David

We have become ‘fussy’ at the sales this year. The improved performance of our team in general over the past 12 months has been courtesy of a few lessons learned from past disappointments, compared to past successes. To try and maintain the higher quality we have tried to stick with the criteria we have been applying particularly last year and this year. Somehow last year we just found more horses that fitted the bill because, leading up to the Melbourne Premier Sale, we had bought four horses and then another five in Melbourne. This year we have bought only two horses, and even one of those is likely to go first to the Ready to Run Sales in New Zealand before we know whether it will be available for Laurel Oak owners.

Consequently, we would have been happy to buy three or four horses in Melbourne, but somehow couldn’t find the standard we were looking for. The one horse we did buy was on the first afternoon, at Lot 94, which was a Dylan Thomas colt out of Stravinsky’s Image.

Dylan Thomas/Stavinsky’s Image Colt

The colt rated a sensational 108***** under the Brain system, and is a full-brother to Agon, who is a well-performed city-winning 3yo filly with Chris Waller. We were keen on Dylan Thomas in general as he was such a great racehorse, and we always figured he would be able to produce some outstanding horses, even if they would likely be 3yos, just like he was. That had been a contributing factor to our purchase of Return Journey, who appears to have vindicated the decision by earning more than her $55,000 purchase price within her first three career starts. The Stravinsky’s Image colt was the one we liked most, and it suited what we were looking for in conjunction with Keith Dryden.

Having only two confirmed purchases so far, plus three yearlings that are being retained, gives us the potential to buy two or three yearlings at the Easter Yearling Sale, which is the highest-quality sale in Australia and the greatest source of stakes-winning horses, albeit at a price. Regardless, if they are good horses they become good value. We have already started the process of inspecting, having spent two days in the Hunter Valley at the start of this week, to get an early feel for some potential purchases.

There are some genuinely exciting prospects already, and, we encourage you to report any genuine pre-sale interest beforehand and we will stay in touch with you regarding potential purchases, or give you priority notice immediately after any purchases.

The Easter Yearling Sale is on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, 9, 10 & 11 April, which is the week following the Golden Slipper.

A year ago, VILAKAZI STREET was in a rich vein of form that culminated in a victory in the $60,500 Albury City Handicap, and a great second in the Wagga Town Plate.

As a consequence of his consistency and achievements, he was severely penalised by the handicappers under the benchmark system, which rendered him uncompetitive in his new grade. Despite actually racing in form, he’d had seven unplaced starts before a return to Albury for the same race, albeit for $10,500 less prizemoney than the previous year. Constant rain had made the track softer than what was ideal for the horse, and the outside draw also made it theoretically difficult. A solid tempo in the race meant that he was back in last position, but he was able to get to the outside and gradually work home under Kevin Sweeney’s persuasion to arrive in time to make it back-to-back victories in the feature race on the first day of the Albury Carnival.

It was Vilakazi Street’s eighth win from 33 career starts, and took his earnings past $200,000. In addition to the victories, he has also run second nine times, so the fact he has run in the first two in more than half his career starts, despite his string of unplaced runs, highlights what a consistent horse he has been for his connections in his career to-date. At this stage, the next-start plans for him haven’t been determined, but a return to Wagga for the Town Plate in early May looms as a possibility.

Vilakazi Street defends his Albury City Hcp crown. Photo courtesy of Bradley Photography

Saturday, 2nd March 2013 – Our rising star, Rebel Dane, took another huge leap forward at Rosehill today when he gave champion, Pierro, a big scare in the Group 2 Hobartville Stakes.

Rebel Dane make Pierro fight for victory. Photo courtesy of Bradley Photography.

We headed into today’s event under no illusion that it would be a mammoth task to knock over the champ, but our tough colt ran him down to a short-half-head on the line despite blundering the start.

Rebel Dane was tardily away but was able to muster speed and take a position midfield, just behind Pierro. Rounding the turn jockey, Jason Collett had no alternative but to take runs towards the inside and well into the straight he was giving Pierro a good length start.

Passing the 100m mark, we looked set to run a pleasing second, however, Rebel Dan pinned his ears back and set out after Pierro. He was taking considerable ground off the champ over the concluding stages and he had to pull out all stops to hold off Rebel Dane.

While we did have a fitness advantage, we will be improved by the run and we look forward to locking forms with “the big guns” again in the Randwick Guineas.

A huge congratulations must go to Gary Portelli and his staff for the tremendous work they have put into preparing Rebel Dane thus far.

\Sunday, 24 Feb 2013 – Consistent 3yo gelding Crusader General made a return to the winners stall at Canberra this afternoon, taking out the Jack Thomas Memorial Hcp on Black Opal Preview Day.

Crusader General was aided by a superbly judged ride from Winona Costin, who dictated terms from the outset and gave nothing else a chance to run Crusader General down.

While the lure of running in the Canberra Guineas is a big attraction, Crusader General’s owners will be patient and wait for the Albury Guineas where their General Nediym 3yo will be eligible to collect a $50,000 Inglis Bonus should he salute in this race.

Crusader General cruises to victory.

Crusader General’s happy connections.

Saturday, 16th Feb 2013 – Our star 3yo colt, Rebel Dane, continued his undefeated run, making it four wins from four starts when sensationally winning the Group 2 Royal Sovereign Stakes at Rosehill.

Our pre-race plans went out the window on jumping, when Rebel Dane received a check and was squeezed out the back, to settle in last place.

Things looked grim when the race was run at a slow tempo Rebel Dane spotted the leaders a good eight lengths on entering the straight.

Jockey Jason Collett switched the California Dan colt to the outside and he set sail after the leaders.

At the 200m mark he was still giving away a big start but gradually kept finding and over the final 50m he gave his all to nail, Urquidez on the line.

It was a thrilling moment for his large syndicate of owners, most of who were in disbelief of what they had witnessed.

Rebel Dane is building an imposing record and is now set to take an even bigger step, when he takes on champion, Pierro, in the Group 2 Hobartville Stakes. This will be no mean feat but one we are excited about facing.

Not only was it a tremendous result for Rebel Dane’s owners, but also his Laurel Oak syndicate of breeders that own his dam, Texarcana.

Texarcana won three races over her career but gave her owners many tremendous highlights competing,  in such races as the VRC Oaks and AJC Flight Stakes. Despite these unsuccessful ventures, they provided unforgettable experiences and Rebel Dane is only continuing the thrill for this group of breeders.

Texarcana has a yearling Bernadini filly, a Rothesay colt and is currently in foal to Zoffany, and if any of these siblings have the determination of their older brother, there are more exciting times ahead.

Rebel Dane wins the Group 2 Royal Sovereign Stakes.

Rebel Danes connections following his stunning Royal Soveriegn Stakes victory.

Laurel Oak are absolutely thrilled to have secured the Fastnet Rock colt out of the Group One winning mare Zarita, from the Magic Millions Sales, for Tony Noonan to train.

Our Fastnet Rock/Zarita Colt

Fastnet Rocks were on the initial inspection list without any real expectation to buy. This colt was Laurel Oak’s top pick after pedigree analysis and vet check and we did not have any expectation to be able to buy him. Rather we went through the protocols in case a trainer we knew bought the horse and we could take an interest.

As we were sitting with Tony watching the sale as he came and both of us commented how much we had liked the horse. The way the Fastnets had been selling we expected to be observers only. When bidding started to stall at $200k we decided to chime in and have a go, and were able to outbid David Hayes buy him at $250k plus GST.

We were thrilled to be able to get him and he is arguably the best-pedigreed horse that we have ever bought, and he has a real stallion’s pedigree if he can succeed on the track.

While all shares in this exciting colt have been allocated, Laurel Oak will be actively buying at the upcoming yearling sales around Australasia, and, if you would like to join the Laurel Oak team, please contact our office to find out how.

Return Journey’s owners were delivered a late Christmas Present when she won impressively at the Caulfield Boxing Day meeting.

Despite heading to this race looking to settle off a hot speed, Return Journey, ridden by Jake Noonan, ended up jumping too well and settled right on the speed.

Approaching the turn, Jake brought the Dylan Thomas filly out to clear galloping room and she quickly set up a lead and never looked like being beaten, where she came away for an impressive 1.75 length victory, at the juicy odds of $31!!

All along we have been expecting this filly to excel once she reached distances of a mile and beyond, and if this is the case, we are in for an exciting career.

Return Journey took her record to 3 starts for two wins and a third and $58,600 prizemoney.

The filly has now headed for a well deserved break and will be much improved next time in.

Roman Alliance scored his third win from eleven starts with a gutsy Canberra victory on 30 November at his first run for the month.

After finishing last as favourite, having been trapped wide at Queanbeyan at the end of October, this KEITH DRYDEN-trained galloper returned to the track ridden by Grant Buckley. Although Roman Alliance over-raced early, Grant managed to get him to settle well enough and then, under vigorous riding in the straight, prevailed over favourite, Paramount Pete, to score a good win.

Roman Alliance’s victory was another success for a Laurel Oak breeding syndicate as he was bred by the Miracle Queen syndicate, and bought by Keith Dryden and Laurel Oak at the Melbourne Premier Sale.

After a good debut third at Kyneton on their Cup Day, Return Journey returned to that track for her second start. Ridden by apprentice Brad Wallace, this Tony Noonan-trained filly did everything with a bit of authority. Having been trapped wide early from her wide draw, Brad took her up outside the leader, and on straightening she quickly put the issue beyond doubt.

The filly is somewhat of a conundrum as she has brilliant natural speed yet is bred to run 2400m, so we don’t quite know yet how far she will ultimately get.

We would like to race her with cover, but until now the horses she has trialled against haven’t been fast enough to keep up with her, so the next stage of her learning curve will be back over 1000m at Caulfield on Boxing Day, where she is more likely to find faster horses to give her a chance to get some cover.

Return Journey was one of three winners for Tony over two days, and one of four for him over the week, so it was good to see his stable back to its winning ways.

Return Journey will likely have only the one more start before going for a break to consolidate what she has learned so far.

Return Journey wins at Kyenton

Eye Of The Needle is another horse that had lost his way and had come off an unsuccessful, by his standards, three-start preparation. Keith Dryden then freshened him up, and he resumed in a benchmark 69 1200m race in Canberra.

Local apprentice, Kayla Cross, rode him and rated him perfectly in front, and he kept going to win by 1.3 lengths. That was his sixth career victory from 22 starts, and we hope he can add to that this preparation.

Eye Of The Needle Saluting at Canberra

One of the biggest-sized trophies in the south-east of NSW is for the Defence Force Cup, which is run at Queanbeyan. Mass Exodus won the race a couple of years ago, and this year it was Reigning Rhythm’s turn.

Reigning Rhythm was having his seventh start for the preparation, and we were disappointed that he had not added to his winning record as he won three races in the south-east last preparation. Two placings out of his six starts indicated that he was not far off a win, and on this occasion, in a small field, jockey Kevin Sweeney had settled him back in last place.

With a slow tempo he whipped around the field to take the lead before the corner and kept going strongly to win the Cup by a length and a half.

One win over a staying distance pretty well pays for his preparation as he collected $13,200, including the BOBS Extra bonus.

It was very pleasing to see Beckon return to the winners stall with a comprehensive victory at the ATC meeting at Gosford this afternoon, in what was his first Sydney outing.

Trainer Peter Moody decided to try something different to snap Beckon out of his seeming lethargy as he has shown much more ability than that in the past.

After working him the reverse way of going he decided to bring him to Sydney for a metropolitan midweek race.

Back to 1200m in what was a solid tempo, jockey Jason Parr had him perfectly poised behind the two leaders, and he pulled out at the right time in the straight and then did the job well to come away for a one-length victory from a fast-finishing field.

After winning his first two career starts Beckon has lost his way somewhat but it is good to see him back in the winners’ circle for his second metropolitan victory from ten career starts.

While we are not getting carried away with his upside at this stage, he will stay in Sydney and we will look for further suitable races over sprint distances.

REBEL DANE continued on his winning way at Rosehill for his third win in as many starts.

 This most recent win, however, was quite remarkable.

Rebel Dane was burdened with 59kgs, when no horses rated higher than he nominated for the race, and Jason Collett took the ride again.

After drawing well and having a good run in transit as favourite, which was understandable following his first two impressive wins, Rebel Dane was suddenly in big trouble when he was hemmed in a pocket on the fence and had a real problem getting out.

Jason Collett aggressively shouldered his way out, and Rebel Dane clipped heels, almost fell, lost momentum, and Specific Choice had come from behind Rebel Dane and gone past him to have a length lead.

Rebel Dane was able to pick himself up from a standing start with 59kgs and run the other horse down in what was quite remarkable, and drew rave reports from everyone watching.

It was a brave effort, and a well-celebrated win, and certainly one that almost got away!

The win took Rebel Dane’s earnings to $167,380 from his three career starts, and $50,000 of that are BOBS bonuses.

Rebel Dane is obviously a tremendously exciting horse and he will now go to the paddock for a break before returning where we hope that he can continue the excitement into his next preparation.

We will test the water with him, and if he is up to the standard we will chase the Group 1 Randwick Guineas on Saturday 16 March with him.

Off the Canvas!! Rebel Dane three for three.

Rebel Dane’s happy owners