Pencarrow have fashioned some of the best families in New Zealand over the past decade, led by group winner Romanee Conti and her Champion racemare Ethereal. The past twelve months has been another good year for this family with Pencarrow’s Supera (Savabeel) shining on the track.
Homebred racemare Supera has won seven races including the Gr.2 Travis Stakes and has been placed in the Gr.1 New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders Stakes. Pencarrow sold her half-sister Eleonora (Makfi) as a yearling for the bargain price of $60,000, and as a three year-old, she won the race named after her famous granddam Ethereal, as well as placing in the Gr.1 VRC Oaks. In the autumn, she won again at Gr.3 level. Sleeping Beauty (by Rip Van Winkle) was another repeat black type performer winning the Gr.3 ISCL Rotorua S and Listed Ultimate Ford and Mazda Tauranga Classic after earlier Gr2 placings.
Sold as a yearling by Pencarrow is promising three year-old Equinox (Exceed and Excel) who won on debut at two, and has since been stakes placed this season. They also sold group placed Arnantara, who was onsold to Singapore where he has placed in all three starts to date, and several other promising stakes placed types are among their recent graduates – Luen On Dance Kid, Smiling Pride, and Podravina.
Pencarrow Stud’s Leon Casey said, “We’ve finished the development of our farm at Matamata, and have been getting some consistent runners off that property. Supera is from the first crop raised on that farm, and we’ve had some good three year-old fillies this spring in our racing team. It’s been a mild winter with a good spring, and our yearlings are quite forward and mature, with a good mix of yearlings in the draft.”
The draft of seventeen yearlings includes thirteen colts and five fillies. Casey explained how they select which horses to sell and which to race. “A big part of our business is racing the product we breed. For every yearling we sell, we are racing one and trying to build the pedigrees. It’s all interconnected between the racing team, the farm environment, and the sales horses.
We try to sell all the colts we breed every year, either as yearlings or as two year-olds via the Ready to Run Sale, and of the fillies, we have a selection system that balances several factors. Every filly is a potential broodmare for us, however, it’s also good to get some of the fillies into a range of stables to test their pedigrees. We’ve found it is better to sell fillies regularly so buyers can see our methods openly.
The fillies who end up at the sales are those who have passed the sales criteria on type and have good x-rays and veterinary records.”
Expect to have to compete for Lot 565 because this Snitzel filly is the first foal of stakes placed winner Echezeaux, a half-sister to Champion 2YO & 3YO and Champion Sprinter and quality sire Darci Brahma, as well as group winner Burgundy, making her second dam the Oaks winner Grand Echezeaux. Another first foal is Lot 212, a Lonhro filly from Gr.2 winner Rasa Lila (Darci Brahma) who won seven races and was also twice Gr.1 placed. By All Too Hard, Lot 285 is the first foal of stakes winner Silver Eclipse, and this yearling’s first, second, third, and fourth dams are all group winners.
If you are looking for an Oaks style of filly, Lot 308 has the bloodlines to match. This filly is by Teofilo (Humidor, Palentino, Kermadec, Happy Clapper, etc) and is a half-sister to group placed winner Zasorceress, out of winning Encosta de Lago mare Star Jasmine, who happens to be a half-sister to group winner Lafleur, from the famed Eight Carat family. Another well-related filly is Lot 578, by Iffraaj, she is the second foal of winning mare Equanimity, a More than Ready daughter of Gr.1 New Zealand One Thousand Guineas winner Insouciant.
Pencarrow Stud will present twelve colts by a range of sires, including four colts by Tavistock who is best known for his Derby winners. Lot 109 is a colt from stakes winner and Gr1 VRC Oaks placed Miss Scarlatti (Stravinsky), who is a half-sister to group winner Abidewithme, out of group winner Crimson. Stakes winner Papilio (Redoute’s Choice) is one of two stakes winners for group winner Lafleur, and Papilio’s Tavistock colt is Lot 162, and his two siblings to race are both recent winners.
Bred on the Tavistock-Fastnet Rock cross is Lot 442, the second foal of stakes placed winner Assume (Fastnet Rock) who is an imported half-sister to stakes winner Sandreamer.
The only other colt by a trusted proven sire is Lot 382, a son of Pins out of winning mare Vandenne, a half-sister to Gr.1 winner Insouciant, group winner
Copper Mountain, and Gr.1 placed winner Chateauneuf Dupape.
The majority of Pencarrow Stud’s colt are by first season sires, including American Pharoah, whose first American crop includes Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner Four Wheel Drive, and his colt, Lot 189 is out of Gr.3 winner Posavina, making this yearling a half-brother to stakes placed winner Podravina (Bel Esprit).
Gr.1 winner Vadamos has two yearlings in this draft from his first Southern Hemisphere crop, including Lot 43, a half-brother to Abidewithme and Papilio, out of group winner Lafleur, while Lot 452 is a colt out of imported winning mare Barbadine, a daughter of Champion 2YO Filly in Ireland and Gr1 Curragh Phoenix Stakes winner Damson.
Flying Artie won the stallion making Gr.1 Coolmore Stud Stakes and his first crop of yearlings includes Lot 80, a colt who is the first foal of six race winner Makarska (Keeper), herself a half-sister to Australian group winner Rhythm to Spare. Speaking of stallion making races, Capitalist won the Golden Slipper and his colt, Lot 373, is out of winning Gr.1 Derby placed mare Uberalles, a daughter of Champion racemare Ethereal (dam of stakes winner Seraphim).
Turn Me Loose has his first crop of yearlings on offer, including Pencarrow Stud’s Lot 628, a colt out of winning Encosta de Lago mare Goyescas, a full sister to Gr.2 Wakeful Stakes winner Rocha, out of Gr.1 winning Danehill mare Larrocha. Group winner Rageese is represented by Lot 527, a half-brother to Bass Strait, out of a winning daughter of Gr.1 winner Clear Rose.
Astern won the Gr.1 Golden Rose, and his colt, Lot 294, is the first foal of winning High Chaparral mare Sopraffina, who is a half-sister to group winner Supera and Gr.3 Ethereal Stakes winner Eleonora, from the family of Ethereal. ✦
