Fortuna Annual Owners Day 2024
Date – Sunday 9th February
Venue – “The Gazebo” – Matamata Racecourse
Time – 1pm – 4pm
Our very popular annual event where we celebrate the year’s successes, enjoy the conviviality of each others company and we parade all of the Fortuna horses based at the Matamata Stables
It is important that you register for this event if attending – you can do this by emailing jessica@fortuna-nz.com – please note that if you had registered for the Owners Day in December, it is important that you re-register for the new date – we need this for catering purposes
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Headline News
DREAMFLIGHT impresses on his Fortuna debut
Karaka Yearling Sales kick off on Sunday
Fortuna has four runners this Saturday and Monday
Riccarton – Saturday
ANGELS WINGS contests the R65 1200 down the Riccarton Chute – Race 4 @ 1.34 pm and will be ridden by the very experienced French jockey, Marc Lerner. Resumed at New Plymouth 27/12 for a solid 3rd placing. Doesn’t win out of turn but is a good each way chance here. TAB says “Zipped home into 3rd last start – meets a stronger field here – Goes close” – Showing $5/1.95
HAYATE races in the R65 1800 – Race 10 @5.20pm with Ace Lawson-Carroll to ride from a wide barrier – resumed at Otaki 1400m off a long break but was the victim of a poorly judged ride and finished back in field. 1800 will suit but will need some luck in the running – should be running home strongly. – Showing $18/5.50
Tauranga – Monday
SAILING AWAY races in the R60 2100m event – Race 4 @ 1.57pm with Wiremu Pinn to ride from a mid field barrier – has disappointed last two starts in the South Island but back to Rating 60 grade here, he gets a chance to redeem – watch the tote – no odds showing yet
COURT OF APPEAL contests the R65 1600 – Race 9 @ 4.52 pm and will be ridden by Wiremu Pinn from a good barrier – is resuming after last racing at Wanganui 23rd Nov – a natural staying type, she can run the 1600 well in a fresh up state – can feature in the finish – no odds showing yet
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Trackwork – Fortuna Runners
Riccarton Tuesday 21stHayate (C Stumbles) galloped over an easy 1200 metres in 1.26.2, home in 36.7.
Cranbourne Tuesday 21st
West Indies (L Winks) galloped over 800 metres in 55.7, home in 37.5.
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Other News
DREAMFLIGHT impresses on his Fortuna debut
The Fortuna Racing six year-old Dreamflight, an impressive winner of his jump out at Cranbourne on Monday 13th of January, produced a solid resuming effort when rattling home from the back of the field for a fast finishing fifth placing over 1600m on the tight Mornington track. Dreamflight, a son of the worlds’s No 1 Stallion, Frankel and a full brother to the 2024 Epsom Oaks winner, Soul Sister, had been acquired by his previous owners for A$500,000 after winning twice in France, had failed to win in Sydney for them and so was offered for sale in September 2024 on the Inglis digital site and was picked up by Fortuna Racing for just A$30,000 and transferred to trainer Mark Walker at the Te Akau Racing Stables at Cranbourne in Victoria where a change of training methods and a more relaxed open environment has seen Dreamflight go from strength to strength and he seems to have a promising future.
Fortuna Racing’s John Galvin, watching the Mornington race from his home in Hamilton, New Zealand was impressed with what he saw “that was a pretty good effort” he said after the race “we knew we had an in form galloper, but figured that the 1600m race was going to be too short for him as he is a natural staiying type and also he probably wouldn’t be suited by the tight turning Mornington track, however he relaxed nicely at the back of the field and his rider, Shane Foley, had him traveling beautifully and when asked for an effort at the top of the street, he rattled home strongly – it was very pleasing to see”
Click HERE to see the race result and replay
With that run under his belt Dreamflight will now step up to a more suitable 2000 meter trip and that will be on the big roomy Flemington track Saturday 15th of February.
DREAMFLIGHT (By Frankel out of Dream Peace)
Of further interest is that we have a very similar type in Colour Sergeant who is about a month behind Dreamflight in his preparation, coming along nicely – like Dreamflight Colour Sergeant is European bred (by Kingman, rated the 8th best Stallion in the world) and a natural staying type, has won 4 races in New South Wales, but like Dreamflight, had fallen out of form at his previous stable and so his ownership group put him up for sale on Inglis Digital where we picked him up for just A$15k after Mark and I had identified him as being an ideal type for the Cranbourne set up and the Victorian staying races
On arriving at Cranbourne, Mark and Ben got to work on him, the first thing they did was take his shoes off and he has been worked without shoes since, his hooves have now grown out and are beautifully healthy, he has done a lot of work on the treadmill and he just loves the sand dune track at Cranbourne, which provides a deep sand going and an uphill gallop, just perfect for these staying types.
Click HERE to see Colour Sergeant on Wednesday with comments from Ben – as you will see he is a lovely type, his coat is great, he moves well and is due to have his first jumpout at Cranbourne this Monday 27th Jan. Still some shares left at just $510 for each 1% and $60 per month from 1 Feb – don’t miss him – down to a Rating of just 61, he will be v ery competitive when he gets to the races in about four weeks time!!!
Shares can be ordered from the link HERE and full details about him can be seen at this link
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Karaka Yearling Sales kick off on Sunday
Yes it’s that time of the year again where the New Zealand Bloodstock yearling sale at Karaka gets to show the cream of the crop with three days of selling from Book one and a further two days of Book 2 and a total of 1088 lots being presented
The Te Akau team of David Ellis, Mark Walker, Reece Trumper and Marcus Corban conducted physical inspections from Tuesday to Thursday of this week and have drawn up a reasonably long shortlist of potential candidates to be vetted ahead of the sale – as always Fortuna will be searching for “value” and buying to budget and so out of that list, Mark and David have identified a number of candidates that they think will make the Fortuna budget. I will be present at the sale and look forward to catching up with any of our Fortuna clients who are attending also – soon after we secure any lots we will put out our usual “breaking news” update. The sale will be streamed live from the New Zealand Blood Stock website and as always it makes fascinating watching.
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Shares For Sale
Read all about our very latest Magic Millions Gold Coast Sale acquisition – the Russian Revolution Filly, below
Shares can be acquired direct from our website link HERE
About The Russian Revolution-Artistic Lass Filly
Physical Type
Beautiful Yearling Filly by a proven Stallion in Russian Revolution and out of the five time winning racemare, Artistic Lass, who paraded well with a great walk and exhibited a very even temperament, she is a September foal and looks to be an “early runner.”
Click HERE to see her parading ahead of the Sale
Yearling Filly by Russian Revolution out of Artistic Lass
Pedigree
By the proven Stallion Russian Revolution – the leading first season stallion in the 2020/21 season and the Sire of 175 winner, including 11 Stakes winners and out of the five time winning racemare Artistic Lass, who is a half sister to the Group Two and Group 3 winners, Sistine Angel and Sistine Demon – this is a strong pedigree page
Click HERE to see her pedigree
John says
“I love it when we can buy the progeny of proven Australian Stallions within our budget. Russian Revolution was an exceptional racehorse, winning seven times on the track and has already left a number of very good race horses including the Group One Randwick Guineas winner, Communist“
Mark Walker says
“John, Lot 170 from the Magic Millions sale is a beautiful Russian Revolution Filly out of the five time winning Myboycharlie racemare, Artistic Lass – she is a lovely walking Filly, very athletic. I think this Filly will be an early runner and make a really nice two-year-old with the scope to train on to be a good three-year-old – there is some really good two-year-old form in the family – I thought she was particularly good buying at A$100,000 Australian and we are excited to have her joining our stable”
David Ellis says
“John, this Russian Revolution Filly caught our attention during inspections, she is an early foal (8th September) of good medium size, very strong, has a lovely free flowing walk, vetted perfectly and is exceptional value at A$100k – once again you have managed to secure a quality Filly within your budget range”
She is now registered for the Magic Millions Race Series – this is a Series now worth over A$15m – here are the races she will be eligible to be nominated for at the Magic Million’s Race Days
- January 2026 – the A$3m Magic Millions Classic for 2yo’s 1200m
- May 2026 – the A$1m National 2yo Classic 1000m
- January 2027 – the A$3m Magic Millions Guineas
- January 2027 – the A$3m 1100m 3yo Sprint
- Subsequent years she will be eligible for any of the A$1m races for older horses on the Magic Millions Carnival Day
Note that only horses that have been acquired at a MM Sale and have been enrolled for the Race Series are eligible to be nominated for these races
Terms
- Shares available right down to 1%.
- 10% share $18,600, 5% share $9,300, 2.5% share $4,650, 1% share $1860 – with ongoing costs from 1 April 2025 @$50 per month per each 1% share
- Initial Capital includes Purchase Price, NZ GST on entry to NZ, Promoters fees, Insurance to 31 Jan 2026, Magic Millions Race Series Fee, Airfreight to NZ and working capital of over $13k
- Monthly ongoing costs from 1st April 2025 – from that date ongoing costs are – 10% share $500 per month – 5% share $250 per month – 2.5% share $125 per month – 1% share $50 per month.
- Monthly ongoing costs can alternatively be paid up to 12 months in advance as an option for subscribers by Bank Payment or Credit Card
Shares can be acquired direct from our website link HERE
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Guest Selector – Des Coppins
Good morning John and Fortuna followers
While the curtain falls on a very busy Trentham summer the top racing continues for the next 3 months beginning with the big dance at Ellerslie on Saturday.
A quick wind up from last Saturday.
At 30 to one we were dead stiff with the Cup hopeful Trav who botched the start terribly, losing a conservative 12 lengths before finishing 4th, less than 3 lengths from Wolfgang. Take nothing away from the winner but Trav was clearly unlucky.
Trav was to be ridden by Lisa Allpress who sadly had to be replaced after snapping her leg in three places following a major incident with her mount Hickory Stick at the barrier. I’ve kept contact with her through husband Karl and readers can be assured she went home from the Wellington hospital on Tuesday and she’s as comfortable as can be under the circumstances with the watchful eye of her family and medics.
The racing industry certainly wishes her all the best in her recovery.
Let’s focus on Ellerslie.
What a day/night it’ll be.
My three horses to watch out for are:
Mary Shan in Westbury Classic:
Her run the other day at Ellerslie was huge.
She looked be travelling sweetly into the straight but hit a road block and had to be steered off runners a couple of times by rider Michael McNab to find clear air. By the time she found daylight the race was over.
She’s clearly back to the form that perched her right up with the best fillies last term and she will jump from barrier one and McNab will not waste the opportunity of pinging her out of the gates and riding her positively to take full advantage of the draw.
Two others to follow at Ellerslie are in the same race, the Railway.
I’m keen on the two fillies, Captured By Love and Alabama Lass.
They get a huge pull in the weights and both not only have a decent turn of foot at either the start or at the end of their races but both represent the highest class as their records show.
Both fillies have freshened well since last racing and they caught the eye in separate trial wins at Matamata a week or so ago.
I can’t separate them and I’ll be backing them both.
Good punting!
Ps if you’d like to be included in my individual email tipping service for the next 3 months the cost is $240 ( gst inclusive) and as a bonus you’ll have this Saturday ex gratis along with the rest of January. Simply email me dcoppins@xtra.co.nz and join in the fun.
Des Coppins
021 448 052
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