b4breeding

The Manawatu track in Palmerston North is a tight track that can favour the inside runners or the swoopers if the pace has been too frenetic. But over a mile and first up for the Tintin In America filly American Flybye tonight (after a significant spell with not even a workout to her name) it went awry and she faded badly after having a one-one sit for most of the way. Hard to tell why, I watched if she was giving Scotty Phelan a hard drive, but he disguised it well if she was. The Tintins can be keen and eager to get on with it sometimes. I just hope nothing has gone wrong with her. Fitness for a mile is something else these days, isn’t it. There is no room for using a race as a workout if you are the favourite.

In this case the bickies went deservedly to a 6yo tough mare Kilkeel Lady, trained by Colin Butler and bred by the Greaves, who is a Sutter Hanover x Miss Abigail mare. In turn Miss Abigail is from Janet Harlyn, a good broodmare who won 5 herself and then produced tough durable horses like Pegasus Bee Bee (9 wins, 13 seconds from 85 starts), Janine’s Delight (4 wins), Jessica Nicole (5 wins), the very good Dashing Dave (10 wins, 16 places and $74,518 from 66 starts), and then Miss Abigail.

Kilkeel Lady is her second foal, and that means there are a few more in the wings, including Emerson Margaret by Gotta Go Cullect (trained by Steven Reid and Simon McMullan, 22 starts, 1 win, 2 places to date), a 3yo Grinfromeartoear filly, a 2yo Big Jim filly, and a Gotta Go Cullect yearling filly.  While I might not hold my breath for them as early types (although the Big Jim one will be interesting), the family has credentials as showing up tough and durable as they age. And that is a treasure in today’s quick-and-then-gone world.