b4breeding

Nostalgic means looking back with yearning affection to the past. But my new mare Nostalgic Franco is all about me looking to the future with interest.

I managed to tie my hands behind my back and not buy a weanling at the recent Weanling and All Aged sales in Auckland and Christchurch….but I couldn’t resist this mare.

Nostalgic Franco

She’s from a family that has been well regarded and has produced some classy horses. Her dam’s half sister Nevermore was a very good 2yo filly whose career went through to 4yo and ended up with $124,712. Other good ones from the close family are Franco Nester, Chancellor Cullen, and Natal Franco (who is the dam of the 3yo Art Major filly Princess Arts).

As Don Wright wrote in the Southland Times in 2012 in an article about Franco Nelson, who is from a branch of the wider family:

If bloodlines count for anything, the boom youngster has much to live up to, being out of Notafella Franco, a Falcon Seelster mare from the stout branch of the Trilby taproot that produced two New Zealand Cup winners in world harness racing’s first millionaire Cardigan Bay and Globe Bay.

Franco Nelson has gone on to win over half a million, including a second to Adore Me in last year’s New Zealand Cup.

The family has become quite sprawling in its branches, and as usual not all of them will fire consistently. Many seem to produce just one really good one, but there is enough in the deeper and wider family to catch my interest. Will this branch throw up some really top horses? That’s my challenge.

Nostalgic Franco is a 13yo mare by Rustler Hanover out of a Falcon Seelster mare. Rustler Hanover is a son of the great mare Rich N Elegant and with bloodlines to die for as a damsire. He has clicked well with Falcon Seelster mares in America (of the 16 foals on that cross, 25% of them have won $100,000+).

Nostalgic Franco had a win and a couple of placings from just 8 races and showed a bit of ability before she threw herself on the track one day and hurt her back. She was put aside to heal, and with the numbers of new ones coming along at Spreydon Lodge, she never was a priority to get back to the races and ended up being bred from. She’s had 7 foals, 5 of racing age, for 3 to race and 2 winners to date, including 7-win Franco Nadal (although he is an accumulator rather than a brilliant horse). Franco Nikau (Lis Mara) won his first three races for Steven Reid and Simon McMullan, but he struggled a bit since going up in the grades or maybe he has some niggles. There are some potentially nice ones in the pipeline like the Bettor’s Delight 4yo mare who qualified very well late last year, a couple of Changover fillies, and a Gotta Go Cullen weanling. So apart from the Bettor’s Delight, it is very much a Nevele R/Spreydon Lodge pedigree.

What really sold me on Nostalgic Franco is that she’s in foal to Tintin In America, and if you look at that match you can see why I might be interested. Normally I don’t go for simplistic double-ups, but these are very nice ones and beautifully structured. I have already bred a Rustler Hanover mare Sophie’s Choice to Tintin In America and we’ve got a strong, well conformed weanling colt (ownership shared with Lynda Mellsop and Ann Claridge).

So for just $1,150 I’ve got a well-bred mare in foal to a sire that I think will really suit. She’s based at Macca Lodge with my other mare Dreamy Romance, who is due to foal to Big Jim.

Where to with Nostalgic Franco this coming season? I’m taking a close look at the newcomer Sunshine Beach as a match – I’d be interested in what you think.