She never reached the giddy heights of Bob Emery's glamour mare
Champagne, but the Cambridge breeder has spoken glowingly of Charmont in
announcing her retirement.
"She won a Group One and I've only ever had two Group One winners so she's
pretty special to me," Emery said.
"She's a six-year-old mare now and she's got the pedigree so it makes
sense she now becomes a broodmare."
By High Chaparral out of Champagne's Danehill daughter Martique, Charmont ends
her career as a winner of four of her 25 starts, highlighted by her Gr.1 New
Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders' Stakes (1600m) success at Te Rapa in April.
Trained by Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman at Cambridge, Charmont was either a
stakes winner or stakes placed on eight further occasions, finishing third in
the 2015 Gr.1 New Zealand Oaks (2400m) at Trentham.
"On occasions I had to scratch my head with her. She was always capable of
putting good ones in, but she was also capable of putting in an ordinary
one," Emery said.
"When you look at her three-year-old career, she got an enormous amount of
black-type but all placings. It was really great in the end that she could top
that off with a Group One win and that's made her really."
After assessing all possible suitors, Emery has settled on Victorian stallion
Written Tycoon, by Iglesia, as Charmont's first mating.
"She's got Danehill blood in her and I don't go for in-breeding, even
though for her she's got Danehill on her female side and a mating with a
Danehill blood stallion would be sex-balanced," Emery said.
"But I thought first-up with her, I would try and avoid Danehill
altogether. It's very hard to find a stallion with no Danehil, but that's why
we've gone with Written Tycoon, though on type I think he'll suit her
too." - NZ Racing Desk.