$10,000 Inglis Digital Purchase Delivers Oaks Contender Scarlet Oak

Media Release - Monday May 27

A nightmare start for the Smithies family with Tactless’ breeding career has turned full circle following the emergence of high-class filly Scarlet Oak.

Under their Monovale Holdings banner, they purchased the well-related broodmare in foal to Kermadec at the Inglis Digital Sale in 2020 and the result of that mating was Saturday’s impressive Gr.2 The Roses (2000m) winner.

Scarlet Oaks wins the G2 Doomben Roses - image Grant Courtney

Scarlet Oak’s progress has provided significant compensation for an early setback following the loss of the mare’s next foal by Street Boss.

“That was so heart breaking, he was a belting colt and one of our stand outs,” Max Smithies said.

“He had an x-ray issue that we unfortunately couldn’t get right, he had a serious infection as a foal in his hock.

“It was a big loss, but she’s got a nice Contributer yearling that we’ll be looking to sell and has a weanling colt by Tarzino.”

Advertisement

Tactless is now in foal to Deep Impact’s Group One-winning son Profondo and breeding plans for later this year will be firmed up after Scarlet Oak runs in the upcoming Gr.1 Queensland Oaks (2200m).

“We’re still working out where the mare will go this year. We’ll wait and see what happens in two weeks before we make a decision on that,” Smithies said.

A daughter of Commands, Tactless is a half-sister to the Gr.1 Spring Champion Stakes (2000m) winner and sire Complacent and was secured by Monovale for A$10,000 from a Godolphin draft offered on Inglis Digital.

“We liked the pedigree and always liked Kermadec so we thought she was pretty good buying,” Smithies said.

“We liked the look of her from all the photos and spoke to the vendor, so we got a good feel for her.

“We thought she was relatively cheap to access a good pedigree like that.”

Scarlet Oak was originally destined to be sold at New Zealand Bloodstock’s National Yearling Sale but luck of the draw, or bad luck in this case, resulted in her being withdrawn.

“What happened was that she was prepped really well by Ross MacKay of Leanach Lodge and she was Lot 1 at Karaka,” Smithies said.

“We felt that she wouldn’t get what she deserved, we always really liked her and based on that we were happy to push on and take her to the next stage.

“It’s okay if you’re Lot 1 with a really big hitter, but when it’s a middle market horse it can be a bit risky to be right at the start of the sale and we thought she was better than that.”

Scarlet Oak was subsequently placed with trainers Ken and Bev Kelso and following a debut victory at Matama in March was sold to clients of Chris Waller’s stable.

“There are so many what ifs in racing, but we’re in the business of breeding and selling horses and we hope that they can go on and perform at the elite level,” Smithies said.

“She’s ticking all the right boxes, so we’ve certainly got no hard feelings and hope she goes right on with it, that’s for sure.”

Scarlet Oak has won two of her three Australian starts and finished runner-up in the Gr.3 James Carr Stakes (1400m). She currently heads the Queensland Oaks market as a $3.20 favourite. – LOVERACING.NZ News Desk

 

Advertisment
More Reading...
Sires With Winners - Monday February 24
Here is the full list of 16 stallions which had winners throughout Australasia today with winners and result details.
World First G1 Success for Rachel King in Japan
Leading Australian jockey Rachel King is no stranger to Group I success, but achieved a first in Japan on Sunday in becoming the first woman to ride a G1 winner on the JRA circuit when steering Costa Nova to victory in the February Stakes (1600m) on the dirt.
Trelawney Stud Excited to Offer Shanwah Half-Brother at Inglis Easter
Shanwah’s victory in the Gr.2 Autumn Classic (1800m) at Caulfield on Saturday was timely for his breeder’s Trelawney Stud, who are set to offer his half-brother at Inglis’ Australian Easter Yearling Sale in April.
Sires With Winners - Sunday February 23
Here is the full list of 73 stallions which had winners throughout Australasia today with winners and result details.
G1 Bonecrusher Stakes Next for Orchestral
Cambridge trainers Roger James and Robert Wellwood will head into next week’s Champions Day at Ellerslie with a trio of leading chances, with all three pleasing in their final hit-outs at the Auckland track on Saturday.
Kermadec Filly Scarlet Oak Triumphs in GrII The Roses
The progressive 3-year-old Kermadec filly Scarlet Oak continued her meteoric rise when winning Saturday’s Group II ANZ Bloodstock News The Roses (2000m) at Doomben.
How Do You Measure Success?
There are a lot of ways to measure the success of a stallion, but for elite breeders looking to produce serious racehorses it’s all about Black Type horses and this young stallion has really spread his wings.
One to Watch – Grafton
Kooringal Stud’s bargain blueblood sire Sandbar has been the most searched stallion on Breednet this year through hypothetical matings and that’s thanks to his unbeaten super exciting 2YO Shaggy and at Grafton on Monday he produced another scintillating debut winner.
Best On Breeding
Of all the various incarnations of The Oaks run around Australia, the Queensland Oaks stands tall as the race for future stars, think Winx, and the Classic that has spawned some outstanding broodmares, think Denise’s Joy and her daughter Joie Denise.
A Torryburn Gasp Before their Plain Bay Fellow Wins G1 No 4
The Torryburn stud team, watching as they always do when their ‘plain bay fellow’ races, would have had a gasp or two mid race but it ended up as easy as it comes with Voyage Bubble making it three Group I wins from his last three starts in the Hong Kong Gold Cup at Sha Tin on Sunday.