If you think that changing a horse's name is bad luck, then Do You Think has put paid to that theory.
The winner of the group three ATC Bailleu Stakes at Rosehill recently, Do You Think (Starcraft-Chickens) was originally named Ingham and won his first barrier trial under that moniker but subsequently his high profile owners Dato Tan Chin Nam and Tunku Ahmad Yahaya of So You Think fame changed it to Do You Think.
The Bart Cummings-trained Starcraft juvenile has now won two from two and his group three win goes some way to appeasing his connections after he was the first emergency for the group one holy grail, the Golden Slipper.
Although foaled in Australia, Do You Think was bred by the Moore family of Soliloquy Lodge in Karaka just south of Auckland, from a mare they purchased at the 2007 Magic Millions Winter Broodmare sale as part of the Starcraft promotion.
According to NZTBA Auckland Branch President David Moore, the first year that Starcraft went to stud, Paul Makin and Arrowfield Stud ran a promotion where they sent a whole bunch of mares to that stallion and sold them in foal. As part of the promotion the new owner of the mare received a free return to Starcraft.
"We purchased Chickens (Danehill-C'Yaontheotherside by Hermitage) and took advantage of the free return and left her in Australia to foal and get in foal, but then EI intervened and Do You Think ended up being born in Australia. She came home in foal to Hussonet and that foal, also a colt, sold at Karaka this summer. Now she has a Stravinsky colt at foot and is in foal to Pentire.
"We had actually tried to buy Chickens a year earlier, but couldn't compete with Paul Makin when he was out buying mares to send to Starcraft to initiate the promotion, so a year later when she came on the market we sent Steve Brem to buy her for us. The fact she was in foal to Starcraft wasn't a negative.
"She is a really nice type of mare and leaves lovely correct athletic foals. She was just the type of mare we were looking for to add to our broodmare band. She has good conformation, she was a stakes winner at two, and she is closely related to some pretty impressive racehorses.
"At the time when we purchased her, she was a three-quarter blood sister to Danendri who won over a million dollars and it takes a special horse to do that. Since then Faint Perfume has popped up in the pedigree as a multiple group one winner with winnings in excess of a million as well."
Both those horses were trained by master trainer Bart Cummings who selected Do You Think from the Haunui Farm draft of the Karaka Premier Sale in 2010, through DGR Thoroughbred Services. He paid $360,000 for the colt that David describes as the best yearling he has ever sold.
"He was a lovely yearling, really athletic with a powerful walk. We thought he would make a nice racehorse, but to see him come up so quickly is a pleasant surprise. We still have his older brother at home here in our racehorse team. He shows plenty of ability and is about a month away from trialling."
In the past five or six years Soliloquy Lodge has diversified their broodmare band which for many years consisted of mares from just that prolific winning Soliloquy line. Over the years it has produced any number of group winners including the group one winners; Soliloquy, Solvieg, Culminate, Captivate, Gallic and Eileen Dubh to name just a few.
"In a bid to produce horses that would appeal to the Australian market we have purchased a number of mares out of Australia, with Chickens providing the best result to date. I believe she is the first group winner that we have bred that isn't from the Soliloquy line. We have also purchased a mare from the wonderful Joy family tracing back to Denise's Joy. (Current racing sensation More Joyous and the boom stallion Thorn Park are both members of this family.)
"Having said that though, of the 24 mares we are currently breeding from, sixteen of them are from our original family, so I guess that means that about a third of our broodmare band is made up of new families.
"We have had two stakes winners this year. Culminate won the group two MRC Tristarc Stakes in the spring and now Do You Think. It's great that they are both in Australia - let's hope we can pick up a group one winner there as well," he added.
- Michelle Saba
The winner of the group three ATC Bailleu Stakes at Rosehill recently, Do You Think (Starcraft-Chickens) was originally named Ingham and won his first barrier trial under that moniker but subsequently his high profile owners Dato Tan Chin Nam and Tunku Ahmad Yahaya of So You Think fame changed it to Do You Think.
The Bart Cummings-trained Starcraft juvenile has now won two from two and his group three win goes some way to appeasing his connections after he was the first emergency for the group one holy grail, the Golden Slipper.
Although foaled in Australia, Do You Think was bred by the Moore family of Soliloquy Lodge in Karaka just south of Auckland, from a mare they purchased at the 2007 Magic Millions Winter Broodmare sale as part of the Starcraft promotion.
According to NZTBA Auckland Branch President David Moore, the first year that Starcraft went to stud, Paul Makin and Arrowfield Stud ran a promotion where they sent a whole bunch of mares to that stallion and sold them in foal. As part of the promotion the new owner of the mare received a free return to Starcraft.
"We purchased Chickens (Danehill-C'Yaontheotherside by Hermitage) and took advantage of the free return and left her in Australia to foal and get in foal, but then EI intervened and Do You Think ended up being born in Australia. She came home in foal to Hussonet and that foal, also a colt, sold at Karaka this summer. Now she has a Stravinsky colt at foot and is in foal to Pentire.
"We had actually tried to buy Chickens a year earlier, but couldn't compete with Paul Makin when he was out buying mares to send to Starcraft to initiate the promotion, so a year later when she came on the market we sent Steve Brem to buy her for us. The fact she was in foal to Starcraft wasn't a negative.
"She is a really nice type of mare and leaves lovely correct athletic foals. She was just the type of mare we were looking for to add to our broodmare band. She has good conformation, she was a stakes winner at two, and she is closely related to some pretty impressive racehorses.
"At the time when we purchased her, she was a three-quarter blood sister to Danendri who won over a million dollars and it takes a special horse to do that. Since then Faint Perfume has popped up in the pedigree as a multiple group one winner with winnings in excess of a million as well."
Both those horses were trained by master trainer Bart Cummings who selected Do You Think from the Haunui Farm draft of the Karaka Premier Sale in 2010, through DGR Thoroughbred Services. He paid $360,000 for the colt that David describes as the best yearling he has ever sold.
"He was a lovely yearling, really athletic with a powerful walk. We thought he would make a nice racehorse, but to see him come up so quickly is a pleasant surprise. We still have his older brother at home here in our racehorse team. He shows plenty of ability and is about a month away from trialling."
In the past five or six years Soliloquy Lodge has diversified their broodmare band which for many years consisted of mares from just that prolific winning Soliloquy line. Over the years it has produced any number of group winners including the group one winners; Soliloquy, Solvieg, Culminate, Captivate, Gallic and Eileen Dubh to name just a few.
"In a bid to produce horses that would appeal to the Australian market we have purchased a number of mares out of Australia, with Chickens providing the best result to date. I believe she is the first group winner that we have bred that isn't from the Soliloquy line. We have also purchased a mare from the wonderful Joy family tracing back to Denise's Joy. (Current racing sensation More Joyous and the boom stallion Thorn Park are both members of this family.)
"Having said that though, of the 24 mares we are currently breeding from, sixteen of them are from our original family, so I guess that means that about a third of our broodmare band is made up of new families.
"We have had two stakes winners this year. Culminate won the group two MRC Tristarc Stakes in the spring and now Do You Think. It's great that they are both in Australia - let's hope we can pick up a group one winner there as well," he added.
- Michelle Saba
