There was plenty of excitement in the Laffey household in Masterton last weekend when Who Dares Wins (Iffraaj[GB]- Wee Tipple) won the Gr.3 Coca Cola Canterbury Gold Cup.
“Very exciting man alive it was a great thrill, all my children were here watching it and the place just went off. You would think it was the Melbourne Cup,” recalled a still very excited Rosie Laffey, who bred Who Dares Wins with her mother Margaret Wallace.
“We are very excited to get that group win, it was amazing there have been plenty of listed and group placings along the way with Wee Tipple’s foals. In this game you wait and wait and then one day you get that little bit of black type and that keeps you going, and now finally we have our group winner.
“Mum and Dad would have been thrilled.”
Laffey is the lesser known of the three Wallace siblings, being the younger sister to Jim and Les, and daughter of Margaret and the late Jim Wallace Senior an esteemed Wairarapa veterinarian come stud master. Her Dad passed away in 2017, and unfortunately her mother is too ill to understand the magnitude of the win.
Who Dares Wins is a six-year-old gelding by Iffraaj(GB) out of Wee Tipple, and he was recording his eighth win when taking out the group three 2000 metre event at Riccarton. He is trained at West Melton by Tony and Lyn Prendergast who train him for a large noisy syndicate of owners. It was his fourth win at Riccarton coming on the back of his fresh up win the previous week in the Listed Christchurch Casino Easter Cup over 1600 metres.
Last season he won three races including the Gore Cup and was narrowly beaten in the 2018 running of the Gr.3 Coca Cola Canterbury Gold Cup by the multiple group winner Saint Emilion.
He is the fifth foal out of the Centaine(AUS) mare Wee Tipple, herself a daughter of the Lord Ballina(AUS) mare Lady Bubbles. Wee Tipple won three races and was placed third in the Listed Manawatu Breeders Stakes.
“She was given to Mum and I by Dad and I actually named her Wee Tipple as every night after work Dad would come in and say shall we have a wee tipple,” said Laffey who along with husband Pat is a member of the Central Branch of the NZTBA.
“She has just been a lovely mare who leaves really nice foals without leaving a world beater, and we just kept her and bred from her she’s been an amazing mare really, all her foals that have raced have been winners.
“Who Dares Wins was a big gangly horse as a yearling, he needed time and Kevin Prendegast has been patient and found the key to him. Sam Wynne absolutely loves him (she has won seven of the eight races), and it’s such a thrill for us to see him performing so well.
“Thankfully she in foal again to Iffraaj(GB), she’s getting on now and missed a couple of years. It’s amazing that she is carrying a full relation to Who Dares wins. If it’s a filly we will have to keep it, now we might be in a position where we can.”
Her best performer prior to Who Dares Wins was Mae West who Laffey raced with her mother and later sold to Australia. She won five races and was placed in the Gr.3 Anniversary Handicap at Wellington, and the Listed Wairarapa Breeders’ Stakes.
As well Wee Tipple is the dam of Flynn (One Cool Cat [USA]) who won five races, Banrock a brother to Mae West who has won four races, and The Macallan (Rock’N’Pop) who won twice in New Zealand last season before being transferred to Chris Waller’s stable.
She also has a three-year-old daughter by Reliable Man(GB) in Queensland, who has been named She Likes A Drink, and her yearling sister to Who Dares Wins was sold at Karaka this year for $85,000 to Qiji Bloodstock.
Wee Tipple’s dam Lady Bubbles won one race, she is a sister to the stakes placed winners Talk Talk, and Zilezal. The third dam Babble (by King Canary[GB] – Natter) won five races and was a half-sister to the former top South Island galloper Shudup who won 12 races including the Listed Champagne Stakes, Great Easter and Canterbury Challenge Stakes all at Riccarton.
Wee Tipple is not the only mare that the Laffeys own, they have another couple of mares as well.
“Pat and I have three mares that we are quietly playing around with trying to breed that champion, we have a couple of half-sisters to old Titch(Lord Ballina[AUS]- Our Sophie) that Dad bred and raced to win the Auckland Cup,” she explained.
“We are trying to breed through that family and hopefully try and have some success.”
The mares Super Soph (by Fast’N’Famous[AUS]), and Miss Percy (by Sir Percy[GB]) are resident at Ardsley Stud along with Wee Tipple.
Along with the Auckland Cup, Titch won 18 races, and was second in the Gr.3 New Zealand Cup and third in the Gr.3 SAJC Lord Reims Handicap. His sister Soph won 10 races and was stakes placed three times. While their half-brother Streets Away (by Street Cry [IRE]) also won 11 races and was also stakes placed numerous times.
This family was one of the most successful for Jim Wallace Senior and it produced the Forty Winks (FR) mare Kip who won the Gr.1 Australian Cup for the family. - Michelle Saba
