Every breeder’s dream of a Group One winner came true for Seaton Park proprietor Scott Eagleton and his partner Sarah Wallace when Molly Bloom won the Barneswood Farm New Zealand 1000 Guineas at Riccarton last Saturday.
“It’s our first Group One winner and we were unbelievably excited,” a delighted Eagleton told RaceForm earlier this week.
“Lance (O’Sullivan) and Andrew (Scott) have always had a high opinion of her, so it was great for them to finally see the best of her. She hasn’t had any luck in her races and some of it has been of her own doing, and when she didn’t jump well, I thought well, she can’t win from there. So watching her actually win was super exciting.
“It’s something you dream of and by crikey I walked the fence with nerves just because we had a runner in a Group One race. We watched the race and then it was back to work, we still have 17 or 18 mares to foal.”
The other part of this win which is particularly special to Eagleton is that the dam of Molly Bloom, the Iffraaj mare Dancilla, was basically gifted to him by good friends Alan and Colleen Jackson.
“Alan and Colleen were my first ever clients when I set up Seaton Park in 2003, so it’s great to have bred my first Group One winner from a mare who has an association with them,” said the highly experienced horseman and former NZTBA Waikato branch President.
“Nordic Dancer, the granddam of Molly Bloom, was a Generous mare raced by Alan and Colleen and when she retired as a broodmare she came to Seaton Park, so Dancilla was actually born on the farm as well.”
Dancilla returned to Seaton Park after she had won one race, and even though she had the home-farm brand, Eagleton didn’t recognise her and had to ask a staff member who she was as she had furnished into such a lovely mare.
“Shortly after when I was talking to Alan, he mentioned that he was winding down his breeding operations and didn’t know what to do with her. I expressed an interest, and he basically gifted her to me.
“I had bought a share in Ace High, as I was excited by the fact that he had won his three-year-old Group One races in the spring. A lot of High Chaparrals had won Group One races at three but mainly in the autumn, so I thought he might be more precocious. Besides, it was a good business decision as it has a great syndicate agreement.
“So that was why I sent her there, and her first foal is Molly Bloom. We took her to the Karaka sales and we were very excited when Lance bought her for $150,000.”
Dancilla’s second foal is also a filly by Ace High and is in work with Marton-based Fraser Auret. According to Eagleton she is a quite different type to Molly Bloom, however like her sibling, she may be seen out as an autumn two-year-old.
Dancilla failed to produce a foal for the next two seasons, but she has recently tested positive to Contributer.
Granddam Nordic Dancer was the winner of three races and was twice placed in the Cornwall Handicap when it was a Listed race. She left seven foals, five of which were winners, the best of them Decorah, who won the Gr. 3 City of Auckland Cup and Manawatu Breeders’ Stakes.
Third dam Danish Habit (by Danehill) won three races in Australia, but more importantly she was a half-sister to Hall of Fame galloper Rough Habit, who won the Horse of the Year award twice in the mid-1990s.
The horse known to everyone as Roughie won an amazing 29 races including 11 at Group One level, and 10 of those in Australia. His half-brother Citi Habit won six races including the Gr. 3 BTC Chairman’s Handicap and Marton JC Metric Mile. Gr. Livamol Classic winner Addictive Habit is also close up in the pedigree.
It’s 20 years this month since Eagleton established Seaton Park at Kiwitahi in north-eastern Waikato between Matamata and Morrinsville and just down the road from Rich Hill Stud. The original property was 110 acres and as the farm’s reputation grew, it expanded and in 2008 a further 100 acres was added. Seaton Park is owned in a three-way partnership with Eagleton, his stepfather Gary Thomas and his brother Alan Thomas, both of whom are accountants in Taihape.
“Broodmares are the core part of our business, and we have about 60 that live here permanently,” Eagleton explained.
“We also foal about 200 mares a year and walk out around 150, but Sarah and I only breed from three or four mares ourselves. I worked out many years ago that I had to be careful about how many and who I mate. It’s so easy to accumulate a whole bunch of horses.
“This year, along with Dancilla I am sending only two other mares to stud, and they are both going to Ace High.”
Those mares are Vicki Ann, a six-race winner who has left four-time winner Just A Tipple, and Maenoha, a half-sister to the Group Three winners Justamaix and Zabisco who has left a winner in Caledonie.
