Mufhasa Full Brother at Karaka
19 January 2009
The blistering win by Mufhasa in the Group 1 $1,000,000 Telegraph Handicap (1200m) on Saturday provided perfect timing for Rich Hill Stud who will offer his full brother at Karaka Premier 2009 in less than a week's time.
New Zealand Bloodstock's seventh Group 1 winner for the season, Mufhasa (Pentire - Sheila Cheval, by Mi Preferido) stormed to a one and a quarter length victory in New Zealand's richest open handicap sprint, the Group 1 $1,000,000 Telegraph Handicap at Trentham. Jumping from barrier twelve, the strapping individual by Pentire raced handy to the pace for jockey Sam Spratt before showing a Group 1 class turn of foot to dart clear of his rivals, maintaining that gap to the line to win in a time of 1.07.39.
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| Karaka 2009 - Lot 225 - A full brother to Mufhasa on account of Rich Hill Stud. photo: Lesley Warwick |
Mufhasa is raced by David Archer and his family who have tasted Group 1 success already this season with fellow Karaka graduate Gallions Reach (Victory Dance), winner of the Group 1 ARC Zabeel Classic. David Archer purchased Mufhasa at the Karaka 2006 Karaka Select Sale for $50,000 from Rich Hill Stud, the same vendor from whom he bought two half sisters to Mufhasa.
Mufhasa's six-year-old half-sister Belle Joie (Mellifont - Sheila Cheval) was purchased by Archer for $10,000 at the 2004 Karaka Festival Sale, a genuine sort, she won six races over sprint journeys and $90,350 before Archer mated her to Pentire this season, the resulting foal being a three-quarter sibling to Mufhasa. This success, along with Mufhasa's, lead to Archer purchasing Keepa Cheval (Keeper - Sheila Cheval), who is currently unraced, at last year's Karaka Select Sale for $135,000.
This year Rich Hill Stud will offer a full brother to Mufhasa at the Karaka Premier Sale at Lot 225.
"He is a typical Pentire, very athletic with a great walk and he probably possesses more quality than Mufhasa did as a yearling," according to Rich Hill's John Thompson.
John Thompson, and his father Colin Thompson, bred Mufhasa together and retain ownership of his dam Sheila Cheval. Mufhasa provided Colin Thompson with his first Group 1 winner as a breeder, another feather in the cap for the veterinarian who was an original founder, with Jim Marks, of Thompson and Marks Veterinary Practice, now Marks, Ewen, and Associates in Matamata.
Sheila Cheval has a Perfectly Ready colt foal at foot and is back in foal to Zabeel this season.
The quality racing from the Champagne Turf at Trentham, Gore and Avondale on Saturday provided some significant updates to yearlings catalogued at Karaka 2009. These include:
Lot 571 - Filly by King's Chapel x Joan: full brother to King's Ransom who won the Group 2 Wakefield Challenge Stakes (1200m).
Lot 577 - Filly by Thorn Park x Jumble: half-brother to Veldt who ran second in the Group 2 Wakefield Challenge Stakes (1200m).
Lot 1122 - Filly by Elusive City x Double Babu: half-brother Maco'reilly (O'Reilly) second in the Listed WRC Anniversary Handicap (1600m).
Lot 131 - Colt by Zabeel x Miss Opera: half-brother to Sir Slick (Volksraad), third in the Listed WRC Anniversary Handicap (1600m).
Lot 322 - Colt by Thorn Park x Westside Story: half-brother Richard Beymer (Volksraad) won the Avondale JC Integrated Print Solutions Handicap (1200m).