News

Out of the Blue

15th Nov 2010

Breednet - By Tara Madgwick - Monday, 15 November 2010

When a mare throws two Group winners at the same meeting it’s always worth investigating - especially when this mare is 21 and these are her 11th and 12th foals.

This was the scenario that unfolded at Ascot in Perth on Saturday when the full brothers God Has Spoken (pictured below www.perthracing.com.au) and Playing God took out the Group III WATC R.J. Peters Stakes and the $250,000 Group II WATC Guineas.

Bred and offered for sale by leading WA nursery Durham Lodge, the pair is by the resident sire Blackfriars from stakes-placed Rubiton mare Dolly Will Do, who was purchased from the East Coast by Durham Lodge back in 2003 from the Inglis Broodmare Sale for $24,000.

At that time, Dolly Will Do had produced a couple of minor winners for her previous owners Yarraman Park and Hilton Cope and was offered for sale in foal to Magic Albert.

She delivered a colt from that mating which was passed in when offered at the sales in Perth by Durham Lodge, but after that delivered two fillies by Scenic (IRE) and then two colts by Blackfriars that have more than recouped her modest purchase price in the sale ring.

“She’s been a terrific mare for us and why she’s suddenly produced these two really good horses so late in life is just one of those weird things that can happen in breeding,” said Jeremy Smith, General Manager at Durham Lodge.

“You would think those Scenic fillies might have done something, but one of them was absolutely hopeless, one of the slowest horses you would imagine and then along come these two colts.

“They are nothing alike either, as God Has Spoken is a big strong, powerful horse and Playing God has the height, but is quite fine and leggy... he was very immature as a youngster so there is probably plenty of upside with him as he progresses.”

Dolly Will Do is now the dam of 12 named foals, 11 of which have raced for eight winners with Playing God (pictured www.perthracing.com.au) and God Has Spoken clearly the best of them, an unusual occurrence for a mare to deliver her best progeny in the twilight of her stud career.

“She had plenty of speed and was quite a good racemare, so it’s no surprise that she would eventually produce a good horse... maybe there is something about Blackfriars that just clicked with her... who knows!” Smith said.

Mr Smith will be hoping the magic continues as Dolly Will do produced a filly foal this spring by Blackfriars ( pictured) on August 7 and is back in foal to him again.

“She’s getting on in age now so we would be tempted to keep the filly to breed on with as you wonder how many more foals she will have and we have already made the decision to keep her yearling colt by Hurricane Sky to race,” Smith added.

A Victoria Derby winning son of Danehill (USA), Blackfriars also had another winner at Ascot on Saturday giving him a treble for the day and is enjoying an outstanding season with 18 winners of more than $830,000 in prizemoney including three stakes-winners God Has Spoken and Playing God joined by Eclair Surprise, so with a service fee of $8,800 he represents great value for WA breeders.