Leading the Group 1 charge

Cover image courtesy of Bronwen Healy

The Perth carnival is the traditional end of elite racing for the calendar year in Australia and after a clean sweep by the cerise and white colours, Bob and Sandra Peters are currently the leading breeders in the country when it comes to Group 1 winners for the current season.

The Peters' colours have been at the fore in four separate Group 1 races, with Superstorm (Sebring) leading the way for trainer Danny O'Brien in the G1 Cantala S. at Flemington, before the leviathan owner and breeder combined with Grant and Alana Williams for a historic Ascot treble across the past three weeks.

Western Empire (NZ) (Iffraaj {GB}) won the G1 Railway S., while Graceful Girl (Nicconi) was a dominant winner of the G1 Winterbottom S. The Western Australian sweep, never done before by a stable, let alone an owner and breeder, was completed with Regal Power's (Pierro) upset of Western Empire in the G1 Kingston Town Classic on Saturday.

All four of those Group 1 winners were bred by Peters Investments, some great achievement given its broodmare band numbers sit between 40-50. All four were also by different sires.

Global powerhouse Godolphin celebrated three homebred Group 1 victories across the Spring, Anamoe (Street Boss {USA}) in the G1 Caulfield Guineas, Willowy (Kermadec {NZ}) in the G1 VRC Oaks and Colette (Hallowed Crown) in the G1 Empire Rose S. All three were trained by James Cummings and all three ridden by Damien Oliver.

Waikato Stud's Chittick family have also had a prosperous time in Australia since August, involved in the breeding of a Group 1-winning trio, Never Been Kissed (NZ) (Tivaci), Probabeel (NZ) (Savabeel) and Mo'unga (NZ) (Savabeel), all three by stallions who stand on the New Zealand farm.

Arrowfield was also involved in the breeding of three Group 1 winners, all 3-year-olds in Profondo (Deep Impact {Jpn}), Hitotsu (Maurice {Jpn}) and Yearning (Snitzel).

Steve Tregea's Windermere Stud had a trio of Group 1 wins to his credit as breeders, all with the star Incentivise (Shamus Award), who has been Australia's most prolific elite winner of the season to date with victories in the G1 Makybe Diva S., the G1 Turnbull S. and the G1 Caulfield Cup.

Other breeders to experience multiple Group 1 success was Kirsten Rausing, the breeder of dual Group 1 winner Zaaki (GB) (Leroidesanimaux {Brz}) and Don Goodwin, the breeder of reigning Australian Racehorse of the Year, Verry Elleegant (NZ) (Zed {NZ}), who also won two Group 1 races over the spring.

Overall, 15 of the 31 Group 1 races staged in Australia so far in 2021/22 have been won by either homebreds, or horses that weren't offered for public sale. That includes both Incentivise and Verry Elleegant, who were both privately part-sold early in their racing careers.

The stallions

The 27 individual Australian Group 1 winners so far this season are by 23 individual stallions, with four stallions having produced multiple elite-level winners.

Table: Leading stallions by Group 1 wins in Australia - 2021/22

Leading the way is Snitzel, who has three individual Group 1 winners through the spring, Wild Ruler, Yearning and In The Congo. They are three of his nation-leading 10 Australian stakes winners to date this season.

New Zealand's multiple Champion stallion Savabeel has had seven Australian stakes winners in 2021/22, including Group 1 winners Probabeel and Mo'unga. He is also the broodmare sire of G1 Flight S. winner Never Been Kissed.

Kermadec (NZ) has had two Group 1-winning daughters across the spring in Willowy and Montefilia, while Widden Stud's Nicconi has also had a pair of top-flight victories with Nature Strip and Graceful Girl.

Shamus Award has been put in the spotlight with the three Group 1 wins by Incentivise, while Zed (NZ) has continued to be given prominence by the wins of Verry Elleegant in the George Main S. and the Melbourne Cup.

The other stallion to notch multiple Group 1 success with the same horse was Zaaki's late sire Leroidesanimaux (Brz).

The late Redoute's Choice continues his strong influence as a broodmare sire among Australia's best thoroughbreds, with four individual Group 1 winners for the season so far from his daughters, Regal Power, Profondo, Hitotsu and Anamoe.

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Gallery: Group 1 winners in 2021/22 whose broodmare sire is Redoute’s Choice

The late Mungrup Stud-based stallion Metal Storm (Fr) is the other broodmare sire of multiple Group 1 winners this season, in the Peters'-bred pair in Graceful Girl and Superstorm.

Iglesia's influence as a damsire has been a remarkable aspect of the Incentivise story, while Danroad - through Verry Elleegant and Sadler's Wells (USA) - through Zaaki are the others to have featured as the damsire of the winner in multiple Group 1 races this spring.

There are 23 broodmare sires represented across the 27 individual Group 1 winners

Table: Leading broodmare sires by Group 1 wins in Australia - 2021/22

In the saddle

The likelihood of Brett Prebble being the equal-leading Group 1-winning jockey to this point of the season would have seemed fairly remote at the start of spring, but the veteran hoop seized his opportunities in the absence of some high-profile fellow hoops, to claim five Group 1 victories.

Table: Leading jockeys by Group 1 wins in Australia - 2021/22

Three of them were aboard Incentivise, while he also combined with Probabeel to win the G1 Might And Power S. and Behemoth (All Too Hard) in the G1 Memsie S.

James McDonald also rode five Group 1 winners, including a brilliant week at Flemington, where he won the G1 Coolmore Stud S. aboard Home Affairs (I Am Invincible), the Melbourne Cup aboard Verry Elleegant, the G1 Mackinnon S. on Zaaki and the G1 Darley Sprint Classic on Nature Strip.

Oliver rode four Group 1 winners, including three over the same week, while it was a spring to remember for Daniel Moor, who rode three elite-level winners, including his first in his long career aboard Sierra Sue (NZ) (Darci Brahma {NZ}) in the Sir Rupert Clarke S.

Regan Bayliss, William Pike and John Allen all won two Group 1 races, with Allen getting a feature double in the G1 Cox Plate on State Of Rest (Ire) (Starspangledbanner) and Hitotsu in the G1 VRC Derby.

Chris Waller leads the way, yet again, in terms of Group 1 victories, with four to date, one more than Annabel Neasham, Grant and Alana Williams, James Cummings and Peter Moody.

Table: Leading trainers by Group 1 wins in Australia - 2021/22

From the ring

In terms of yearling sales graduates, Tyreel Stud had another very good spring with two of its Group 1-winning graduates from last season, Behemoth and Montefilia, able to repeat the dose in 2022.

Arrowfield Stud also had two Group 1-winning sales graduates in Hitotsu and Profondo, while Yearning was withdrawn from the 2020 Inglis Easter Yearling Sale, and part-sold privately.

Waikato Stud is the other vendor to have multiple Group 1-winning graduates, with Probabeel and Mo'unga.

In terms of Group 1-winning graduates from particular yearling sales, Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale has four to date, Profondo, Hitotsu, Jonker (Spirit Of Boom) and Montefilia. There have been three from Inglis Easter Yearling Sale, In The Congo, Wild Ruler, and Home Affairs, and three from New Zealand Bloodstock's National Yearling Sale, Probabeel, Mo'unga and Sierra Sue.

The buyers who have the best record from those sales is the China Horse Club/Newgate colts' partnership, which selected both In The Congo and Wild Ruler.