There’s enough evidence in Pride Of Jenni’s (Pride of Dubai) pedigree to suggest the star mare can run out a strong 2000m in Saturday’s Australian Cup, according to her breeder.
Trelawney Stud’s Brent Taylor has watched in awe as the daughter of Pride Of Dubai has emerged as a bonafide star this season via Group One wins in the Empire Rose Stakes (1600m) and Champions Mile (1600m) last spring, as well as the All-Star Mile (1600m) at her most recent start.
Pride Of Jenni’s family is one that Taylor and his wife Cherry have been curating over several generations at the famed New Zealand thoroughbred nursery.
It began with the purchase of Success Express mare Real Success after a brilliant racing career that yielded three Stakes wins between 1600m and 2000m.
From Real Success, the Taylors bred and raced Queensland Oaks winner Vouvray (NZ), by Zabeel, and her daughter Sancerre (NZ), by O’Reilly.
Sancerre won four races out to 2200m and was tried at Group One level in the 2014 Queensland Oaks (2400m), although it’s her deeds as the dam of Pride Of Jenni that have surpassed anything she did on the track.
Taylor is bullish that Pride Of Jenni can continue her winning run in Saturday’s A$3 million weight-for-age classic at Flemington.
“It’ll be interesting to see how she (Pride Of Jenni) gets on over the 2000m on Saturday,” Taylor said.
“Certainly the pedigree further back says she will see a strong 2000m out on her ear.
“But horses are individuals, so we’ll see how she gets on of her own account.
“We won the Queensland Oaks with a mare called Vouvray out of the family.
“Pride Of Jenni’s dam Sancerre actually ran in the Queensland Oaks as well but it turned out she was more of a sprinter and far more effective over 1200m and 1400m.”
The decision to send Sancerre to Coolmore Stud’s then-first season sire Pride Of Dubai for her debut mating has proved an inspired one, although Taylor admits it’s not a formula he’s traditionally followed.
A brilliant juvenile who won the Blue Diamond and the Sires’ Produce at two, Pride Of Dubai has steadily established himself as one of the country’s premier stallions via the deeds of his versatile stock that, as well as Pride Of Jenni, includes G1 winners Bella Nipotina, Dubai Honour and Desert Lightning (NZ).
Taylor said Pride Of Jenni was a standout from her earliest days, prompting the decision to send her to Australia to sell via Segenhoe Stud’s draft at the 2019 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale in Sydney.
“We don’t normally go to first-season stallions but, having been to Coolmore to see the horse as an individual, we were very taken with him,” he said.
“He was a very good racehorse and we liked the pedigree cross – it’s one we’ve replicated using Per Incanto here in New Zealand.
“We thought she was a very good individual from an early stage and we selected her to sell in Australia.
“We sell the majority of our yearlings in New Zealand, so to hit the radar to sell in Australia they have to come up on style, type and pedigree.
“She was a really good type – she was medium size with good length, good quarters and nice bone, so she was an attractive-looking filly.”
Sancerre’s career at stud has been littered with misfortune but Taylor is optimistic that a yearling filly out of the mare can live up to her big sister’s reputation.
“She’s (Sancerre) not the greatest breeder but we’ve got a very nice Per Incanto filly, which we’ve kept,” he said.
“She’s a yearling and currently at the breakers at the moment.
“There’s quite a nice three-year-old by Per Incanto in with Tony Pike called Awatere (NZ) – he’s won from only a handful of starts and looks a very progressive horse.
“She’s back in foal to Hello Youmzain.”
