Date posted January 6, 2010 | Posted by David Bay | Filed under
Racing and Breeding,
Staff FavouritesLaguna - NSW (Jan 6th, 2010) - Wandering Star, an easy Gold Coast winner on New Year’s Day carries an interesting 4mx5f double cross of the broodmare Cosmah via a son Halo and a daughter Queen Sucree. Australian breeders are more used to seeing inbreeding to Cosmah’s half-sister Natalma. After all, she is the dam of Northern Dancer and third dam of Danehill, but Cosmah (Cosmic Bomb-Almahmoud by Mahmoud), dam of Halo, is becoming a bit easier to find in local pedigrees thanks to horses like More Than Ready (a grandson of Halo) and others by his sire Southern Halo and via the sons of Sunday Silence (a Kentucky Derby winner by Halo) who stood here, horses like Fuji Kiseki, Tayasu Tsuyoshi and Genuine.
Red Dazzler makes his debut at the Magic Millions sale with 15 yearlings
With a second and a win from just two starts, Wandering Star would have been a bargain buy for someone at the 2009 Magic Millions Gold Coast Sale as she was passed in for $16,000 on a reserve of just $25,000. She gets her double of Cosmah from her sire, the short-lived Star Cross (ARG), who stood just two seasons at Baerami Thoroughbreds in NSW before moving to WA, where he died after covering just one mare. Star Cross (Southern Halo-Other Star by Logical) was a Gr.2-winning miler in the US and was also runner-up in Argentina’s Gran Premio Estrellas Sprint-Gr.1 (1000m) at that country’s equivalent of the Breeders’ Cup. He was also Gr.1 placed at 1600m and 2000m in Argentina and is a brother to the Gr.1 winner Venusino. Southern Halo, sire of 56 Gr.1 winners, is by Halo and from Northern Sea by Northern Dancer and carries the half-sisters Cosmah and Natalma (Native Dancer) 2×3.
Wandering Star’s city-winning dam Winning Walk, is a daughter of AJC Derby hero Naturalism and the NZ Gr.1 winner Lady Agnes, also winner of the Adrian Knox Stakes-Gr.3 at Randwick and third in the AJC Oaks-Gr.1. Lady Agnes is a daughter of superbly bred former NZ-based sire Gleam Machine (Seattle Slew-Queen Sucree by Ribot), whose second dam is Cosmah.
Offered by Furlong Stud, Wandering Star has a half-sister by Eureka Stud’s Gr.1-winning Red Ransom son Red Dazzler in the strong Furlong Stud draft at this year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale and she is sure to be keenly inspected if her half-sister performs to expectations at the $4.6m Magic Millions race day on Saturday. Winning Walk is also the dam of the city winner Upyonder and he is a three-quarter brother to Wandering Star as he is by More Than Ready and carries the same Cosmah double.
In addition to the double of Cosmah, Wandering Star also has her dam Almahmoud 5f,6fx7f,6f; Turn-to 5mx6f; Northern Dancer (4fx5m); Bold Ruler 6fx5m and Princequillo 6mx6m, while her dam carries three lines of Star Kingdom via Biscay, Ritmar and Shifnal, all in the fifth remove and is a descendant of famed NZ broodmare Eulogy.
Buyers looking for a potential winner from the Southern Halo line at the 2010 sale should inspect the two first crop youngsters by Kooringal Stud’s Gr.1-winning two-year-old Alert (ARG) (Southern Halo- Augustina’s Dream by Senor Pete), they are Lot 263 (Murulla Stud), a bay filly from Granny Apple (Bluebird) and therefore a half-sister to Gr.1 winner Russeting (Commands). This yearling’s third dam is Blue Diamond Stakes winner Forina (grandam of Schillaci) and Lot 442 (Murulla) a bay filly from Octamistic (Octagonal), whose dam is a half-sister to Gr.1 winner Sun Classique (Fuji Kiseki) and whose third dam is the South Australian Oaks-Gr.1 winner Gamine.
There is also a big contingent of yearlings on offer by outstanding sire More Than Ready, (and one from his son Benicio). More Than Ready, sire of the 2009 and 2008 Golden Slipper winners Phelan Ready and Sebring, who were both offered at this sale and made $150,000 and $130,000 respectively, has 34 yearlings catalogued and no doubt many buyers will be hoping this Gr.1 winner by Southern Halo can produce a hat-trick of Slipper winners from this Gold Coast auction.
