Thorn Park has Got the Goods

Young Windsor Park Stud based sire Thorn Park is stamping himself as one of Australasia's finest emerging sires, capping a week of six winners with a Group 2 victory at Matamata over the weekend for his daughter Te Akau Rose, and a Listed sprint victory in Australia for his son Pricked.

The $125,000 Group 2 Robin, Duke of Bedford Matamata Stakes (1200m) is New Zealand's premier juvenile event for fillies, and Thorn Park has sired consecutive winners of the race from his only crops of racing age. Last year it was Mark Walker's Te Akau Coup (Thorn Park - Beyond the Sunset, by Gone West), and this year it was the same stable with Te Akau Rose (Thorn Park - Straussbridge, by Straussbrook).

Thorn Park (Spinning World - Joy, by Bluebird) winner of the 2004 Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap (1400m).

Te Akau Rose started favourite in the event after a solid second to Seven Schillings at her previous start in the Group 3 Taranaki 2YO Classic (1200m) where she beat all of the colts home. This time, against her own sex, Te Akau Rose took the short cut home, sticking close to the fence in the hands of Troy Harris, who kicked the filly home to score victory by aneck from St Germaine (Keeper).

The filly is from an outstanding two-year-old family developed by Evan and Bruce Kerr-Taylor, and Faye Fletcher, which has left no less than six stakes performed two-year-old fillies in her first two dams. These are all daughters or grand-daughters of Alberton Lass (Adios), and include Alberton Star (Stylish Century) and her daughter Lady Alberton (Golan), along with Straussbridge (Straussbrook), and her daughters Dancing Bridges (Danske), Alberton Princess (Golan), and Te Akau Rose.

Te Akau Rose was bought by prominent New Zealand buyer David Ellis at Karaka Premier 2008 for $52,500 from Windsor Park Stud, and she is now raced by Brent Hill (Te Akau), Craig and Pip Forsyth (Blenheim), Sam Yates (Hong Kong), Colin Hunt (Gisborne), Grant Allen (Auckland), Malcolm Keys (Hong Kong), and Daniel Pitt (Australia).

Fellow Thorn Park, and Karaka graduate, Pricked (Thorn Park - Quack, by Magic Ring), a $50,000 2007 Ready to Run Sale purchase from Summerveld Stables, won the Listed SAJC HC Nitschke Stakes (1450m) at Cheltenham on Saturday.

The three-year-old son of Thorn Park who is raced by Nathan Tinkler's Patinack Farm, scored victory by just under a length in the three-year-old event, with second home being another Karaka graduate in Bondarchuck (Soviet Star - South Carolina, by Southern Halo).

The win took the impressive colt's tally to three victories and three seconds from eight starts from the stable of Mick Price.

Hailing from the speedy Mother Duck (Luskin Star) family, Pricked is out of her daughter Quack, the dam of stakes performed sprinters Fluffy Duck (Tale of the Cat), Acupuncture (Pins), and Anna Bek (Ustinov).

These two feature victories were the 'cherry on top' for Thorn Park who sired a further four winners last week, giving the son of Spinning World six winners in the past four days.

Thorn Lake (ex Nimue, by Star Way) started the wave of winners, scoring by six-lengths on debut for trainer Robbie Griffiths at Ballarat last Thursday. Group 1 race day at Otaki on Friday saw two winners for the Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap winner in Reflection (ex Mirror the Magic, by Barathea) for trainer Janelle Caskey, and The Democrat (ex Blanc De Chine, by Volksraad) for trainer John Wheeler.

Finally on Saturday, Hyde Park (ex Of Value, by Danzatore) joined Te Akau Rose and Pricked as winners for their sire when he won at the Sunshine Coast meeting for trainer Mark Webb.

Thorn Park, a representative of the outstanding Denise's Joy family, has two crops of racing age, fifty-nine of those progeny have started, twenty nine have won (49% winners to runners), and five have won stakes races, giving the young sire an outstanding 8.33% stakes winners to runners.

Owners, trainers and bloodstock agents did not miss these impressive figures, with Thorn Park's twenty-two progeny at Karaka 2009 averaging $72,182, around 4.8 times his 2008 service fee. A top price of $390,000 was paid by Gary Hennessy for a colt out of Trephina (Last Tycoon) from the Windsor Park draft. He is a full brother to David Payne's Centennial Park (Thorn Park) who is being aimed at the Group 1 Randwick Guineas on 14 March.

Mike Moran of Windsor Park Stud comments on their sire's sensational week.

"Thorn Park has been going terrific, he really is doing a great job and is proving extremely versatile. His colts are winning, his fillies are winning, and he has left stakes-performers from Northern Dancer, Mr Prospector, Sir Tristram, and Star Kingdom line mares."

"To go with that, he has left early coming juveniles, as well as classic or classic bound three year olds like Glamorous Girl, La Etoile, Centennial Park, Walk in the Park, and Robbie Griffith's ultra impressive Thorn Lake, who we look forward to seeing step out again soon."

Thorn Park's barn mate at Windsor Park Stud, King's Chapel (King of Kings) jumped to the lead in the first season sires table when his strapping son, King's Ransom (ex Joan, by Colonel Collins), powered home in the Listed Fairview Ford Slipper Stakes (1200m), in an NZB trifecta including Joey Massino (O'Reilly - Rationable, by Housebuster) and Kaaptan (Kaapstad - Venus Was Her Name, by Spectacular Love).

Another outstanding Te Akau two-year-old trained by Mark Walker, King's Ransom added the stakes race to his repertoire, which includes smashing his rivals by over two lengths in the Group 3 WRC Wakefield Challenge Stakes at Trentham on 17 January.

The chestnut in the mould of his sire was purchased for $75,000 from the draft of Windsor Park Stud at Karaka 2008 by David Ellis. He has won $113,400 in prizemoney in five starts thus far for owners Dave and Nicky Hurst (Te Puke), Lance and Lee Perry (Cambridge), Bill and Jim Gartshore (Tauranga), Tom and Sue Roper (Tauranga) and the KT3 Syndicate managed by Jan Kerr (Wanganui).