Written by Paul Vettise
Juvenile racing in Melbourne and Sydney on Saturday delivered bonanza results for breeding and racing powerhouse Coolmore.
At Moonee Valley, their exciting young freshman sire Rubick (Encosta de Lago) provided the quinella in the Punters.com.au Plate with Yes Yes Yes (Rubick) proving too strong for Alburq (Rubick) to book his passage to Queensland.
He will be on a collision course with the exceptionally-bred filly Movie Role (Fastnet Rock), who will also be heading to the Gold Coast for the $2 million The Star Magic Millions Classic on January 12 following her Randwick success.
Yes Yes Yes was runner-up at the Valley on debut and then won at Flemington prior to Saturday and the Darren Weir trained colt is getting better with each outing, according to rider John Allen.
“He’s doing everything right and there’s more improvement to come.” – John Allen.
“He’s doing everything right and there’s more improvement to come,” he said. “He’s a horse going places and with a great attitude.”
Yes Yes Yes settled off the pace before improving wide to be in contention on the turn and lengthened stride decisively in the straight to beat Alburq.
“He jumped evenly and we got a beautiful run camped off them and then was ultimately too good,” Allen said.
A $200,000 Gold Coast purchase, Yes Yes Yes is a half-brother to two winners and the family of the G1 Galaxy H. winner In Her Time (Time Thief).
Yes Yes Yes as a yearling
Filly plays starring role
Meanwhile, Movie Role ran right up to her mouth-watering pedigree for trainers David and Ben Hayes and Tom Dabernig.
She showed sharp improvement on a debut sixth to carry the Coolmore colours to an easy victory in the Membership H. at Randwick at the expense of Igniting, a son of the Hunter region stud’s Starspangledbanner (Choisir).
Movie Role was a $600,000 Gold Coast buy when signed for by Hayes Racing and is a sister to the G1 Thousand Guineas winner Irish Lights who in turn produced the G2 Silver Shadow S. winner and G1 Golden Rose runner-up Omei Sword (High Chaparral {IRE}).
Movie Role as a yearling
Their dam is Aspen Falls (USA) (Hennessy {USA}), who is out of a half-sister to Fall Aspen (USA) (Pretense {USA}), the mother of the international Group 1 winners Northern Aspen (USA) ( Northern Dancer {USA}), Hamas (USA) (Danzig {USA}) and Timber Country (USA) (Woodman {USA}).
Success for Englishman
Movie Role was partnered by former champion English apprentice Tom Marquand, who is enjoying a second stint in Australia, and he didn’t cover an inch of extra ground behind the pace on the fence.
The filly didn’t hesitate to take a run along the rail in the straight and dash away to add race performance to that blue-blooded pedigree.
“It was a really tough win and she went away nicely to put it to bed,” Marquand said. “She relaxed nicely with the blinkers on and felt genuine.”
