Photo: Kenton Wright (Race Images)
Leading thoroughbred nursery Rich Hill Stud has enjoyed a strong run of success this season, which was further enhanced at Ellerslie on Saturday when Lupo Solitario (Satono Aladdin) took out the Gr.3 Easter Handicap (1600m).
Bred by John Thompson and Alan Galbraith’s Rich Hill Thoroughbreds Ltd, Lupo Solitario is by the farm’s shuttle stallion Satono Aladdin and out of Pentire mare She’s Aloof, who Rich Hill bred in a foal sharing deal with White Robe Lodge’s Wayne and Karen Stewart.
“It is a really good Waikato Stud family and Wayne and Karen approached me and wanted to do a foal for foal with Pentire with the mare (She’s Snubbed),” Rich Hill Stud principal John Thompson said.
“The mother has got a good pedigree, she was an O’Reilly mare, and she is the dam of the South Island Filly of the Year Include.
“I agreed and it worked out well, they got a colt and we got a filly, which was She’s Aloof, the dam of Lupo Solitario.
“She showed a bit of ability but unfortunately had some soundness issues so she went to the broodmare paddock and she has produced a really nice horse.”
Thompson said Lupo Solitario was an impressive yearling and offered him through his farm’s draft at the 2022 New Zealand Bloodstock Book 2 Yearling Sale where he was purchased by Leighton Howl for $82,500.
“He was very much a quality yearling,” Thompson said. “We had a couple of nice Satono Aladdin colts in that draft, and one was Lantern Way and another was Lupo Solitario. Leighton came back several times and looked at both of them trying to decide between the two and they both went on and won Group races as three-year-olds.”
Lupo Solitario was entrusted to the care of Matamata trainer Danica Guy and he was a standout on the track as a three-year-old, winning his first two starts before finishing runner-up to Crocetti in the Gr.2 James And Annie Sarten Memorial (1400m), and then won the Gr.3 Bonecrusher Stakes (1400m).
He was subsequently sold to Hong Kong where he had seven starts, but his confidence was knocked following a race fall early last year, and following several subpar showings the decision was made to send him back to Guy in New Zealand.
Guy has taken a patient approach with his return and she has been rewarded with back-to-back victories, culminating in his Group Three triumph.
“He was an extremely talented three-year-old and he did beat Orchestral in the Bonecrusher Stakes,” Thompson said. “As a result of that he got sold to Hong Kong, which always has its ups and downs, and I was watching him race up there. They set him on a Derby path and he was shaping up okay and then he had a fall which affected the horse’s confidence, so they made the decision to send him back to New Zealand.
“With a few trials and a bit of rehabilitation he has come back to form, which is fantastic.”
While Rich Hill sadly lost his dam last year, Thompson said he has a couple of his siblings to continue the bloodline.
“She (She’s Aloof) didn’t have the best feet in the world and she got laminitis and we made the sad decision to euthanise her because she was suffering,” Thompson said.
“We sold a Proisir filly, Miss Airlie, out of her that the TAB Racing Club bought and we ended up purchasing her back. She is currently in foal to Satono Aladdin which is good.
“Another Proisir filly in Nonchalance was bought by Te Akau and she trialled quite nicely recently. We retained a small share in her too because we liked her.”
Rich Hill has also retained a yearling full-sister to Lupo Solitario.
While rapt with Lupo Solitario’s return to Group-winning form, Thompson’s biggest highlight of late was when homebred mare She’s A Dealer won last month’s Gr.1 New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes (1600m) at Trentham, which was Thompson’s first elite-level win as an owner.
“We have bred and sold plenty of Group One winners over the years but the thrill of owning your own one certainly surpasses all of that,” Thompson said.
Following that win, the decision was made to test her talent in Australia and trainers Roger James and Robert Wellwood flew her over to Sydney last week where she contested the Gr.3 JRA Cup (2000m) at Randwick and finished fifth.
“She was really on the pace the whole way and it was a massive run,” Thompson said. “To get the 2000m in that sort of company she would be better ridden back a bit, but that was a decision we made at the time and you have got to stand by it, hindsight is a great thing in our game.
“She came through the run really well and I believe she is going to be flying back later today and then she will go for a break and we will be looking forward to the spring with her.”
