Cambridge Stud principals Brendan and Jo Lindsay have endured a very tough and testing past few weeks with the well documented troubles with their star Roaring Lion.
They could be excused for wanting to keep their heads under the pillow but as they are tough resilient "Kiwi's", they set their alarm in the middle of the night on Saturday evening to watch a filly they bred have her second start at Deauville under the care of trainer Nicolas Clement.
The filly known as ARIKI is a 3 year old by Dark Angel out of Steer By The Stars who is a daughter of the outstanding sire and now champion broodmare sire Pivotal.
The Lindsay's are global thinkers and doing their very best to improve the standard of broodmares not only at their Cambridge Stud but also for the New Zealand breeding industry. As such they have been very active at broodmares sales internationally for the past few years. This policy looks like paying dividends for them in the form of this promising filly.
Brendan Lindsay enlisted the help of respected and astute bloodstock agent John Foote who found Steer by the Stars at the 2015 Tattersalls December Mares Sale & snapped her up for 160,000 Guineas in foal to Dark Angel. The result of that pregnancy is Ariki who they sent to Nicolas Clement to take advantage of the outstanding prizemoney France has to offer.
Ariki named after a New Zealand Maori chief or high priest, ran an encouraging fifth on debut but On Saturday night when stepping up to 1900m at Deauville ran out an eased winner by 3.5 lengths.
Trainer Nicolas Clement was so impressed with the ease of her win that he is setting Ariki towards a stakes race in September during the Deauville carnival
Steer By The Stars, dam of Ariki, is now at her new home in the lush green paddocks of Cambridge Stud. She was mated with Exceed And Excel and foaled a cracking filly that will no doubt be aimed for sales next year and is safely in foal to their resident star stallion Tavistock and has booking to the European superstar Almanzor this season.
Ariki is one of a few fillies that the Cambridge Stud principals are racing with success in France at the moment.
The timing couldn't be better as the opportunity for Australasians to diversify and invest in some new bloodlines and have some fun racing a horse in France with the lucrative prizemoney and French premiums on offer.
More info on French premiums- Click Here
This coming weekend August 17-18 sees the European sales season kick off with the Arqana yearling sale in picturesque seaside town of Deauville.
To view the Arqana August Yearling Sale catalogue – Click Here
The bloodstock world is really a small place these days as we see yearlings catalogued by Charm Spirit, Fastnet Rock, Free Eagle, Helmet, Holy Roman Emperor, Ifraaj, Lope De Vega, Olympic Glory, No No Never, Pride OF Dubai, Reliable Man, Scissor Kick, Shalaa, Starspangledbanner, Territories, Tornado & Vadamos all sires that we know well from our part of the world.
If anyone is interested in racing a horse in France as luck would have it, I'll be in attendance at the Arqana yearling sales this week and I'm only an email or phone call away.
Please feel free to get in touch with any enquiries.
Damon Gabbedy, damon@belmontbloodstock.comor +61 408 007 786