Strawberry Hill owner John Singleton had very few reasons to regret shelling out $30,000 at the 2008 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale for a Street Cry (IRE) filly he named Tallow, but he may have a few sleepless nights after selling her for $250,000 at the National Broodmare Sale nine years later.
Tallow was a very capable performer on the track winning three of her 12 starts including the Group III VRC The Vanity and placed in the Magic Millions 3yo Trophy and Listed AJC Keith Mackay Hcp.
She was, however quite slow off the mark as a broodmare.
When Tallow was consigned to the 2017 National Broodmare Sale she had three foals of racing age but was still searching for her first winner. But she did have a rising 2yo Snitzel colt that was sold as a yearling to Jadeskye Racing/BK Racing/Gerald Ryan for $650,000.
To top it off Tallow carried a positive test to Not A Single Doubt. David Lucas outlaid $250,000 for Tallow on behalf of Phoenix Thoroughbreds.
The Snitzel colt was the Listed ATC Lonhro Plate and Listed ATC The Rosebud Stakes winner Sandbar who was runner-up in the Group II Pago Pago Stakes and Roman Consul Stakes and finished midfield in Estijaab’s Golden Slipper of 2018.
The Not A Single Doubt colt Tallow was carrying is even better.
Purchased for $550,000 in partnership by Phoenix Thoroughbreds and Aquis Farms out of the Vinery Stud draft at the 2019 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, Farnan heads to Saturday’s $3.5 million Golden Slipper at Rosehill Gardens with a favourites chance.
The son of Not A Single Doubt has one blip on the radar, a disappointing tenth in the Magic Millions 2yo Classic.
Otherwise, it has been plain sailing for the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trainee.
After opening his career with a facile win at Canberra in November, Farnan defeated the high-class Choisir filly Every Rose in the Wyong Magic Millions.
Six weeks after his disappointment at the Gold Coast, Farnan bounced back to win the Group III ATC Silver Slipper Stakes at Rosehill by three and a quarter lengths from the Breeders Plate winner Global Quest.
Farnan could not have been any more impressive in his Golden Slipper trial when downing the Blue Diamond winner Tagaloa by a length and three-quarters in the Group II ATC Todman Stakes at Randwick.
Though his immediate page is solid, Farnan has a pedigree that goes quite deep.
The fourth dam of Tallow, Salire, was a half-sister to the crack Biscay filly Lowan Star.
By the time she lined up as favourite for the 1970 Golden Slipper, Lowan Star had already made seven starts winning the Listed Debutante Stakes, Listed Byron More Stakes, Group II Bloodhorse Breeders' Plate, and Group III Reisling Slipper Trial.
Racing in the colours made famous by Kingston Town, Lowan Star was never a factor in the Slipper, finishing midfield behind Century Miss who was ridden by 18yo apprentice Wayne Harris.
Following the Golden Slipper, Lowan Star finished second to Zephyr Zip in the Group 1 AJC Sires’ Produce Stakes and third behind Charity and Mighty Kingdom in the Group 1 AJC Champagne Stakes.
If you thought Lowan Star’s 10-start juvenile season would compromise her at three you would be wrong.
She made another 15 starts at three winning the Group 1 AJC Oaks and Group 1 Queensland Oaks.
A truly beautiful black filly bred and raced by David Haines, Lowan Star never had the chance to produce her like at stud. She died of a twisted bowel.
Lowan Star’s dam was the Dormello Stud-bred Ursula Lauderdale (ITY) was a daughter of the Hornbeam stallion Claude (ITY) out of the My Babu mare Miniature Portrait whose dam Picture Gallery was a sister to the Epsom Oaks and One Thousand Guineas heroine Musidora.
Haines also imported Claude (ITY) to Australia and was rewarded with the likes of the VRC Oaks, AJC Derby and AJC Champagne Stakes heroine Rose Of Kingston and AJC Queen Elizabeth Stakes and QTC Brisbane Cup winner Chiamare.
It was left to Lowan Star’s stakes-placed half-sister Salire (Realgar) to keep the line going. And she did a mighty fine job.
Before she left for the United States where she was courted by the likes of Alydar and Miswaki, Salire was covered by arguably the best ever Golden Slipper winner, Vain, producing the good sprinter Kingston Heritage who was a 5-time stakes-winner, and his lesser performed sister Salamore who is the dam of the stakes-winners Beauty School (Royal Academy) and Petite Dane (Danehill) as well as the Palace Music mare Creola who is the granddam of Tallow.
The past few years haven’t been kind to Tallow. The daughter of Street Cry (IRE) missed to Snitzel in 2017 and to Snitzel and Sebring in 2018. She was one of 167 mares mares to visit the champion Redoute’s Choice colt The Autumn Sun in his first season at Arrowfield last spring.
Farnan has the opportunity to give Arrowfield’s pensioned Not A Single Doubt a crowning moment in a storied career that began at a fee of $13,500 and climbed to a career high $110,000 last spring.
Aquis and Phoenix go into the race with a strong hand with another ace in the high-priced Redoute’s Choice colt Prague.
Redoute’s Choice also has King's Legacy, while the current King Of Arrowfield, Snitzel, has a live chance in the Magic Millions 2yo Classic winner Away Game while the Arrowfield-bred Tagaloa (Lord Kanaloa) is also a strong contender for the leading Hunter Valley nursery.
