Couples Retreat goes back-to-back for Archibalds
Super Seth’s winners keep on coming, and this time it was the Annabel and Rob Archibald Couples Retreat who won by a definitive two lengths at Kembla Grange on Saturday, 25 October.
Allocated 59.5kg for the race and carrying 58kg with Mollie Fitzgerald’s 1.5kg claim, the pair jumped from barrier five in the eight-horse field, sat and strode away 100m from home, saluting comfortably over the 1000m journey.
Bred by Waikato Stud, she was bought for $280,000 by Mitchell Bloodstock (FBAA) and Annabel Neasham Racing at the 2023 NZB Karaka Yearling Sale Book 1 and from just nine starts has knocked together a record of three wins and three placings.
Out of the Savabeel mare Date Night, the four-year-old mare is her third foal – she has an Ardrossan yearling colt and foaled a colt by Super Seth this season.
Super Seth became the only New Zealand-based sire, ever, to record four Group 1 winners in his progeny’s first two racing seasons with four: Feroce, Linebacker, La Dorada and Maison Louis.
Across Australasia, only Danehill bettered this record (four) and he equalled his broodmare sire Redoute’s Choice with four.
Pure Alpha delivers again as Ardrossan continues to rise
Ardrossan gelding Pure Alpha led throughout to win by 1.29 lengths at Eagle Farm for owner Ozzie Kheir, taking his earnings past $300,000. The result caps a stellar run for sire Ardrossan, whose yearlings fetched up to $450,000 this year on strong Hong Kong form.
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The Corner with Garry Chittick
It is difficult to maintain momentum when sitting in judgment of racing’s governance. After all, I get no pleasure in searching for non-credible decisions, but one is perpetually bewildered by the rationale behind many of the positions that make little sense.
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