It was Grand National Steeplechase day at Flemington on Saturday a day that the Hyland family will remember fondly.

Chris Hyland's maiden jumper, Personal Drum ( Personal Escort - Tympanum) shrugged off his 'maiden' jumps tag to pick up the big one when he outjumped and outstayed his rivals to win the $250,000 feature over 4500m.

Personal Drum had been a winner of three of his 96 starts prior to Saturday and produced a blinder to go one better than his second placing behind Laughing In Dubai in the Australian Steeple at Sandown on the Hillside track on June 17.

Then in the last race on the card the Cleandomain Handicap (1410m), Pat Hyland saddled up the three-year-old Align filly Diamond Masque (ex Diamond Snip by Snippets).

With a solid tempo set by Dare to Defy and Abbey back markers were given a nice easy cart into the race.  As the field rounded the home turn Dare to Defy and Abbey were looking for oxygen and the race favourite Speedy Rosa, who settled on the speed doing plenty of work stayed hard up against the rail.    Speedy Rossa kicked clear but got bogged down on the inside while Diamond Masque had made nice ground through the field out on the crown of the track.  In a great finish, Diamond Masque fought on strongly to account for Maloose (Redoute's Choice - Classic Plume by Milirtary Plume) by a neck.  Dual Command (Commands - Crazy Babe by Joindre) was the same margin away in third.

Diamond Masque enjoyed the soft ground and Pat Hyland will place her to advantage during the winter keep following her and Speedy Rossa who did plenty of work.

Another young New Zealand-based stallion whose reputation received a boost this week is the freshman sire Align who has moved into the Australian top 10, thanks to the win of Diamond Masque (ex Diamond Snip (AUS) by Snippets) at Sandown on Wednesday.  

The champion two-year-old of Australasia in 1999 has now had six individual winners from his first crop.

Promising young stallion Align was represented by his sixth individual first crop winner on Wednesday, his two-year-old daughter Mehter (ex Showzam by Khozaam) saluted in impressive style at Randwick.

A member of the Clarrie Conners stable, she was lining up for her seventh start, having always shown ability but not always enjoying the best of luck in her early races.  Stepping up to 1400m on Wednesday she proved four lengths too good for her rivals and she looks to have a bright future.

A $110,000 Magic Millions graduate, Mehter is the fifth name foal produced by the Listed winning mare Showzam – also dam of the metropolitan winners Senorita Peta and I Win – both by Senor Pete.

Hailing from an historic family, Showzam takes her name from a famous relative – her grandam being a half sister to the outstanding racehorse and stallion Showdown. Served another three times by Align since producing Mehter, Showzam is also the dam of the consistent four-year-old Petreni. He too is trained by Conners and he was a last start Canterbury third in late June.

John Hawkes has a knack of shipping his horses from state to state for the owners' benefit and on Saturday at Randwick he was at it again with Alike.

Shipping him back to Sydney after a very nice win at Sandown on the Hillside course on May 29, Alike took out the Thrifty Handicap (1300m) at Randwick on Saturday, giving the New Zealand based Align his first metropolitan winner.

Alike was forced to do a bit of work early to cross the field, slowing the tempo mid race Rod Quinn was able to give the grey a breather, and once he topped the rise in the straight, he kicked Alike away to a 1-1/2 length win over Beau Covet (Covetous - Belle Atalante by Noalcoholic) with Cresta Run (Commands - Forray by Crested Wave) a long head away in third.

Alike (ex Azarashi by Danzatore) showed he has better things in store as he broke the class record set in March 1999 by Red Hanigan, by running 1.17.43 (last 600m in 36.17).

New Zealand-based freshman sire Align has made an immediate impact on the Hong Kong racing scene.

His first runner in Hong Kong, the Casper Fownes-trained Ocean Tranquil, was an impressive winner of the Wisteria Plate at Sha Tin racecourse on Sunday.

Ocean Tranquil, who was bred by Hamilton's Highview Stud, was ridden by expatriate New Zealand jockey Shane Dye, covered the 1000m distance in 57.08s. With a winning margin of three-quarters-of-a-length.

Ocean Tranquil is out of Crystal Jet (by Clay Hero), also the dam of the well-performed Cheerful Fortune (Kashani), winner of five races in Hong Kong with more than $HK4 million in stakes, collecting valuable black type for his dam with a second placing in the International Sprint Trial and a victory in the Chief Executive's Cup.

Crystal Jet foaled a brown colt by Kashani last year and is currently back in foal to Align. 

After a successful Karaka 2004 sales series, a fee increase has been announced today for New Zealand-owned first-season sire, Align.

Studmaster Brent Gillovic said Align will stand at a fee of $8000 this year – up from $6500 in his first three seasons at stud – at Highview Stud, near Hamilton.

“We certainly could have been justified in announcing a higher fee given the wonderful results he achieved at the sales but we want to guarantee the New Zealand broodmare owner the chance of making a decent profit,” Gillovic said.

“There is no doubt that of the New Zealand-owned first-season sires Align was the major success story of the Karaka sales this year,” Gillovic said. “There were some great returns for those breeders who supported him.”

Align’s was the leading first-season sire of the Select and Festival Sales at Karaka last week.

In the Select Sale Align’s yearlings averaged $41,059 with a top price of $90,000. He was the third leading sire overall in this sale.

In the Festival Sale Align’s yearlings averaged $21,500 with a top price of $30,000. He was second leading sire overall of this sale.

Align was also very popular in the Karaka Premier Sale where his seven yearlings sold at an average price of $87,000 which represented 13 times more than his service fee.

The highest price of the sales series for Align came when Melbourne owner Bill Frost paid $160,000 for a filly from Diamond Snip sold by Highview Stud. This filly will be trained by Pat Hyland in Victoria.

Before the Karaka sales demand for Align’s yearling had been high. One of his yearlings had been sold privately for an amount in excess of $100,000 while the ex Showzam filly fetched $A110,000 at the Magic Millions Yearling Sale on the Gold Coast.

“The competition for Align’s yearlings from the start to the finish of the Karaka sales was very strong,” Gillovic said.

“Align threw a magnificent line of horses – good looking types like himself with excellent conformation,” he said.

"Buyers recognised them as the type of horse who will give them a quick return on their investment and that is what the market demands these days,” Gillovic said.

“He was very popular with buyers on both sides of the Tasman, in particular trainers who recognised what a high-class two-year-old Align was on the racetrack,” Gillovic said. “Without exception every Australian trainer who came up to me at the sales said the horse should have won the Golden Slipper and it was only the wide draw that beat him,” Gillovic said.

The list of buyers who signed for Align yearlings at Karaka included Graeme Rogerson, David Ellis (Te Akau Stud), Paul Moroney, Stu Munro (Cambridge), Aquanita Racing, John Chalmers, Richard Collett, Graeme Sanders, Lisa Latta, Dean Howard, Stuart Hale, Peter Hurdle, Graham Richardson and Frank Ritchie.

Trans-tasman trainer Graeme Rogerson said Align was the stand-out of the first-season sires on offer at Karaka this year. He purchased four yearlings by him.

“Last year I selected Redoute’s Choice, Stravinsky, Cape Cross and Pins as my pick of the new sires and I’ve had a good horse by every one of them in the stable this season,” Rogerson said.

“Align’s yearlings look to me if they will run early as two-year-olds and of the first-season sires he’s my pick this year,” Rogerson said.

Respected Matamata bloodstock consultant Paul Moroney bought three yearlings by Align and said they were all “get up and run” types. “They were all clean and correct and he (Align) has thrown a nice line of horses.”