By sheer ratio of Golden Slipper and Blue Diamond winners sold to foals offered, Corumbene Stud is the benchmark to which the rest of the industry aspires. Sebring, Overreach, True Jewels and who is to say Lofty Strike wouldn’t have added to that tally last year before a minor niggle put him out of the Blue Diamond picture. This year Corumbene will take four select youngsters to Riverside all carrying the same edge when it comes to juvenile success.
Each time Lofty Strike sets foot on a racecourse there must be a handful of underbidders wishing they had gone that one step further for the exciting colt. By Snitzel out of a Golden Slipper winner in Overreach, Corumbene as vendors met the market selling him for just $280,000. At time of writing he has returned Julius Sandhu and his clients well over double that amount with the prospect of a stud career in the offing. In February alone he won the Gr2 Rubiton Stakes and was a slashing second in the Gr1 Oakleigh Plate. And by the time sale-ho rings out across Riverside for the Australian Easter Yearling Sale he may well be a Gr1 winner, that $280,000 looking decidedly inexpensive. And we aren’t talking about an isolated case here, Golden Slipper winner Sebring and Blue Diamond winner True Jewels were others raised at Corumbene and sold at auction.
This year’s Corumbene draft will be led off by Lot 44, a half-sister to the multiple Group placed Bottega. By the Autumn Sun, this colt is out of General Nediym’s daughter Bennetta who carried the farm’s orange, brown and white silks past the post first three times including the Gr2 Light Fingers Stakes where Corumbene raced the quinella. Bottega continues to flourish under the guidance of Lee Freedman who also trains his I Am Invincible half-sister, the lightly raced Giulia. Now the winner of four races the Brisbane Winter Carnival beckons for her.
This filly carries all the blood to be successful, a double helping of Redoute’s Choice, and then by default, Danehill, Sir Tristram and even the electric speed of Biscay although his contribution is through his daughter Belle Chanson who defied her pedigree to win the Gr1 Australasian Oaks. This is a cracking filly to kick off the draft.
Sebring stands out amongst the many highpoints of Corumbene’s history and although he has now passed on, buyers can still tap into his family through Lot 128, a Written Tycoon filly out of his More Than Ready full sister Falkenberg.
A talent in her own right, Falkenberg won twice but stretched out her class to run third in the Gr1 Queensland Oaks. Then there was Pureness, a Gr2 winning miler who showed their dam Purespeed had all bases covered. And besides Sebring the family has a history of precocity, Purespeed’s half-brother Surtee was a leading juvenile in Perth who took on the eastern states’ best to win the Gr2 San Domenico Stakes as an August three year-old. Their dam Lady Moulin was out of Willowy, twice a winner at two and dam of Giostra who won the Gr2 Silver Slipper in the days when that race was run in the Spring. Infuse this line with the blood of Written Tycoon and whoever buys this filly will have a head start on the pack when it comes to winning next year’s Slipper.
By the time Lot 399 enters the ring he will be well used to the routine of leaving his box such should be the interest in this outstanding colt. We all know the Capitalist’s go quick, but he can also get a Gr1 mile winning juvenile like Captivant. Looking at this colt’s pedigree there is so much top level success across a wide array of distances that the mating of Capitalist and the Snitzel mare Sweet Ava should continue the success of this emerging nick.
Stakes placed in the Gr3 Magic Night as a two year-old, this is Sweet Ava’s first living foal, and what a stunner she has produced. Looks run in the family, as does talent, as Sweet Ava is out of General Nediym’s Listed winning daughter Isurava, making her a full sister to the brilliant Menari, his Gr2 Run To The Rose win and third in the Gr1 Golden Rose not doing justice to his real talent.
We mentioned before the Light Fingers quinella, an outstanding feat for a farm that races only a handful of horses each year. Second to Bennetta in that race was another daughter of General Nediym in Ichihara, a full sister to Isurava and dam of this season’s Gr3 Breeders’ Plate winner and Slipper hopeful Empire Of Japan.
And Ichihara is out of Cut A Dash, a Whiskey Road three-quarter sister to Gr1 One Thousand Guineas winner Whisked, dam of the Champion Tie The Knot.
So, any way you cut it this is a pedigree of the highest order.
The small but select Corumbene draft is completed by Lot 448, a Capitalist half-brother to the Gr2 Expressway Stakes winner Overpass and three other winners, with his dam Walkway (Exceed And Excel) four from four winners to runners.
Besides the speed of Overpass the family has exhibited outstanding stamina and courage, Walkway’s dam Boardwalk Bell being a Bellotto half-sister to the great Northerly. To detail Northerly’s exploits would take a page in itself but to summarise he won 19 times, nine of which came at Gr1 level from a mile to the 2400 metres of the Caulfield Cup. It should also be remembered that his Rory’s Jester half-brother North Boy had the speed to win the Gr2 Ascot Vale Stakes and was hardy enough to travel to Singapore to win the Gr3 Krisflyer Sprint so the family is certainly tough. North Boy was also second in both the Oakleigh Plate and Newmarket Handicap while his full sister Northern Song won the Gr3 Frances Tressady Stakes.
Buyers inspecting the quartet of youngsters will find the physique of each reflects the excellence found on the page, and more importantly is a Corumbene product given the same opportunities as Sebring, Overreach, True Jewels and many other wonderful performances bred and raised at George Altomonte’s renowned property.