If it wasn't for watching a maiden race at Te Rapa this year Matamata breeder Peter Setchell wouldn't still have the dam of Queensland Oaks winner Eskimo Queen.
Cold Type was catalogued to be sold at the broodmare sale this year but was withdrawn after Setchell watched the Shinko King filly he bred and sold as a weanling in 2004 for $2500 to Belane Stables of Waiuku (she was sold at the Festival Sale a year later for $10,000) racing at Te Rapa on March 13.
"I had been looking to sell a lot of my mares because they aren't really profitable. A lot are having progeny sold at Festival Sale level and they aren't making money, and I did sell nine at the broodmare sale this year," he said.
"But when I saw Eskimo Queen at Te Rapa I was really taken. She settled last in that race but she produced an amazing sprint to win that day.
"Once I saw that race I decided to keep Cold Type myself. She showed a sprint that only a really good horse has and I thought it would be better to keep her.
"When she came second at her next start I joked among my friends how it might be nice if she ended up winning the Oaks. It was a great thrill when she pulled it off."
Setchell is a little reluctant to take much credit for breeding Eskimo Queen. He bought Cold Type from the Lewis family of Northland when she was carrying the Oaks winner, and thus didn't arrange the mating to the underrated Shinko King.
"I was really just looking for a winning mare who I thought would go well with my sire Sandtrap," Setchell said.
"I also liked the progeny of her sire Icelandic. His yearlings were very lean and so they didn't sell that well but they could run and I thought she would be a good fit for Sandtrap."
The man whose Millfield Farm bred such New Zealand thoroughbred luminaries as Red Anchor, Oopik and Final Destination is clearly underrating his contribution in foaling and rearing Eskimo Queen, and his canniness in buying the mare.
Cold Type's pedigree is not stacked with black type close up. Her dam Kylie Belle, by Bolak, left five winners from seven named foals but none attained black type status.
Her second dam Bourbon Belle, by Bourbon Prince, left four winners from 11 foals, but her most notable contribution to the breed came through her daughter Princess Belle, a winner of two races whose progeny included Krispin Klear, a listed winner who was twice placed in group one sprints in New Zealand.
One generation back, however, is Belle Helene, a five times winner who is a half-sister to four black type performers and four dams of black type performers. As the name suggests, she is a member of Jim and Annie Sarten's famous Belle family, one of the outstanding families of the New Zealand stud book in the second half of the 20th century.
Cold Type was bred by the estate of Jim Sarten before being sold to the Lewis family. Her first foal Triple Wonder, a 1999 brother to Eskimo Queen, was a brother to Eskimo Queen and was a winner in Singapore. However, in the next three years she missed twice and had a foal die before being sold to Setchell.
This year's broodmare sale was the second time Cold Type was put up for sale by Setchell. She went through the sale ring at the NZ Bloodstock mixed sale in 2004 in foal to Sandtrap but bidding only made it to $1750, short of the modest reserve of $3000.
As planned, Setchell did put Cold Type to Sandtrap after she foaled Eskimo Queen, twice in the next two years. She then went to Silver River, an unraced half-brother to Final Destination by Centaine, and the fact she had a December foal means she is empty this year.
The fact that Cold Type has now produced an Australian group one winner has made her much more commercial but Setchell says he's now likely to send her back to Shinko King rather than a higher-priced stallion.
"If anything I don't usually breed up-market," Setchell said. "I've taken mares that have got me good horses by less commercial sires in the past to higher-end sires and lost badly in the past. I tend to learn from what's happened to me before, and I'd like to think a brother or sister to Eskimo Queen would be valuable."
- Alastair Bull
Cold Type was catalogued to be sold at the broodmare sale this year but was withdrawn after Setchell watched the Shinko King filly he bred and sold as a weanling in 2004 for $2500 to Belane Stables of Waiuku (she was sold at the Festival Sale a year later for $10,000) racing at Te Rapa on March 13.
"I had been looking to sell a lot of my mares because they aren't really profitable. A lot are having progeny sold at Festival Sale level and they aren't making money, and I did sell nine at the broodmare sale this year," he said.
"But when I saw Eskimo Queen at Te Rapa I was really taken. She settled last in that race but she produced an amazing sprint to win that day.
"Once I saw that race I decided to keep Cold Type myself. She showed a sprint that only a really good horse has and I thought it would be better to keep her.
"When she came second at her next start I joked among my friends how it might be nice if she ended up winning the Oaks. It was a great thrill when she pulled it off."
Setchell is a little reluctant to take much credit for breeding Eskimo Queen. He bought Cold Type from the Lewis family of Northland when she was carrying the Oaks winner, and thus didn't arrange the mating to the underrated Shinko King.
"I was really just looking for a winning mare who I thought would go well with my sire Sandtrap," Setchell said.
"I also liked the progeny of her sire Icelandic. His yearlings were very lean and so they didn't sell that well but they could run and I thought she would be a good fit for Sandtrap."
The man whose Millfield Farm bred such New Zealand thoroughbred luminaries as Red Anchor, Oopik and Final Destination is clearly underrating his contribution in foaling and rearing Eskimo Queen, and his canniness in buying the mare.
Cold Type's pedigree is not stacked with black type close up. Her dam Kylie Belle, by Bolak, left five winners from seven named foals but none attained black type status.
Her second dam Bourbon Belle, by Bourbon Prince, left four winners from 11 foals, but her most notable contribution to the breed came through her daughter Princess Belle, a winner of two races whose progeny included Krispin Klear, a listed winner who was twice placed in group one sprints in New Zealand.
One generation back, however, is Belle Helene, a five times winner who is a half-sister to four black type performers and four dams of black type performers. As the name suggests, she is a member of Jim and Annie Sarten's famous Belle family, one of the outstanding families of the New Zealand stud book in the second half of the 20th century.
Cold Type was bred by the estate of Jim Sarten before being sold to the Lewis family. Her first foal Triple Wonder, a 1999 brother to Eskimo Queen, was a brother to Eskimo Queen and was a winner in Singapore. However, in the next three years she missed twice and had a foal die before being sold to Setchell.
This year's broodmare sale was the second time Cold Type was put up for sale by Setchell. She went through the sale ring at the NZ Bloodstock mixed sale in 2004 in foal to Sandtrap but bidding only made it to $1750, short of the modest reserve of $3000.
As planned, Setchell did put Cold Type to Sandtrap after she foaled Eskimo Queen, twice in the next two years. She then went to Silver River, an unraced half-brother to Final Destination by Centaine, and the fact she had a December foal means she is empty this year.
The fact that Cold Type has now produced an Australian group one winner has made her much more commercial but Setchell says he's now likely to send her back to Shinko King rather than a higher-priced stallion.
"If anything I don't usually breed up-market," Setchell said. "I've taken mares that have got me good horses by less commercial sires in the past to higher-end sires and lost badly in the past. I tend to learn from what's happened to me before, and I'd like to think a brother or sister to Eskimo Queen would be valuable."
- Alastair Bull
