Stud Plays Role In Record Ride

Champion jockey James McDonald equalled the record number of winning rides in a season aboard a WS graduate at Matamata yesterday. The crack apprentice drew alongside Lisa Cropp’s mark of 197 when he guided the promising John Sargent-trained La Tourneau to her maiden victory.

The three-year-old is an Australian-bred daughter of Lonhro and the Blues Traveller mare Tonic whose six career wins featured three Listed successes and she is a half-sister to the Ballarat Cup winner Sentire. La Tourneau had placed at both her previous appearances and showed tenacity to beat her older rivals in testing conditions yesterday.

Meanwhile in Australia yesterday a well-bred son of Savabeel continued his hot form with a commanding win over 1900 metres at the Canterbury meeting in Sydney. The four-year-old Altonio is a half-brother to the Gr 1 Western Australian Derby winner Markus Maximus and the Gr 3 Manawatu Cup winner Nanjarra and has now won three of his four starts.

They are out of the unraced Last Tycoon mare Shafty Lady who is a half-sister to the multiple stakes winner Joan’s Best. Altonio, who is from the family of international Gr 1 winners and stallions Elvstroem and Haradasun. was bought out of WS’s 2008 Premier Sale line-up at Karaka for $150,000.