ET foal is Younggiftedandblack…and good!
By Peter Wharton
The Betting Line mare Younggiftedandblack, one of the most capable young mares racing in Victoria at present – she has won at Melton and Yarra Valley at her last two starts – is the result of an embryo transfer breeding in New Zealand.
Younggiftedandblack (11)
Wining at Melton Park.
(C) photography: Stuart McCormick
She is the first foal of the Art Major mare Major Rocket, who, after qualifying for the Harness Jewels as a three-year-old, was bred via embryo transfer and re-entered training and travelled to New South Wales.
Major Rocket won six races at Menangle, took a mile record of 1:51.6 and finished up with a stake tally of $110,240.
The ET filly was foaled in Canterbury and was retained by her breeder, Christchurch medico Dougal Steel, and, following a creditable placing at her debut at Addington as a two-year-old, was sent to the Victorian stables of Sonya Smith and Anthony Butt to chase the Vicbred and Breeders Crown series.
She won once as a two-year-old at Yarra Valley and twice at three at which age she finished fourth in the Vicbred Bronze and Breeders Crown Silver.
As a four-year-old Younggiftedandblack notched four successes headed up by the $30,000 Matriarch Pace Final at Melton, while this season she has added a further three wins to her scorecard and graduated to an NR 85 mark.
In all, Younggiftedandblack has won 10 races with 26 placings from 62 starts for $105,860.
Major Rocket’s second issue, Stylish Lazarus (by Lazarus), won at Bathurst and was placed in the $100,000 NSW Breeders Challenge Blue Final as a two-year-old, while her next foal, a two-year-old colt by Captaintreacherous was knocked down for $50,000 to respected Sydney horsemen Paul and Gavin Fitzpatrick at the Nutrien Equine yearling sale at Sydney in 2023.
She has since produced a lovely weanling colt by Stay Hungry and will be joined to him again this season.
Major Rocket is domiciled at the Judd family’s Benstud Standardbreds’ farm at Crookwell in the NSW Southern Tablelands.
By the great Art Major, Major Rocket has a wealth of breeding on her dam’s side, being out of Kate’s Rocket, an In The Pocket mare from the outstanding racemare and Auckland Cup winner Kate’s First, a half-sister to the incomparable Christian Cullen.
Kate’s Rocket, who won twice, was a half-sister to the Menangle winner Hurricane Stride and the Invercargill Cup winner Maverick and to First Western, who became the dam of five winners including the Great Northern Oaks victor Best Western and the Western Australian Group 2 winner Doc Holliday, Kate Black, dam of this year’s Welcome Stakes winner Got The Chocolates, Rocknroll Ruby, dam of the Vicbred champion Without You, and Katesplace, dam of the current top Perth three-year-old Bet The House.