De Armas Delivers Boost for Bargain Broodmare

by Richard Edmunds - Raceform

Cambria Park paid just $1400 to buy Regal Winks last year, and now the Rip Van Winkle mare is the dam of an unbeaten and stakes-winning juvenile.

Regal Winks has been thrust into the spotlight by De Armas, who followed a five-length debut victory at Otaki in September with an impressive performance to take out the Listed Counties Challenge Stakes at Pukekohe. The Johno Benner-trained filly is now favourite for the Karaka Millions 2YO in January.

Cambria Park, who bought Regal Winks from the Elsdon Park Reduction & Dewar Partnership Dispersal Sale on Gavelhouse Plus last June, will also offer a half-brother to De Armas during the upcoming National Yearling Sale at Karaka.

“It’s nice when you get a bit of luck like that and just a really pleasant surprise,” Cambria Park’s Fraser Jones told RaceForm.

“We bought the mare because she was in foal to Banquo. I’d previously sold a Banquo yearling that I really liked, and there were a couple of foals by him that I’d seen that I thought were nice horses. Being by Rip Van Winkle, who we’ve always liked as a broodmare sire, Regal Winks had a few things going for her.

“The Banquo colt is in his preparation now and building towards Karaka. He’s a nice, correct, tidy colt, and hopefully the De Armas pedigree update will help him find a good home.”

Things have happened quickly on the pedigree page of Regal Winks, whose only foal to race had been unplaced at the time of her purchase.

“We left her empty last season after she had the Banquo colt,” Jones said. “She hadn’t had a winner at that stage. Her second foal Arabella has won twice since then and now De Armas has come along, so the family has come to life a bit. Getting a stakes winner makes a big difference when you’re breeding to sell.

“She’s back in foal to Ardrossan now. When we saw De Armas win at the trials early on, we started to look at our options and had the option of sending her back to Ardrossan.

“I’m not sure what we’ll do with her in the longer term. We are traders, so if someone was keen to buy her, she would be for sale. We’ll decide a bit later in the season whether we enter her in a broodmare sale.”

The half-brother to De Armas is part of a well-rounded Cambria Park draft for Karaka 2026.

“We’ve got some lovely yearlings in our draft this year, we’re very lucky,” Jones said. “We’ve got two in Book 1. We have a very nice Satono Aladdin colt who’s the first foal out of a stakes-placed Russian Revolution mare, and then we’ve got a lovely Per Incanto filly in Book 1 as well.

“There’s some nice variety in out Book 2 draft – yearlings by Better Than Ready, Sejardan, Reliable Man, Hellbent, Satono Aladdin and Sword Of State. It’s a nice range of stallions, including some young ones showing a bit of promise.

“And then the Banquo half-brother to De Armas is part of a nice selection of yearlings in the Summer Sale as well.”