Manning Valley Ideal for Sea Change for Horse Breeders

08-12-2011

BLESSED like his owner – trainer Jim Delaney with an iron constitution, the 4-year-old Floral Dynamite gelding Floral Insight was having his seventeenth start and sixth win since mid May when he came with a powerful burst on the inside to win the 1000m event on Wednesday’s Warwick Farm program. In rolling the $1.65 favourite Skateboard, Floral Insight registered 0:56.96 for trip and a last 600m of 0:33.80 on the dead 4 surface.

It was only his second visit to Sydney, the other resulting in a second at Randwick on Melbourne Cup day. All other outings bar one, an appearance at Muswellbrook, have been on the NSW mid coast and besides the five earlier wins have included ten minor placings.

All those earlier wins were at the strong country racing centre of Taree, one which is across the road from where Jim and his wife Celia, also breeder and owner of Floral Insight, live. They earlier had a stud on country at Muswellbrook acquired by the coal industry.

Jim’s success in Sydney this week was the second one away from the mid coast in five days for progeny of Floral Insight’s sire Floral Dynamite, a Danehill winner of six races in Hong Kong and a second placegetter in the Group1 Hong Kong Gold Cup who stands in the Taree region, Ian McRobert’s Tareena stud at Tinonee. Also a 4-year-old, the other is the mare Hayley Rose and she was recording her fourth win in ten outings when she won at Ashburton in New Zealand on Friday.

Hayley Rose and Floral Insight are two of the eight foals from the tiny book of eight mares Floral Dynamite looked after in his first season in 2006. Seven have raced and five have won.  Also lightly used in subsequent seasons, Floral Dynamite is one of two sons of Danehill in the Taree region who have had progeny successful in the past two weeks. The other is the impressively bred Home On The Grange and he too is rising above restricted opportunity to make his presence felt in north coast racing, including three winners in the past fortnight, Homenow (first crop 6yo) succeeding at Port Macquarie on November 29 and then two, Island Dane (6yo) and Lotsa Loban (5yo), providing a double at Taree on December 5.  Island Dane has now won ten races, including an appearance at Gosford and in the Wingham Cup; Lotsa Lobban has been successful in six and second in nine, one of them at Wyong; and Homenow has five wins and five seconds, one of them at Gosford, on the board.

So far Home On The Grange has had 25 starters for 12 winners and four placegetters.Two of the recent winners are the unbeaten Curley Mac (2yo gelding), turner in of brilliant efforts at Grafton and Kempsey in November, and Dansiri (3yo filly), successful by 1.8 lengths at Taree on October 25, her only outing to date.  Dansiri races out of the David Atkins stables at Broadmeadow, Newcastle for seven owners including her breeder Steve Fell of Oxley Island Thoroughbreds. He stands Home On The Grange (fee $1800), a winner of three races at sprint distances, one on debut at Yarra Valley in Victoria by five lengths, on his Oxley Island stud.

Only a few minutes drive from the sea, Oxley Island lies between the two forks that provide outlets to the ocean for the magnificent Manning river, one which also serves the home of Floral Dynamite, and also Ian Smith’s Edinburgh Stud, the one on which he bred world champion sprinter Silent Witness (18 wins from 29 outings, Hong Kong International Sprint twice and Japan’s top sprint) and his classy younger half-sister Sister Madly.  The Manning River valley, the home for a strong contingent of trainers, including Bindi Cheers, owner and trainer of Lucky Elmo (20 starts at two) and Quadri (ran 131 times for 16 wins), could be a great region for a sea change and to breed and race in a small or big way. 

Courtesy of Brian Russell Bloodstock Media Services