The Toorak Handicap-Gr.1 winner Allez Wonder will be out to create some unique family history if she wins the 2009 Melbourne Cup as the Bart Cummings-trained four-year-old daughter of Redoute’s Choice has the 1945 Melbourne Cup winner Rainbird as her sixth dam.
Rainbird’s dam Sequoia (Heroic) also produced the 1944 Melbourne Cup runner-up Peter, a gelding by dual Melbourne Cup winner Peter Pan.
Rainbird, a daughter of The Buzzard (GB) and the second of his Cup winners after the 100/1 shot Old Rowley (1940), was described in the 1945 edition of the Bloodstock Breeders’ Review as “not very big, but built along sturdy lines” and she ran 3:24.25 to win the Cup by 2-1/2 lengths from Silver Link and Leonard, with Russia fifth and Flight unplaced in a field of 26. First prize was £10,000 ($20,000) and a Gold Cup valued at £200. Rainbird, who started at 12/1 after finishing second in the Caulfield Cup and unplaced on unsuitable heavy ground in the Moonee Valley Cup in her two lead-up races, was bred by Malcolm Reid in Victoria and sold to his South Australian-based brother Mr. C. A. Reid. Her win was watched by 105,000 and held on the traditional first Tuesday in November for the first time since 1941.   Unlike some female Melbourne Cup winners, she proved a successful producer and her family today is still a strong one. Descendants include former leading NZ sire Centaine, Silver Slipper winner Been There and grand producer Tennessee Vain.

Allez Wonder descends from Rainbird via that mare’s SA Oaks winner Raindear, a daughter of the speedy Orgoglio (GB), while Allez Wonder’s fourth dam, the Edward Manifold Stakes winner and VRC Oaks third Rainburst, is by Latin Lover (GB) (sire of dual Melbourne Cup winner Rain Lover). Allez Wonder’s dam Luna Tudor (Military Plume (NZ) inherited the family’s staying prowess as she won the Perth Cup-Gr.2 (3200m). Second dam Moon Storm (Jungle Boy (GB)) won to 1400m and produced the WA Oaks third Yasmin Tudor (Polish Patriot (USA)), while third dam, the unraced Clouded is by Selhurst (GB), a Gr.2-winning stayer by the English Derby winner Charlottesville and a half-brother to the English Derby winner Royal Palace.
Allez Wonder, who was eighth in the Caulfield Cup behind stablemates Viewed and Roman Emperor and will carry just 50.5kg in the Cup, has a 5mx6m cross of Ribot and a 5fx4m cross of Sir Ivor. While her sire only won up to 1600m he has produced Derby and Oaks winners and with Allez Wonder may just be in line for his first Melbourne Cup heroine.  The mare cost Bart Cummings $600,000 as a yearling at the NZ Premier Sale in 2007 and although the 81-year-old was just a teenager when Rainbird won the Cup for his home state more than 60 years ago, perhaps he saw a chance for lightning to strike twice over the 3200m at Flemington when this particular yearling filly entered the ring. For while some of us never forget a face, there’s no doubt Bart, aiming to win his 13th Melbourne Cup in 2009, never forgets a horse.

Melbourne Cup History

Tags: Group I, Melbourne Cup, VRC
Permalink| Oct 29, 2009

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