For rider Michael Walker, the Graeme Rogerson-Stephen Autridge stable, and six owners, the victory of Taatletail in the One Thousand Guineas was a triumph.
But for Macau-based international breeder Deborah Ho it was, at best, a mixed blessing. Ho has for 20 years invested millions of dollars in an effort to
breed top-level winners, largely in New Zealand.
The One Thousand Guineas was her first group one breeding success but by a filly she had sold for less than $30,000 and from a mare she culled from her breeding band for $12,500 two years ago.
"Deborah will be pleased to have bred to group one level but I suppose there is some downside for her," said Cherry Taylor, who has acted for Ho in New Zealand for two decades.
Ho, whose father established racing in Macau, has 12 high-class broodmares and breeds to international jet-set stallions like Giants Causeway and Rock Of Gibraltar. Their fees this season were A$93,000 ($109,000) and A$132,000 respectively.
But the little Faltaat filly Taatletail, who fought so strongly to beat Kainui Belle on Saturday, has so far outmatched all of them in track performance.
Taatletail had the help of a formidable backing team for the $275,000 feature.
Trainer Stephen Autridge and stable travelling foreman Ali Robinson have ridden Two Thousand Guineas winners, on Altitude and Clansman respectively, while Walker, posting his first guineas' success, virtually stole the race with his front-running tactics.
Walker originally intended to sit behind the pace but with a shortage of pacemakers decided to press on for the lead.
He then got away with a soft mid-race pace and the overall winning time of 1:37.64 for the 1600m was one of the race's slowest times recorded on a fast track.
Kainui Belle loomed up to Taatletail at the top of the straight and they drew clear to fight out the finish with Taatletail prevailing by half a neck. An unsung southerner, Unearthed, ran on for third, three lengths from second.
Walker, a more polished rider since a stint in Hong Kong, preferred to deflect any credit to the filly.
"She dictated it really," Walker said. "I didn't have to ease her when she got to the front. She just went to sleep herself. I was having to slap her on the neck to keep her going."
Walker maintained the winning margin over Kainui Belle, who had to work harder early from a wide draw, could have been misleading.
"My filly was running away from the rail. If she had gone straight she would have won much more easily."
Taatletail had had a foot problem but Robinson was not unduly worried about it.
"We put an extra large boot on the foot to treat a stone bruise. It looked a lot worse than it was."
Taatletail is the latest in a remarkable run of cheaper fillies Rogerson has taken to group one success. Perhaps the best he has trained, Grand Archway, cost less than $35,000 and so did Polar Success, his Golden Slipper winner last year.
Rogerson usually likes to keep his younger horses busier than Taatletail has been, but Autridge wanted to be more conservative and a foot problem which flared up some weeks ago curtailed her racing.
"I did not even nominate for the Two Thousand Guineas [run on Wednesday] in case there was a temptation to run her in it," he said.
Taatletail is owned by Rogerson in partnership with Brian Foster, Peter Glover, Russell Just, Dan McLuckie and Paul Meo.
The horse was syndicated by Cherry Taylor whose husband, Brent, owns Dominatrix, a brilliant winner of the Pegasus Stakes earlier in the day for the Paul O'Sullivan stable.
Taatletail's dam Defensive Lady was bred by Sir Patrick and Justine Hogan from a strong staying family which suggests the New Zealand Oaks distance of 2400m will not worry Taatletail. Ho bought the mare for $50,000 as a yearling.
The Oaks is run at Trentham in January but a more immediate target is the group one $200,000 Bayer Classic (1600m) at Otaki on November 27.
Jockey Leith Innes thought the difference in barrier draws (Taatletail No 4 and Kainui Belle No 16) made a large contribution to Kainui Belle's gallant effort to run down Taatletail.
"The other filly had it all going for her," Innes said. "I thought briefly I had her around 300m out but my filly had done a bit too much."
Kainui Belle will back up in the Two Thousand Guineas on Wednesday against a big field which includes Coup Timaru, a runner for sponsor Ray Coupland.
Coup Timaru, again highly impressive winning in a lower grade on Saturday for the Michael Pitman stable, looks well capable of measuring up to the higher grade on Wednesday.
Coupland had three successes on Saturday. Coup Morgan, leased to Peter Lyons, is trained by John and Karen Parsons.
The third was the Mark Walker- trained Coup Dean.
- NZPA
For rider Michael Walker, the Graeme Rogerson-Stephen Autridge stable, and six owners, the victory of Taatletail in the One Thousand Guineas was a triumph.
But for Macau-based international breeder Deborah Ho it was, at best, a mixed blessing. Ho has for 20 years invested millions of dollars in an effort to
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