Photo: Bruno Cannatelli
How many times did you watch the replay? I am, of course, referring to the Oakleigh Plate (Gr 1, 1100m) and the scintillating performance by Jimmysstar (Per Incanto). Live, it looked as if ‘Jimmy’ was a total non-factor before the field straightened for the run home.
The replay merely offered a head scratching. How on earth did he get a run? The first 100 metres of the straight was a traffic jam but when the gap did open up his response was electric. In the next 150 metres he gobbled up the leaders then had the audacity to run clear by more than a length. Rider Ethan Brown was sure that he’d never travelled faster and maybe has the after effects of windburn to prove it. The winning time was a sharp 1:02.25.
The five-year-old Per Incanto (Street Cry) gelding, who never saw a sales ring, has always shown great promise but it’s a long way from his first start at Otaki to Caulfield, where he registered his eighth victory in a light career of 15 starts.
Jimmysstar was not tried at two and at three had just the two starts. His debut was in mid December 2022 at Otaki (finishing second) before a break of 16 weeks and a clear-cut maiden win at Wanganui. Five months on he appeared at Hastings as a four-year-old, rounding up the leaders, much as he did at Caulfield, to not only win handsomely but also attract the attention of Australian buyers.
Match fit, now representing Ciaron Maher’s stable, he scored November wins at Bendigo and Cranbourne before another short let-up, returning in February of last year to land a Benchmark 84 (1400m) at his first attempt in town, forging clear to win with plenty in reserve. Next was his first test at stakes level but the pattern of the race saw him lead, only to be run down in the last stride of Flemington’s Elms Handicap (Listed, 1400m).
A trip north and three starts, at Newcastle, Eagle Farm and Scone, did not go as expected, a third placing in the Brisbane Mile Quality (Listed, 1600m) the best but missing was the dash. Notably, all three races were right-handed, so far his only starts clockwise, a point perhaps worth considering.
This season began with back-to-back wins at Caulfield. A narrow win in a Benchmark 100 (1100m) preceded a super performance to win the Weekend Hussler Stakes (Listed, 1400m) which had everyone talking. Again, from out of the pack he stormed home to win as he liked.
Another step up was the Linlithgow Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m). A long, strong run down the centre of the track saw him second this time but, with hindsight, second was meritorious because the winner, Another Wil (Street Boss), would go on to take out the CF Orr Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) two weeks ago. Jimmysstar had one more start last spring, a well back tenth in the Rupert Clarke Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m).
His fresh up record is near perfect but taking on a hardened field of sprinters at Group 1 level was certainly ambitious. This win was one for the books.
This win also raises questions. A look at his 5×5 grid pedigree reveals a dam by Zed (Zabeel), a granddam by Pentire (Be My Guest) and a third dam by a colonial-bred son of Star Way (Star Appeal) named Star Board.
Zed sired stayers. Pentire sired anything and everything from brilliant sprinters like Mufhasa to a Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) winner. Star Board was the top New Zealand 2YO of his crop scoring the Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) and seven further wins but at stud was completely overlooked despite a fair record of 45 winners from 91 to race including four stakes winners.
Per Incanto’s eight Group 1 winners now feature three in Australia. Roch ‘n’ Horse was brilliant, a dual Group 1 sprinter who saved her best for Flemington. Little Brose scored the Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) two years ago and is now domiciled alongside his sire at Little Avondale Stud, ready to begin his stud career later this year.
The common denominator regarding speed must be Per Incanto himself because Jimmysstar’s family does not indicate a lot, at least not at stakes level. Jimmysstar’s sister, Charms Star (Per Incanto) was placed in both the New Zealand and Queensland Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m). His dam, Anniesstar (Zed), won at Listed level over 2100 metres in the Feilding Gold Cup (Listed, 2100m). Jacksstar (Zed), the brother to Anniesstar, was successful up to 3200m in the HR Chalmers Handicap. His seven-win record included the Awapuni Gold Cup (Gr 2, 2000m) and placings in the Auckland and Wellington Cups (Gr 1, 3200m).
As always, it’s interesting to dig into the archives to see this line’s history. Ashford Park in Otaki (which is where Star Board stood), imported Jimmysstar’s fourth dam, Love’s Hope (Climber), a dual Group 1 winner in Argentina, as a 13-year-old mare from USA. She was carrying future Queensland Listed winner Great Lover (Great Charmer). Ashford Park must have thought they’d struck gold because in the meantime, Love’s Hope’s daughter, Indian Hope (Shadeed) took out a Group 1 in Brazil, one of her ten wins during the early 1990s.
Love’s Hope’s New Zealand matings were nowhere near as successful. Her seven foals conceived and foaled here resulted in three minor winners and the three by Star Board failed to win.
Another string to his bow
The $450,000 winner’s cheque has jumped Per Incanto two spots on the current Australian Sires’ Premiership, to 11th. The thing is, he has had just 80 runners in Australia. Ahead of him, only the sub-fertile Extreme Choice (Not A single Doubt) has had fewer runners. Compare that with Pride Of Dubai (Street Cry) who has had 170 and Zoustar (Northern Meteor) who has had 312. A Centaine Trophy (the leading sire, world-wide figures combined) may well come his way by the end of the season.
In another replay, take a look at the Futurity Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m), won by the evergreen Mr Brightside (Bullbars), adding Group 1 win number nine for earnings just $18,000 shy of $17 million.
Fourth was Evaporate (Per Incanto) and a better lead up into the NZB Kiwi (1500m) might be difficult to find. Three wide for the entire trip, Evaporate’s effort was to be commended against the three tough and hardened performers ahead of him. The competition at Ellerslie won’t be near as stern. As long as he handles the Ellerslie way of going he should be a major chance.
If successful, he will join three recent raiders who have prevailed in stakes company here in New Zealand. Konasana (Dundeel) got the ball rolling on Karaka Millions night with victory in the Westbury Classic (Gr 2, 1400m). Two weeks later Here To Shock (Shocking) and Bosustow (Blue Point) provided the quinella in the BCD Sprint (Gr 1, 1400m). This past Saturday Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young made a New Zealand Derby (Gr 1, 2400m) statement when their Thedoctoroflove (So You Think) nabbed the Avondale Guineas (Gr 2, 2100m), often a reliable guide to the Derby.
When the Australians are looking east at the new injection of stakes to our racing, you know they mean business. Our racing is all the stronger and punters have plenty to get excited about. That’s a win-win.
Belief realised
While El Vencedor (Shocking) carried on his winning ways in the Otaki-Maori Classic (Gr 1, 1600m), Blue Sky At Night (Shamexpress) backed up her Waikato Cup (Gr 3, 2400m) victory with the Avondale Cup (Gr 3, 2400m) and Sethito (Super Seth) enhanced her chances in the NZB Kiwi when scoring nicely in the Uncle Remus Stakes (Listed, 1400m).
Rich Hill Stud provided two of the four New Zealand conceived stakes winners in Australia when Firestorm (Satono Aladdin) finally broke through for her maiden stakes success in the Millie Fox Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m) while Coeur Volante (Proisir), in a welcome return to form, saluted in the Mannerism Stakes (Gr 3, 1400m).
Firestorm began her career at Matamata two years ago, winning on debut at two but in six further starts, the last of which was an average sixth in the New Zealand 1,000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m), she was just another runner.
However, her owner must have had belief because she found herself in Sydney with Chris Waller and in March of 2024 bagged a midweek Benchmark 72 (1400m) at Randwick’s Kensington course. Five further starts at three brought a Group 3 third at Doomben and a Listed third at Eagle Farm.
This season at four she got off to a flyer with back-to-back Rosehill wins but she was found wanting in the Epsom Handicap (Gr 1, 1600m) as well as two mid-field finishes in Melbourne. Freshened, her win in the Millie Fox, achieved with a long run down the centre of the track, could be the start of a nice autumn. Not offered for sale, Firestorm had banked $443,000 from her five wins and brought up individual stakes winner number 11 for Satono Aladdin (Deep Impact).
She represents his second crop but is the only stakes winner in three generations of her family. Her fourth dam is the outstanding Zasu (Kaoru Star), brilliant enough to bag five wins at two, including the AJC Champagne Stakes, then classy enough to land the Queensland Oaks the following season. Zasu’s Group 1 brother Marceau (Kaoru Star) stood at Cambridge Stud during the 1980s and their sister, No Finer (Kaoru Star) produced the highly successful Waikato Stud sire Pins (Snippets).
