Photo: Bruno Cannatelli
Well-known racing photographer Trish Dunell had a day to remember on Tuesday, recording success as a breeder on racing’s biggest stage at Flemington on Melbourne Cup Day.
Following a busy day plying her trade at the Ellerslie races, Dunell was able to watch Fancify (Niagara) take out the Gr.3 The Hong Kong Jockey Club Stakes (1400m) in the hands of Joe Bowditch for trainer Michael Hickmott.
Dunell had raced the daughter of Niagara up until recently before selling to a client of Hickmott’s, and while disappointed she wasn’t able to enjoy the success as an owner, breeding a stakes winner on Melbourne Cup Day is something she will never forget.
“I don’t own her anymore, which is a bit sad, but I still have her mum (Laced Up), and she is due to foal next week to Ocean Park,” Dunell said.
“I have never had one race at Flemington on Cup Day, so that is an achievement, let alone win a black-type race.”
Dunell bred Fancify out of Keeninsky mare Laced Up, who she purchased for $5,000 out of Lime Country Thoroughbreds’ 2014 New Zealand Bloodstock National Weanling, Broodmare & Mixed Bloodstock Sale draft.
Dunell was a shareholder in Lime Country’s freshman sire Niagara and was looking for mares to send to the Group Two winner, and was put onto Laced Up by farm principals Greg and Jo Griffin.
“Laced Up had been in work and she had only had two starts,” Dunell said. “She was a half-sister to Jimmy Choux, and then Miss Wilson popped up and won a Group One as well, so she is a half-sister to two Group One horses.
“I have to thank Jo and Greg (Griffin) because they put me onto her.”
Dunell said Laced Up is a quirky mare, but luckily Fancify hasn’t inherited that family trait.
“She (Laced Up) is a bit of a trick, she is quite antisocial and hard to catch. She lives at Haunui Farm and they know her well,” Dunell said.
“She (Fancify) looked really nice. She was with Ilone Kelly and won a trial and beat a horse (Rockburn) that ended up racing in the (New Zealand) Derby (Gr.1, 2400m) for John Bary.
“She was always an angel to do anything with, she was just lovely.”
Impressed with her trial performance, Dunell elected to test Fancify’s talent across the Tasman and sent her to be trained in South Australia by good family friend Michael Hickmott.
She won five races before her sale, and she has since gone on to win two of her following three starts, including Tuesday’s Group Three.
“Michael has always had a good opinion of her,” Dunell said.
While no longer racing Fancify, Dunell has a couple of her younger siblings to look forward to, including a three-year-old Belardo gelding called Talk About Bruno, and a yearling full-brother to Fancify.
“The Niagara yearling is a really nice colt, he is lovely,” Dunell said. “He has got all the white that Fancify has got as well. She (Laced Up) seems to throw a lot of white.”
Tuesday’s win was also a tonic for Fancify’s sire Niagara, who stands at Vicki Wilson’s Hau Ora Farm in Kahuranaki, south of Hastings, for a fee of $2,500.
The son of Encosta de Lago has now sired six stakes winners, with his daughter Raziah also being a timely boost, with the Tony Pike-trained filly scoring victory in the Gr.3 Barneswood Farm Stakes (1400m) and Listed Canterbury Belle Stakes (1200m) ahead of next week’s Gr.1 Barneswood Farm New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m).
Dunell has been an active breeder, with both thoroughbreds and standardbreds, over several decades and said Tuesday’s win is amongst her biggest highlights.
“Currently she is number one, but Spalato (Singapore Champion 4YO and Champion Polytrack Horse) will always be pretty huge,” Dunell said. “Even back in the trotting days, Silver Wheels won 10 races, and he was really special.
“Every now and then you get a special one that spoils you, which means you have to keep on breeding.”
