We have been back in lockdown here in Victoria. Lockdown 5.0 to be precise and as a result it made us go back to feeling like sad sacks. After having seen off Lockdown 4.0 a teeny tiny bit triumphantly, where we saw off both Delta and Kappa variants (evil beasts that they are - curse you stinky COVID - curse you), we had literally only just gotten back to work before being very suddenly plunged back into Lockdown 5.0 after the visit of those very nice removalists. 'Thanks very much!!!!' we all shouted indignantly!!!!
A key difference with Lockdown 5.0 was that half the country also into lockdown at the same time which made us feel slightly less sad. The Victorian Government doesn't muck about anymore when it comes to outbreaks. Their reaction is swift and severe and not at all namby pamby. I just wish the same logic would be applied to Sydney which continues to deteriorate, much to my dismay. This week we took our first tentative steps out of Lockdown 5.0, hurrah for us.
So, finding ourselves once again restricted to a 5km radius, in an effort to use Lockdown time constructively, I got serious on my website, migrating it from the old domain to the new site which was long overdue which also prompted me to recommence my Blog. I also did slightly more boring tasks like getting a tax return done and some book work (yawn).
The other task I picked up again was my film archive which library covers the 1993-2006 period. The majority of it remains undigitised and parts of the collection were disorganised because it’s a time consuming job, so when you are subject to consecutive Stay-At-Home Orders it’s not a bad project to get stuck in to. I used to be so regimented with my negative sleeving, labelling and scanning, but I really struggled to keep up with it after I had kids in 2001.
It got me thinking about various thoroughbred dynasties that existed over the years. One of the things I love about my work is being able to visually document families and bloodlines over the years. The other thing I love is the mystery factor of any image because I repeatedly discover years later a colt or filly can be responsible for a champion racehorse/broodmare/stallions.
The names that once proliferated pedigrees have changed, which is part and parcel of bloodlines as they evolve. Because I’m trying to be thorough and it is pragmatic to recognise that one day somebody other than myself might have to make sense of my library, I've printed out race results and dipped in and out of the Stud Book to cross check pedigrees, race records, offspring etc. While I have all my facebooks, they are in boxes, and Racing Australia and Australian Stud Book websites are absolutely invaluable. It is fabulous to have these resources at our fingertips!
In the early years of my photographic career, one of the really high profile broodmares was EIGHT CARAT (GB) by PIECES OF EIGHT x KLAIRESSA). She was owned by Sir Patrick Hogan at Cambridge Stud. She’s probably most famous as the dam of OCTAGONAL who between 1995 to 1997 became of a cult hero, and the grand dam of his son LONHRO who also became a cult hero.
Eight Carat was a half sister to the champion English racemare HABIBTI (1980 - sired by Habitat) who won the Lowther Stakes, the Moyglare Stud Stakes, July Cup, Sprint Championship, Prix de l'Abbaye and the Kings Stand Stakes (British Horse of the Year in 1983, Timeform rating 136). Eight Carat was un-raced, but while her illustrious half sister Habibti was so brilliant on track she was disappointing at stud. Meanwhile Eight Carat was imported to New Zealand and began forged an enduring legacy here in the Southern Hemisphere. She is responsible for 5 individual stakes winning sons and daughters, who between them won 28 stakes races, and it has been an incredibly prolific family.
The bloodline is responsible for a raft of G1 winners from 1987 all the way through until 2021, with the bloodline having seen a resurgence in recent years through WFA stars VIDDORA, SHOOTING TO WIN, PORTLAND SKY and VERRY ELLEEGANT.
Strangely enough I only became aware of this connection when I started researching the family in the last week. I must have had my head buried under a rock or something because I am normally right on to these sorts of connections!! I knew about the old stars of the family obviously but I hadn’t loooked far enough back in the pedigree of either Verry Elleegant or Viddora because unless you know the lineage of the daughters of Eight Carat the Stud Book pedigree doesn’t go far enough back to pick it up on first glance. I only stumbled across it after spending hours on the Stud Book (ok, so I am in Lockdown, it’s winter and has been raining almost constantly, RVL stood down again and seriously I have had nothing better to do…..). The discoveries caused me to go around the house proclaiming loudly ‘oh goodness’ and waving around printed out pedigrees and making everyone in the house hear all about it. My children’s eyes glazed over in about 30 seconds and I am sure I detected eye rolling. After this we then discovered a few articles on Verry Elleegant which has helped me fill in a few blanks.
Eight Carat died at home at Cambridge Stud in New Zealand in 2000 at the age of 25 and is buried next to Sir Tristram. Below is a summary, as best I can, of Eight Carat's enduring legacy, and the images I have on file of her various offspring and descendants.
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| Eight Carat’s most famous child, the great OCTAGONAL |
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| ZABEEL (Sir Tristram x Lady Giselle). A beautiful mix for Eight Carat. |
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| DANEHILL (Danzig x Razyana) whose blood worked so well with Eight Carat |
COTEHELE HOUSE (My Swanee - 1980)
Eight Carat's first foal was the un-raced COTEHELE HOUSE and she created a very significant branch of the Eight Carat line and has surely earned the honour of being Eight Carat's best daughter. Furthermore, her lineage has had a significant boost in the last two racing seasons, including one absolute rags to riches story, which is a little bit fantastic. Read on below for more! Her legacy is as follows:
- CHALET GIRL (Imposing - 1985): Ok, so this is super exciting and is something I only discovered when I started writing this piece... Chalet Girl was Cotehele House's first foal and the chestnut filly was un-raced. From what I can gather from the Australian Stud book, nothing much of note came from her first six foals. Then in 1999 she produced a King's Theatre filly who was named MULAN MAGIC. She wasn’t a successful racehorse, and was sent to stud. Mulan Magic's first foal was a 2005 filly sired by Danroad (Danehill - this is important) named OPULENCE who she was purchased by Don Goodwin - also very important! Opulance's first foal was by Towkay, but then Goodwin sent her to the young Zabeel stallion ZED, and Opulence's 2nd foal was none other than VERRY ELLEEGANT!!! Amazing!! You need to read on further to THEME SONG (Cotehele House’s 3rd foal) before you get the full picture though, so read on, dear friends, read on! FYI, the 'nick' with Danehill clearly suited Cotehele House, because Verry Elleegant has Danehill on both sides of the pedigree, both through two different daughters of Cotehele House AND Cotehele House’s two best sons (DANEWIN and Commands) were of course sired by Danehill. It's fantastic stuff!!! It was after discovering this connection that we uncovered a couple of really great articles on the subject. One was written by Dennis Ryan (see below under Zed) which filled in a lot of details. Opulence was bought by Don Goodwin and mated to Zed because, according to Ryan, Goodwin liked the double cross that resulting foal would have with both Danehill and Cotehele House. And we found a 2nd article by Brian de Lore, which is also really interesting and gives more information on the history of Chalet Girl.
- THEME SONG (Sackford - 1987): More proof that something big can happen years and years later and I’m still shaking my head at how I have only just discovered all of this. In my defence I did I uncover it myself after hours and hours spent on the Stud Book for this piece. This makes me pleased because it means I am still interested enough in what I do and pedigrees to keep looking for connections like this. Theme Song was Cotehele House’s 3rd foal (recorded in the stud book) and she's the dam of
- ANNOUNCE (Military Plume - 1994): Theme Song’s 3rd foal who 10 years later became the dam of LISTEN HERE (Elusive Quality - 2004) She was Announce’s 3rd foal, and as a broodmare she’s the dam of a couple of handy horses, being of course the full brothers DEEP FIELD (winner of the G2 Linlithgow Stakes, and now standing at Newgate Farm) and SHOOTING TO WIN (winner of the G1 Caulfield Guineas, now standing at Darley). Deep Field has recently sired his first G1 winner, Portland Sky.
- EMERALD DREAM (Danehill - 1996): Righto, again, Super exciting! She was Theme Song’s 4th foal and a G1 winner with a very beautiful pedigree to boot. Emerald Dream was purchased by John Carter and on the track she won the 2002 G1 Whakanui Stud International Stakes at Te Râpa. When she retired to stud her first three matings were with the great ZABEEL. While her 2nd foal with Zabeel, a colt named ZABENE (2003) was a stakes winner in NZ - winning a G3 race and finishing 2nd in the NZ Cup, it was her very first foal who’s the really interesting one! Why?????? Because it was.......
- ZED (Zabeel - 2002): There’s scant information on the Australian Stud Book or Racing Australia about his racing career, but I discovered more through a terrific article written by Dennis Ryan on the NZ website “The Optimist”. This came to light after I went looking for more information after discovering the double Cotehele House connection myself. Ryan says that while Zed showed early ability, an injury suffered on a float saw the horse retired when he was 4 years old having won only one of his four races. Zed began his stud career in 2007 at Little Avondale Stud and from what I can gather on the NZ Stud Book he covered 131 in that first season, but this had dropped to only 30 mares by 2011, by which time he was apparently serving only Clydesdale mares and based on the South Island. However once his progeny hit the track they were becoming successful. He started getting stakes winners from his early crops, including SURVIVED (2009) who won the 2013 G1 Makfi Challenge. After this Zed in 2013 was relocated to Grangewilliam Stud, which accounts for why his book jumped from 30 to 168. His best runner though, without question is a gangly little filly (now mare) named Verry Elleegant who was, to boot, out of a mare descended from Cotehele House too!! As a 3yo filly she won the 2018 G3 Ethereal Stakes, the 2019 G1 Vinery Stud Stakes and the 2019 G1 AJC Oaks. My library on Verry Elleegant has been hit pretty hard by COVID-BLOODY-19. She won the 2020 G1 Tancred when we weren’t allowed to attend, the 2020 G1 Warwick Stakes (missed because of the Great Melbourne Lockdown), the 2020 G1 Turnbull Stakes (locked out by COVID), the 2020 G1 Caulfield Cup (after being told we were approved to work at 4.30pm on the Friday, we were all of a sudden stood down at 7pm that night -I was in tears on race morning and went for a walk instead of watching the race...), and more recently the 2021 G1 Chipping Norton Stakes and 2021 G1 Ranvet Stakes. It’s fantastic to think that our latest G1 star is in-bred on the dam and sire side to Eight Carat, and remarkable to have it occur ALL these years later. Verry Elleegant, a mare foaled in 2015 and descends has Eight Carat’s very first foal Cotehele House (born in 1980) who appears on both sides of her pedigree! You could knock me down with a feather!
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| VERRY ELLEEGANT wins the 2019 AJC Oaks. |
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| VERRY ELLEEGANT wins the 2021 G1 Ranvet Stakes, defeating old sparring partner Addeybb. Also, dear James - just in the very very outside chance you happened to ever read this - standing up as high as you do in your stirrups takes all the balance out of my close up pictures (especially cause it causes said horse to raise head un naturally high). FYI...... Just a bit lower and closer to the horse's neck next time???? We good???? Bossy - this means you too.... Hummm.. and come to think of it, Brenton Avdulla - you too..... |
- DANEWIN (Danehill - 1991): The 5th foal from Cotehele House. A lovely strong bay colt by new sire sensation Danehill, who went on to re-write the record books in Australia and across the globe. He won the 1994 Spring Champion Stakes, 1995 Rosehill Guineas, 1995 Doomben Cup and 1995 Caulfield Stakes. Danewin was a good stallion, siring 25 individual stakes winners but his record was compromised by fertility problems. He covered 17 books of mares but only left 502 live foals and the biggest book of mares he ever covered was 77. Despite these difficulties, his best runners were ELEGANT FASHION, THESEO (a thoroughly lovely horse), who won the G1 Ranvet Stakes (twice), G1 Epsom Handicap, G1 Mackinnon Stakes and G1 Chipping Norton Stakes. Danewin also sired the good stayer and very popular horse COUNTY TYRONE who won the G1 Queensland Derby, G1 Sydney Cup and G1 Metropolitan. He was a complete gentleman and I loved photographing him on track in those very first couple of years behind a camera and then much later at stud at Emirates Park.
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| Winning the 1994 Dulcify Quality |
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| Winning the G1 Spring Champion Stakes |
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| DANEWIN (Danehill x Cotehele House) winning the 1995 Rosehill Guineas |
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DANEWIN (Danehill x Cotehele House) before the 1995 Cox Plate. He was knocked out of the race by a fading Our Maizcay who was later found to have a virus.
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| DANEWIN in 2011 at Emirates Park Stud, where he was universally adored. |
- COMMANDS (Danehill - 1996): The full brother to Danewin, he was owned by The Inghams, and he was Cotehele House's 9th foal. Although Commands did not win a G1 race he did ran a good 3rd behind Redoute's Choice and Testa Rossa in a very strong Caulfield Guineas in 1999, but was very wayward behind Sunline in the 1999 Cox Plate. I have a recollection that he finished pretty hard up against the outside rail much to the objection of his jockey! Commands then went very close to that G1 win when he was beaten very narrowly by Black Bean in the 2000 G1 Galaxy. On his retirement to stud he became a very successful sire for Woodlands and later Darley, stranding 14 seasons at stud until his unexpected death at the age of 17 in July 2014. He is the sire of 74 individual stakes winners and his best progeny include EPAULETTE, APPEARANCE, BELLA VELLA, COMMANDING JEWEL, HOLLER, MELODY BELLE, PARATROOPERS. I haven't been able to uncover any more jewels coming (to date) from Cotehele House's remaining 5 foals, but given the story of Verry Elleegant, never say never...
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| COMMANDS (Danewin x Cotehele House) |
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| COMMANDS running the closest of 2nd's to the very good sprinter of the day, BLACK BEAN, in the 2000 G1 Galaxy at Royal Randwick. He was ridden by Larry Cassidy that day, and defeated by Brett Prebble (who's still riding so brilliantly) on Black Bean. |
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| Gorgeous stallion COMMANDS at his home Darley Kelvinside |
OUR DIAMOND LOVER (Sticks and Stones - 1982)
Back to Eight Carat. Her 2nd foal (also known as Diamond Lover) was another un-raced daughter but at stud she was a successful broodmare. Her progeny of note were
- ANTWERP (Sir Tristram - 1988): The first foal from Our Diamond Lover (and un-raced), at stud she produced VISCOUNT (Quest for Fame - 1998), winner of the 2001 G1 AJC Sires, G1 Champagne Stakes and G1 George Main Stakes. He disappointed behind champion LONHRO in the G1 Caulfield Guineas, but was then only narrowly beaten (when squeezed in between Northerly and Sunline) into 3rd place in the 2001 WS Cox Plate. He went on to become a handy stallion at Woodlands Stud, his best runners being KIDNAPPED (G1 SA Derby) and NEROLI (G1 Queen of the Turf Stakes).
- TRISTALOVE (Sir Tristram - 1990): Terrific little racemare, Tristalove was a dual G1 winner, taking the 1993 AJC Sires and the 1994 Australasian Oaks. She then became a good broodmare and was the dam of the stakes-winning full brothers VIKING RULER and KEMPINSKY. They were both sired by Danehill, and Viking Ruler won the G1 Spring Champion Stakes. I didn’t photograph the colt racing but did see him at Cambridge Stud. Kempinsky was an attractive bay colt and while he didn’t win at Group 1 level he did defeat fellow Danehill colt Elvstroem in the G2 AAMI Vase on Cox Plate Day. Elvstroem, a very fine racehorse who won 5 G1 races, then defeated Kempinsky in their next race, the G1 Victoria Derby. I’m not actually sure where he stood at stud following his retirement.
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| TRISTALOVE in the autumn of 1994 |
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| TRISTALOVE before the 1994 Cox Plate |
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KEMPINSKY (Danehill x Tristalove) defeats multiple G1 winner Elvstroem in the G2 AAMI Vase. He finished 2nd behind Elvstroem in the G1 Victoria Derby at his next start.
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- PERUZZI (Zabeel - 1992): The 5th foal from Our Diamond Lover, she won the G3 Tramway and the G2 Light Fingers Stakes. Still digging up pictures of her, I will add them soon.
- DON EDUARDO (Zabeel - 1998): The 8th foal from Our Diamond Lover, and another by Zabeel, Don Eduardo was therefore closely related to Octagonal and Mouawad and he sold for $2.7m as a yearling. Under the stewardships of trainer Lee Freedman the colt won the G1 AJC Derby and while not a wildly successful stallion he did sire a number of stakeswinners including the G1 winner BOOMING in NZ.
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| Damien Oliver urges DON EDUARDO to victory in the 2002 AJC Derby, defeating Carnegie Express. |
KAAPSTAD (Sir Tristram - 1984):
Eight Carat's 3rd foal was KAAPSTAD. He was a bay stallion who stood at Windsor Park Stud until his death at 21 years in 2006. He won the G1 VRC Sires Produce Stakes in 1987 and the G2 Ascot Vale Stakes as well (now classified as a G1 race).
He was the sire of 43 individual stakes winners including G1 winners such as GOLDEN SWORD (Epsom Handicap, Toorak Handicap), CATALAN OPENING (Doncaster Handicap) - also in the process of digging up his photos, KAAPTIVE EDITION (BMW Tancred Stakes and ARC Sires, and stallion) and SPRINT BY (Doncaster Handicap).
Kaapstad was also a good broodmare sire. His daughters included MISS PRIORITY, a half sister to champion galloper Might and Power and dam of champion HK galloper LUCKY OWNERS. Kaapstad is also the sire of MULAN PRINCESS, a half sister to Falkilk. Mulan Princess left the 2013 G1 AJC Oaks winner ROYAL DESCENT (Redoute’s Choice).
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| I always loved ROYAL DESCENT. She was beautiful and always tried so hard. She was unlucky not to win another couple of G1 races. She went so close to being a multiple G1 winner after very narrow 2nds in the G1 Turnbull, G1 George Main, G1 Doncaster and Epsom Handicaps as well as a string of other placings at G1 level. |
OUR MARQUISE (Gold and Ivory - 1991):
Eight Carat's 7th foal was Our Marquise. She's not been quite as successful but was the dam of G1 winner SHOWER OF ROSES, who in turn didn't get her chance at stud because she died in 2005.
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| SHOWER OF ROSES (Zabeel x Our Marquise) wins the G1 Arrowfield Stud Storm Queen Stakes. |
OCTAGONAL (Zabeel - 1992):
Ahhhhh... now here's a horse. Eight Carat's 8th foal, the great OCTAGONAL. We used to call him 'Occy' and 'The Big O' and in my time photographing thoroughbreds he was the first thoroughbred I saw in the flesh who created a mass following. It was fantastic theatre. Fans would dress in the cerise colours of his owners, the people 'Chicken Kings' Bob and Jack Ingham. Debbie Kepitis (part owner of Winx) is Bob's daughter and that's a nice little connection to past greatness I like to think.
Octagonal was black (or bloody well almost black), very glamorous, and incredibly popular. I loved him to bits. I saw him for the last time on 4 September 2016, only a month before he died. I was a little bit overcome at seeing him again and got pretty teary because I hadn't seen him since probably 2010? He died on Caulfield Cup morning, and the stud manager phoned to tell me before it went to press and I cried all the way to the track. He had that sort of effect on people.
When Occy was racing I had only picked up a camera a few years earlier and so in reality I was a pretty inexperienced photographer. The 1995 Golden Slipper was important because FLYING SPUR won and a raw black colt that was Occy flashed home for second. From a long term perspective, 3rd in the Slipper that year, for kicks, was a little filly called Millrich and she found fame years later as the dam of REDZEL who incidentally was her very last foal.
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| OCTAGONAL finishes hard for 2nd to FLYING SPUR in the 1995 Golden Slipper. This was the 1st time I photographed the colt known as Occy. He wore the black Ingham silks in this race because he was the stable’s 2nd pick behind race favourite STRATEGIC. |
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| Cantering to the barrier before the Caulfield Guineas (3rd) |
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| In the mounting yard before that very famous Cox Plate victory |
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| The 1995 WS Cox Plate - where Legends are Made |
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The famous “Race of the Decade”. The 1996 Rosehill Guineas. Octagonal defeated Saintly, Nothin’ Leica Dane and Filante.
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But back to Occy. Where do I start? I admit that my heart instantly runs away with me, committing that huge sin I was told I am so guilty of, because I get too emotionally involved with the horses. He was a super racehorse. Gutsy as they came, determined, black, and beautiful. Oh, did I mention yet that he was black (well, almost)?? He had the most gorgeous refined head and there was nothing that you couldn't like about him (well, that is, apart from perhaps his capacity to make you want to collapse with anxiety about whether he would win as he came with those withering runs to get there on the line). I remember coming to Melbourne, sick with anticipation before that 1997 Australian Cup win, my little brother shouting excitedly to me when I collapsed back in the door 'Did Octagonal win?? Did Octagonal win?????' to which thankfully I could say 'Yes, he did!!!!'.
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| 1997 G1 Australian Cup. He was ridden by Shane Dye during this campaign. Heart stopping stuff. |
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| They dressed up for him |
Octagonal won a total of 10 G1 races (with 2nds in the 1995 Golden Slipper, AJC Sires and Victoria Derby. His G1 wins were the 1995 Champagne, 1995 WS Cox Plate (defeating Mahogany), 1996 Canterbury Guineas, 1996 Rosehill Guineas, 1996 BMW Tancred Stakes, 1996 AJC Derby. A little post Triple Crown 'slump' followed where he inexplicably ran below par, before suddenly bouncing back to win the 1996 G1 Underwood Stakes. He then returned in 1997 for those brilliant victories in the G1 Chipping Norton Stakes, Australian Cup and a 2nd BMW Tancred. He was defeated at his last start in the G1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes by the good colt INTERGAZE who would become a very good WFA galloper in his own right as an older horse.
The thing you had to remember when photographing Octagonal was that you would probably never get a picture of winning all on his own in glorious isolation, with all his flags flying, and no other horses in the frame. Photos of Octagonal almost always involved him lunging for the finishing post, and nearly all of the time there were other horses in the frame.
Octagonal retired to a huge fanfare, with a parade down the home straight and a special rug and went off to Woodlands Stud where he lived most of the rest of his life. We probably all expected a little bit more of Octagonal at stud, but he did sire 23 individual stakes winners including 1 all time great, so in my mind he was a success.
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| Taken on my very first trip to the Hunter, in December 1997, at Woodlands Stud on what would go on to be a blazingly hot day, in the very early morning light. Again, I was dead inexperienced, especially with stallions, but he always was a good boy. |
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| This is an important little photo. I took this picture on 30 August 2010 and the objective was to get the 3 generations together in the one photo, not always easy with stallions here in Australia. Pictured are OCTAGONAL (furtherest from camera), LONHRO (centre) and DENMAN (closest to camera). I shot it on the way up to where we thought we might try to take the photo. I liked the look of it walking up, and asked them to halt. Almost on queue all three stallions looked around to me and I always liked the way they were placed across the track. It was just the way it unfolded, and highlights the need to always be prepared to act. Sometimes those reflexes learnt as a photographer in the heat of battle on the racetrack can come in handy. It's became a bit of an important image too, and was pretty popular in it's own right. I love it. |
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| OCTAGONAL at Darley Kelvinside. It was enormously important for me to photograph him on this trip. |
Octagonal's best progeny were:
- LONHRO (Octagonal x Shadea) What a gift from our beloved Occy. He was also black, even blacker than Occy. Technically the silly Australian Stud Book and Racing Australia classify both horses as brown. We say this is bollocks - everyone knows that Black Horses are more beautiful and these two were are beautiful as they come, and in my eyes, Lonhro bloody well is a black horse..... Lonhro was a brilliant racehorse. Truth be told he was an even better racehorse than The Big O (he used to get called "The Little O" because he looked just like Occy), he certainly had more brilliance and acceleration, and what I really loved about him was that I DID get him all on his own, with all his flags flying!Octagonal and Lonhro were both Australian Racehorses of the Year although Lonhro did not emulate his famous sire with victory in the WS Cox Plate (sad face), he just didn't seem to enjoy Moonee Valley. Lonhro's major wins were the 2001 Caulfield Guineas, the 2002 Caulfield Stakes (after a ding-dong battle with Sunline) and Mackinnon Stakes, the 2003 George Ryder Stakes, Queen Elizabeth Stakes, Caulfield Stakes and George Main Stakes, and in 2004 he won the CF Orr Stakes, Australian Cup ('and the crowd shouts "Go Lonhro Go!!!!"') and George Ryder Stakes. In an ironic twist of fate he suffered the same fate as his sire by running 2nd (to Grand Armee) in his final race, also the G1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes. He was crowned Champion Australian Racehorse for the 2003-2004 Racing Season and retired to Woodlands Stud. As a stallion, Lonhro has gone one better than Dad because he was crowned Champion Australian Stallion in the 2010-2011 Breeding Season. Lonhro, who is now owned by Darley and stands at Kelvinside, to date is the sire of 76 individual stakes winners, including PIERRO (ex Miss Right Note), who was a terrific racehorse, winning the 2yo Triple Crown, of the G1 Golden Slipper, AJC Sires and Champagne Stakes, as well as the G1 Canterbury and George Ryder Stakes plus a narrow 2nd to Sacred Choice in the G1 Donny under a big weight and on a heavy track. He used to have some good battles against with All Too Hard, finishing runner up to him in the G1 Caulfield Guineas. For good measure Pierro's become a bloody good stallion well, and is currently standing at Coolmore Stud. Pierro's G1 winners to date include ARCADIA QUEEN (G1 Caulfield Stakes, G1 Mackinnon Stakes, G1 Kingston Town Classic), LEVENDI G1 Australian Derby, PIERATA (G1 All Aged Stakes), PINOT (G1 VRC Oaks), REGAL POWER (G1 Railway Stakes) and SHADOW HERO (G1 Rosehill Guineas, G1 Spring Champion Stakes). Lonhro is also the sire of other G1 winners such as ARISTIA (G1 VRC Oaks), BEADED (G1 Doomben 10,000), BOUNDING (G1 Railway Stakes), DENMAN (G1 Golden Rose), EXOSPHERE (G1 Golden Rose), IMPENDING (G1 Kingsford Smith Cup, G1 Stradbroke Handicap), MENTAL (G1 Darley VRC Sprint), LYRE (G1 Blue Diamond Stakes), KEMENTARI (G1 Randwick Guineas) and numerous other stakes winners.
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| G1 Chipping Norton Stakes |
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| One of the joys of being back photographing at Darley is being with Lonhro again. |
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| His 21st Birthday Party Celebratory Photoshoot. I wanted to do something special with him, and the team at Darley are usually great at embracing new ideas. |
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| Probably the best son of Lonhro is PIERRO. He won the 2yo Triple Crown and is one of only a handful of Slipper winners to win at 3 against his own age and older horses. He is pictured here winning the G1 Canterbury Stakes. |
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| PIERRO photographed at Coolmore Stud |
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| DENMAN, winner of the G1 Golden Rose |
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| EXOSPHERE, winner of the G1 Golden Rose. |
- NIELLO (Octagonal x Shadea): Lonhro’s full brother to Lonny who was also a very good racehorse. He won the 2003 G1 Spring Champion Stakes, the 2004 G1 Rosehill Guineas and 2004 G1 Canterbury Guineas. He died prematurely at stud in 2011, but did leave 3 stakes winners. I photographed both Niello and Lonhro winning on the same day on 2004 Chipping Norton Stakes Day and that was pretty cool.
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| NIELLO winning on Chipping Norton Stakes Day on the same day big brother LONHRO won the G1 |
- HOSANNAH: Really we should count her as a G1 winner, because they upgraded the Queen of the Turf Stakes to a G1 race 2 years after she won it. For Occy's sake I'm calling her a G1 winner!
MOUAWAD (Zabeel - 1993):
Eight Carat's 2nd last and 8th foal was MOUAWAD. He was a full brother to Octagonal and let me tell you straight away that this was a terrific little racehorse. He had super acceleration and was almost unbeaten, winning 7 of his 8 races but sadly he was rushed off to stud prematurely (in my opinion!). In the autumn of 1997 the colt won the G1 Australian Guineas (defeating O'Reilly), the G1 Futurity Stakes (defeating Shame) and the G1 George Ryder (defeating Secret Savings). He was withdrawn on the morning of the G1 Doncaster Handicap which I was sure he would have won (although the subsequent winner Secret Savings was obviously a good horse).
Following the Doncaster Handicap the horse was retired to stud immediately. In his first season at stud, in 1997, he served 34 mares but there were only 2 live foals, and they both died according to the Stud Book. He was then inexplicably sold to China, and the Stud Book lists the date of export as being 13 July 1998, which again frustrates me. Nobody seems to know what happened to him. It always frustrates me when this happens because I think regretfully of what he might have achieved as a 4yo had he not been retired to stud so early, or whether they might have been able to do something with the horse had they preserved longer with him at stud here in our region. What might have been.....
I was so disappointed that he never raced again and still feel cranky about that fact that he was lost so completely.
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| MOUAWAD wins the G1 Australian Guineas, defeating O’Reilly |
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| MOUAWAD wins the G1 Futurity Stakes |
COLOMBIA (Zabeel - 1996):
COLOMBIA was the 10th and final foal from Eight Carat who died 5 years later he ws born. He sold for $1.6m as a yearling but didn't ever race. He is the sire of 7 individual stakes-winners, including G1 winner ADDICTIVE HABIT (HBRInc Spring Classic - which has been won by NZ champions like Melody Belle, Jimmy Choux, Princess Coup, Excellent, Veandercross, etc) and G3 winner STERLING PRINCE.
Because he was un-raced I didn't ever get to photograph Colombia (more's the pity), but he has however been responsible for a G1 winner because he is the sire of SNOW FLIGHT, the dam of VIDDORA and winner of the 2018 G1 Moir and 2017 G1 Winterbottom Stakes. Viddora was purchased on retirement by Yulong and although she sadly lost her 2020 Lope de Vega colt she is currently in foal to champion stallion Snitzel.
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| VIDDORA |
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