Friday Flash – 14th February 2025


ZEDWILLDO in action – breaking Maidens – Mornington 6th December – Will Gordon aboard

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Headline News

Fortuna Owners Day 9th February a big success – with close to 100 attendees

Fortuna acquires lovely  Alabama Express  Filly at Inglis Classic Sale
 

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Fortuna has four runners this week – including a Group Two Contender

New Plymouth – Friday

HAYATE contests the R60 1800 event – Race 7 @ 4pm with Craig Grylls to ride from a mid field barrier – recent form does not make good reading, but up to a suitable trip and back to R60 Grade, she can make amends – TAB says “easier here – she is not out of this” – Showing $10/$3

Matamata – Saturday

MAROKOPA FALLS contests the Group 2 Matamata Breeders Stakes – Race 7 @ 4.02pm with Craig Grylls to ride from barrier  2. A strong debut winner at Trentham in early December and then a solid third placing in a Group 2 event at the same venue two weeks later – has done everything right since, has a beautiful draw, leading rider aboard – meets the Karaka Million winner and hot fave for this here, but can give this a real shake at good odds  – TAB says “gets a favourable alley – challenged by more formidable competitors – can measure up to this company” – Showing $7/$1.80

Flemington – Saturday

DREAMFLIGHT races in  the BM 78 event –  – Race 1 @ 12.15 Aus time (2.15pm NZT) pm with Shane Foley to ride from barrier  1. Having his second start in the Fortuna silks, he ran a fast finishing fifth at Mornington 22nd Jan 1600m –  a full brother to an Epsom Oaks winner and the 2024 Herbert Power Handicap winner, Herman Hesse, he will love this trip but it is a big step up in class for him – some rain is forecast which will suit – look for him to be running on strong at the end – TAB is gloomy saying “Fitter but unlikely to threaten” – Showing $81/$13

Bendigo – Saturday

LEADERBOARD resumes in the Marong Cup over 2200m – Race 8 @ 5.11 Aus time (7.11pm NZT) pm with apprentice Sage Duric (daughter of Vlad) to ride from barrier 8. Has had a perfect preparation with four jumpouts ahead of this and for a 10-year-old he is showing remarkable zip, having won both of his last two jumpouts over 1400m – does prefer sting out of the track and may not get that on Saturday, but his form leading into this event is hard to fault – he is of course preparing for the upcoming jumping season and this is a resuming run on the flat- TAB says “This looks too tough” – No Odds showing yet

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Trackwork – Fortuna Runners

No timed Fortuna runners trackwork this week

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Other News
 

Fortuna Owners Day 9th February a big success – with close to 100 attendees

Lovely weather, a big group of attendees, some great horseflesh and convivial hospitality all combined to make a great occasion on our Annual Owners day. Held in mid December in the past, it was postponed to early February this year and this worked very well as the mid December date often clashed with other Christmas functions for many and the new date gave us the opportunity to parade our new Savabeel – Lady Tatia Filly that we had acquired at Karaka late January. So we have decided to stick with this early Feb date for future Owners Days

John and Jessica welcomed their guests and summarised the 2024 year, a year in which we saw the very unfortunate closure of Singapore Racing but also the rising success of the new Cranbourne facility of Te Akau racing, with 7 of the 24 Fortuna winners emanating in Victoria including 3 Stakes Race wins for Bellatrix Star

Click HERE to see the 2024 Fortuna winners montage – this is a Video reel showing the closing stages of each of our 24 wins in 2024

We also presented a couple of Awards on the day, the first one being for the Fortuna client who had the most individual winners for the year and that went to David “Flash” Gordon with 20 wins in what was a tight finish. The second Award was for the “Fortuna Stalwart of The Year” and  that went to Ken Reid – well done to you both

We paraded all of the Matamata based horses on the day and all presented in great order, including the new Savabeel Filly, who despite only being a yearling and still not broken in, paraded like an old professional – still 6.5% left in her -click HERE to see full details

The Savabeel – Lady Tatia Filly

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Fortuna Racing acquires Yearling Filly by Alabama Express at Inglis Classic Sale

  1. Early Foal and early running type, she should be making her 2yo race debut in the Spring of 2025

  2. By the Young Stallion, ALABAMA EXPRESS, who is really making his mark with just two crops racing

  3. This Filly will remain in Australia and  be trained by Multiple time Champion Trainer Mark Walker of  at Cranbourne in Victoria

  4. She is to be registered for the Inglis Race Series, carrying Bonuses of several Million Dollars (see more detail below)

We are taking expressions of interest – shares available down to 1% – NZ$1700 for each 1% share and NZ$60 per month from 1 April 2025 – Click HERE to register interest

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Yearling Filly by Alabama Express out of Camila Lucinda

The great news is we made a purchase relatively early on Day One of the Inglis Classic Sale in Sydney today, that being Lot 92 – the Yearling Filly by Alabama Express 

Some background – Mark Walker and I had been working together on a list over the last few days before the sal with Mark being over at the sales grounds and me here in New Zealand – we finished up with a shortlist today of five horses, one Colt and four Fillies all of whom had been vetted and passed  – the first one on our list was lot 86, a Colt by Stay Inside and he went for well over our budget as we thought may be the case  – lot 92 was then the next cab off the rank and I have to tell you that when Mark and I spoke on the phone on sales morning, while we would have been very happy to secure any of the five lots including lot 86, Mark kept reiterating that his number one pick of the five from the day was lot 92 – so anyway as luck would have it we secured her, we did have to stretch and we were on our last bid, but she was knocked down to us for A$100,000 and Mark and I are both over the moon as she is a real quality Filly – Click HERE to see the link to her Sales Page and at this link you will see her pre sale parade where she exhibits a great walk, a key consideration when we are working on our lists

Pedigree – She is by the young Sire, Alabama Express, a Sire Son of Redoutes Choice, and a Group One winning racehorse, whose oldest progeny are now 3yo’s. Alabama Express got his first crop off to a flyer, with (in Australia) 9 of his 18 first crop 2yo’s winning and his winner to starter ratio being the highest of the top 10 first season Sires. On this side of the Tasman he was two starters for two winners including the very talented Alabama Lass, who has continued her very good two  year-old form into her three-year-old season, with wins at Group 3 and Group 2 level to win and two Group 1 seconds. So far in his 2ndseason at stud, Alabama Express, in Aus, has sired 18 winners from 56 starters, including the Group One VRC Oaks winner, Treasure The Moment  and on this side of the Tasman, he is two winners from five starters.

The dam, Camila Lucinda, is by Lope de Vega, whom we love as a Stallion and who is shaping as a very good broodmare Sire – she won 4 times over sprint trips and has one foal to the races (Perfect Beth, by Grunt) who has won over 1100m as a 2yo.

Physical Type, a 1st Sept foal, she is a filly of above average medium size and is particularly well developed in her hind quarters – she is deep through the girth and impresses as a type who is already well matured and looks as if she will be an early runner – Mark just loved her big bold walk and her early maturity. Click HERE to see her parading just after we bought her with comments from Mark  – as you will hear Mark say,  he is very impressed with her physical size, her big powerful hindquarters and her lovely walk

Ongoing plans – she will now head to Victoria, where she will agist at our local spelling farm for 4 weeks or so, then get broken in after which she will have her first stable prep at Cranbourne under the watchful eye of Mark and Assistant Trainer, Ben Gleeson. A nice initial target for her in the Spring would be the Inglis Banner down the Flemington Chute over 1100m, a Listed event for A$400k, run on the last Day of the Cup Carnival in Melbourne

Inglis Race Series – this is a real incentive for us – she will be eligible to run in all of these races – see the info below;

PURSE RACE AGE / DISTANCE VENUE ELIGIBLE GRADS
$400,000 RL Inglis BANNER 2YOs 1000m Flemington, VIC All Nominated Graduates
$400,000 RL Inglis NURSERY 2YOs 1000m Royal Randwick, NSW All Nominated Graduates
$2,000,000 RL Inglis MILLENNIUM 2YOs 1100m Royal Randwick, NSW All Nominated Graduates
$200,000 Inglis CHALLENGE 2YOs 1100m Scone, NSW All Nominated Graduates
$250,000 Inglis BRACELET 3YOs & Older Fillies and Mares 1600m Flemington, VIC All paid up female Graduates of present and past Race Series
$750,000 Inglis SPRINT 3YOs 1200m Flemington, VIC All Nominated Graduates

And as well as the prize money and the bonuses on offer for the above races, which are obviously won by the elite 2yo’s, there is also the bonus series below which is essentially 50 Maiden races right across all states of Australia run throughout the season with $100,000 bonus to the winner.

INGLIS XTRA BONUS SERIES

$5,000,000 Bonus Series that will see 50 Maidens incentivised with a $100,000 bonus to the winner.

But wait there is more – there is a really interesting bonus called the Inglis Pink bonus and any horse that has a 75% female ownership is eligible for the Pink bonus which is awarded to the first runner home 9in Pink Bonus Races) who is pink bonus qualified – to put that in perspective on Saturday at Randwick, we saw the running of the $2 million Millennium incidentally, won by a horse who was acquired at the Classic sale last year and there was only one Pink bonus qualified runner in the race. She finished about sixth and the bonus, believe it or not was A$400,000 to her connections – even if she’d run last she still would have collected this A$400k because she was the only qualifier  – so my plan as we fill this syndicate is  for our Male clients take shares in the name of their  wife or partner – that way I am reasonably sure that we can get to the 75% female threshold

Financials – She will be fully syndicated for NZ$170k, this includes her purchase price, Australian GST of 10%, Promoters fees, Inglis series fee, insurance to 31st of January 2026 and working capital of over $12,000   –  a 10% share is NZ$17000, a 5% share NZ$8,500, 2.5% share is NZ$4,250 and 1% is NZ$1700 with monthly fees starting 1 April 2025 at $60 per month per each 1% share

Shares Filling quickly – register interest at the link HERE or call John direct 021 921 460

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Guest Selector – Des Coppins

Des’ selections for his regular subscribers produced a great result at Te Aroha on Wednesday with You Know, one of two selections in the race, winning at odds of $39 – and that was the 3rd leg of the Quaddie (which paid $10k) and all four winners were in Des’ two selections for each race. Not a bad result for those who boxed the selections for a total outlay of $16

Here is what Des has for our readers this week

Greetings John and followers of Fortuna.

And good luck if you have a share in any of the Fortuna team going around this weekend in NZ or Australia.

A quick recap on last week where all three runners ran in the top 4 and the horse that ran 4th December, was part of the messy start in the last race at Te Rapa and the effort was simply huge! He will keep for sure.
Let’s turn our attention to what should be another stellar race day at Te Rapa.
Here are three to watch over the weekend and keep in mind for the rest of the summer/autumn.

Mosinvader, race 9 at Matamata

His second up run was three or four lengths better than the first run of the season and to finish the final 600 and 400  when finishing  third in a quicker time than the super star winner, Orchestral, tells the full story.
There’s no doubt his best form will come when he steps over further than Saturdays 1600m but being reasonably fresh should ensure we get a great sight nonetheless.
Last season he ran second over 2000m in the Waikato Guineas.

What You Wish For, race 8

All his three runs this season have been okay in three black type races when finishing 9th, 8th and 6th. He’s been better than the 5th quickest to the line with  the final sectionals in each of these runs over distances no more than 1600m. On Saturday he steps out to 2000m and this will suit this former Waikato Guineas placegetter.
It’s good to see Craig Grylls reunited. He’s had two rides on him for a win and a placing.

Foxglove, race 2

She’s quality make no mistake despite the last lapse at Ellerslie when the money piled on. She didn’t really hit out and the fluency in action wasn’t there. She’s too good to let go. The stable is flying as well we all know and they wouldn’t have missed a beat ensuring she won’t repeat that unexpected Ellerslie run.

Good punting folks!

Des Coppins

021 448 052
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