Two Bays mares pointed in the right direction

Cover image courtesy of Two Bays Farm

Planning matings is a year-round process for the team at Two Bays and despite lockdowns putting a damper on physical parades, they are confident in having made the right decisions without seeing a large portion of stallions in the flesh.

“It makes things more difficult but the footage and video parades that the stallion farms are doing these days is incredible and you’re able to get quite a good gauge,” Carlile told TDN AusNZ.

“And with the internet, you’re also able to go all the way back to their yearling parades. So, there’s a lot more faith with the video system now and we’ve been able to use that with our stallion selections.

“However, we’ve also talked to the people who have been able to see them (stallions) and when they get ticked off by a few good judges you’re happy to follow them.”

The boutique Mornington Peninsula-based nursery stakes claim to a plethora of well-performed gallopers since its inception in 2012 and they will be hoping its third time lucky for the proven producer, Alcatraz (Fastnet Rock), after the dam of 2019 G1 JJ Atkins S. runner-up Kubrick (Shooting To Win) missed to top-end stallions Justify (USA) and Written Tycoon at her last two attempts respectively.

Alcatraz was covered by Newgate Farm’s burgeoning sire Deep Field on the opening day of this breeding season. The son of Northern Meteor is a full brother to Kubrick’s sire Shooting To Win.

“She’s (Alcatraz) starting to put a few ducks on the board but once they’re up there in the Hunter (Valley) and out of our hands we put all our trust in the people taking care of them,” Carlile said.

"We can cross our fingers and toes but at the end of the day they’re not robots and you can’t get them to do something they don’t want to do.

“Her 3-year-old filly (Bundle Of Fun (Written Tycoon)) was meant to have her first start the other week and was scratched due to a wide barrier but the Patrick Payne-stable are confident in her ability. Her 2-year-old by Written Tycoon is now in the (Chris) Waller system under the Coolmore care.

“So, hopefully, we’ve given her another good chance through Deep Field as the family clicks, there’s the line through Fairy King Prawn, Cosmic Endeavour also being by Northern Meteor and Shooting To Win being Deep Field’s full brother.”

Loading Zone (Street Sense {USA}), the dam of dual Group 3 winner Military Zone (Epaulette), will head to Widden Stud’s debut sire Anders after missing to Darley’s exciting shuttle sire Blue Point (Ire) last season.

A half-sister to Listed winners Hesitates (Commands) and Super Lacuna (Grand Lodge {USA}), Loading Zone had a colt by Russian Revolution knocked down for $150,000 at this year’s Inglis Premier Yearling Sale.

“She had an American Pharoah filly last year and sending her to Blue Point was a throw at the stumps right at the end of the season,” Carlile said.

“This year she will get a nice and early cover by Anders as she needs a good topped horse. We haven’t been able to see him ourselves, but he was an expensive yearling and a very fast horse himself and the sireline is kicking.

“He was also a physical match that suited her and with the speed, in her family, we thought we could recapture that through Anders, as she’s basically a carrier that throws pretty much whatever the stallion is.”

Shuttle season

Edge Away (Hinchinbrook), a half-sister to $1 million 2021 Magic Millions Gold Coast National Broodmare Sale purchase Jedastar (I Am Invincible) and dual Group 3 placegetter Rulership (I Am Invincible), will return to Spendthrift Farm’s Omaha Beach (USA) after foaling a quality filly by the dual Group 1 winner in recent weeks.

“We were very, very impressed by the Omaha Beach filly she (Edge Away) left us this year, she’s two weeks old and we couldn’t be happier,” Carlile said. "Omaha Beach was a good racehorse who just suits her (Edge Away) physically, as he’s got that bit more leg and she’s not a very big mare.

“He’s got the leg and she’s got the strength. So, hopefully putting the two together gives us a nice product.”

New Zealand Group 3-placed juvenile Platinum Mam’selle (Fighting Sun), will head to Swettenham Stud’s rising shuttle sire Toronado (Ire) for her third individual cover after her weanling filly by Tavistock (NZ) sold for $80,000 at this year’s Inglis Great Southern Sale.

She is currently carrying a foal by young Coolmore sire Yes Yes Yes.

“This year we have a lot more mares staying at home in Victoria than we have in the past,” Carlile said. “We’re only sending five mares up to NSW as the Victorian stallion farms have really stepped their game up and we like to support the likes of Swettenham, and Toronado who is doing a great job.

“She (Platinum Mam’selle) was a very tough 2-year-old who ran a lot early and with a mating like Toronado we know that if the foal doesn’t come up early, it’ll come on as a 3-year-old.”

The right direction

Two Bays will send three mares to Blue Point at Darley this season, Excelsior Island (Exceed And Excel), Spin Me A Kiss (USA) (Hard Spun {USA}) and Clear For Take Off (GB) (Solider Hollow {GB}).

“We’ve gone pretty hard on Blue Point, we sent four mares from the farm to him last year, as he’s just a horse you can’t go past, he’s a beautiful-looking horse and I don’t think too many people could fault him,” Carlile said.

“Blue Point was a superb racehorse himself, the only horse to win three Group 1 sprints at Royal Ascot and that Shamardal sireline just gets better with age too, he (Shamardal) had three Group 1-winning colts last year in the UK alone, it’s a pretty mean feat.

“By all reports from the UK, his (Blue Point's) stock on the ground are impressing a lot of people and from what I’ve heard over here they are saying their best foals are by Blue Point. So, it’s a pretty exciting time for anyone in Australia who has tapped into that sireline through either Blue Point or Earthlight.”

Excelsior Island, a half-sister to G1 ARC Diamond S. winner Warhorse (NZ) (General Nediym), has a yearling filly on the ground by Justify and is only a matter of weeks away from foaling to Blue Point.

“We’re really happy with the Justify filly, she’s a good first foal for her (Excelsior Island), she has lots of strength and is a bit sharper than the Justify’s I have seen at previous weanling sales,” Carlile said.

“So, hopefully, the first Blue Point foal that she produces in the next couple of weeks is a good one and we look like geniuses this second time around.”

Spin Me A Kiss, a US$40,000 (AU$53,821) 2020 Keenland January Horses Of All Ages Sale purchase by Pinkhook Bloodstock, recently foaled a filly by Brazen Beau in her first attempt at stud.

“Dave Mee (Pinhook Bloodstock), who we’ve done some business with in the past, suggested her and we were happy to take this dual stakes-placed mare on his recommendation, as she was a good physical,” Carlile said. “Her Brazen Beau filly is really nice and a quality first foal for the mare, and Blue Point should suit her really well.”

Fellow international import Clear For Take Off has been given every chance to get into foal after missing to Justify last season in her first attempt at stud.

A German Group 3 placegetter who won three races between 1400 and 2200 metres, Clear For Take Off was purchased by Matthew Becker’s Group 1 Bloodstock for €130,000 (AU$208,546) at the 2019 Arqana December Breeding Stock Sale.

She is out of dual Listed winner Chantra (Ger) (Lando {Ger}). She is also a half-sister to German Group 3 winner and three-time Italian Group 1 placegetter Calyxa (GB) (Pivotal {GB}).

“I don’t think she acclimatised in time last year after coming out and she really looks the picture now,” Carlile said. “She was covered by Blue Point on September 1 and fingers crossed everything goes well and she gets a nice first foal in a year’s time.”

“Blue Point should suit her well as if you look back to Shamardal he was a (G1) French 2000 Guineas winner and she just needs a good-sized, strong horse over her as she’s a lightly framed British-bred mare.”

The farm's Antique

It wouldn’t be complete without mentioning Antique (Metal Storm {Fr}), the grandam of multiple Group 1 winner Arcadia Queen (Pierro), G1 Railway S. winner Regal Power (Pierro) and G2 Western Australian Derby winners Arcadia Dream (Pierro) and Action (Pierro).

The matriarch of Bob Peters’ famed family was purchased by Two Bays and Sheamus Mills Bloodstock (FBAA) for $45,000 at the 2015 Inglis Sydney Weanling and Broodmare Sale.

The 22-year-old has produced Arcadia Power (Pride Of Dubai), Big Apple (Manhattan Rain) and a colt by Toronado since joining the Two Bays broodmare band.

She is expected to foal for the 13th time in the coming weeks and is carrying the progeny of Manhattan Rain.

“It will be a day-by-day proposition with her and if she tells us that she can handle another one we will think about it but if she doesn’t, we will pull up stumps and she can be a nanny for the rest of her life,” Carlile said.

“If we do go around with her again, we will have a throw at the stumps with Impending as we hold a breeding right in him and while he was a sprinter, he is by a miler to 2000-metre horse (Lonhro) out of a miler herself (Mnemosyne)."

Table of some of Two Bay Farm's matings for 2021