blond's foal. The pair were weaned together, and branded 51 and 52.
They were paired up as yearlings and at Karaka the Platinum Blond colt was lot 490, and the Polish Princess colt was lot 491. Lot 490 was knocked down to Hawkes Racing for $520,000 and lot 491 to the same bidder for $460,000. Both colts returned to Windsor Park for a further year and were paddock mates until they left for Australia where the latter races as Leebaz.
"Leebaz won his first race last May and since then has won four more. Since resuming in February he has won both his starts. He is a smart young galloper, they are taking him along steadily and going through the grades before throwing him into top company.
"They have purchased a lot of horses from us over the years, and we have raced horses out of their stable. They purchased her first foal Polish Knight by Encosta de Lago (AUS) for $420,000 and he won the Group Two Tulloch Stakes, and this year they took home the Rip Van Winkle colt for $200,000. So," added Till "there is plenty to keep us interested in the Sydney carnival right now."
- Michelle Saba
"It's always nice to breed a good winner over the big Aussie carnivals and following Entirely Platinum's win in the Group Three Sky High Stakes, it looks like he has a big future and I am sure the Hawkes will have some lofty targets for him," stated Windsor Park's General Manager Steve Till.
"He was a magnificent colt foal who progressed into an outstanding individual as a yearling, and I'm sure even though I haven't seen him recently, he is still a top physical specimen. The colt really was a superb individual who grew into a well-developed yearling with an excellent temperament and he did attract a lot of attention. Pentire was going well that season on both sides of the Tasman and all the stars aligned and we got $520,000 for him from the Hawkes stables who bought him for a big syndicate of owners."
In a new campaign which kicked off in Sydney over the past few weeks, Entirely Platinum has won three races. This time last year he won his first race at his third start, and was put aside. During the spring he had five starts for a win and five placings and was once again it was back to the paddock to grow.
Entirely Platinum is the eighth foal of Platinum Blond (Kapstaad – Jewel Box [AUS]) and her second stakes winner. She has also left two stakes-winning performers and three other winners. Her first foal was by Volksraad (IRE) and was the stakes winning mare Foxy Blonde who won six races including the Group Three White Robe Lodge Handicap. At stud she has left seven winners from seven to the races.
A second mating with Volksraad bred Roving Owl who won two races in Australia, and was stakes placed on two occasions, and the mare's third foal by Danske raced in New Zealand as James Blonde and ran second in the Listed Lindauer Guineas Trial before being sold to Hong Kong where he won three races as Travel Leader.
Yet another mating with Volksraad produced Stripes of Honour, a winner of four races, while two fillies, Quality Blond (Star Way [GB]) and Copper Blond (Thorn Park [AUS]), have both won races before going to stud. She has only produced one more foal since Entirely Platinum.
"Platinum Blond is a dear old girl who has a Mastercraftsman (IRE) colt at foot. We would dearly love to get a filly out of her so we will be trying to get her in foal again. We haven't got a filly from this family and it would be nice to get one. We do have members of different branches of this family but not this particular branch," added Till.
"She was bred by our former good neighbours Alan and Linda Jones, and is out of Jewel Box (Nassau [AUS]-Betty Box [IRE]), a full sister to their top mare Alynda (nine wins including the Group One Railway Handicap). In fact Alan used to practically ride the mares over to be served!" he quipped.
"And of course coincidently Enternal Platinum's co-trainer is Michael Hawkes and his wife Clare is Alan and Linda's daughter."
Jewel Box, the dam of Platinum Blond, won two races in Australia and left the stakes winning mare Ash Blond whose six wins include the Listed ARC Welcome Stakes. She produced five foals in total, including Gemscay, the dam of the stakes winners Penny Gem (Pentire) and Fairygem (Viscount [AUS]), and Trinket Box the dam of Analyst (Deputy Governor [GB]), a stakes winner of 12 races in Macau.
Alynda also produced eight winners including the stakes winners Alinsky, Altrista, Capestad (Kapstaad) a blood brother to Platinum Blond, and Zalinda who is the dam of the successful stallion Fast'N'Famous (Redoute's Choice [AUS]).
Alan Jones sold Platinum Blond to Windsor Park's good client Bob Cheak, who raced the top horses Silver Wraith and Silver Nymph in the late 70's and early 80's. Platinum Blond won one race, and when Cheak died Windsor Park purchased most of his mares from his estate and she was one of them.
Entirely Platinum is the 41st stakes winner by the Rich Hill Stud stallion Pentire, and she is the only stallion outside of Windsor Park that Platinum Blond has visited.
"Pentire is a stallion we have always admired, and that particular year we were looking to send one or two mares out for service. We selected her as a mare to go to Pentire. We had two or three options but we decided to send her, and she produced this magnificent colt," said Till.
"Penny Gem had some bearing on it being by Pentire from the same family and being such a good race mare. The pedigree worked well as a cross and it was a good physical mating. Also again we were looking for a filly and we would have been happy to have a Pentire filly from this family to breed on from, but that didn't transpire so we took him to Karaka."
In another ironic twist, another mare that Windsor Park sent out for service that year was Polish Princess who visited Zabeel. That mating produced a colt who was a paddock mate to Platinum Blond's foal. The pair were weaned together, and branded 51 and 52.
They were paired up as yearlings and at Karaka the Platinum Blond colt was lot 490, and the Polish Princess colt was lot 491. Lot 490 was knocked down to Hawkes Racing for $520,000 and lot 491 to the same bidder for $460,000. Both colts returned to Windsor Park for a further year and were paddock mates until they left for Australia where the latter races as Leebaz.
"Leebaz won his first race last May and since then has won four more. Since resuming in February he has won both his starts. He is a smart young galloper, they are taking him along steadily and going through the grades before throwing him into top company.
"They have purchased a lot of horses from us over the years, and we have raced horses out of their stable. They purchased her first foal Polish Knight by Encosta de Lago (AUS) for $420,000 and he won the Group Two Tulloch Stakes, and this year they took home the Rip Van Winkle colt for $200,000. So," added Till "there is plenty to keep us interested in the Sydney carnival right now."
- Michelle Saba
