Leebaz wins the Group Two Hollindale Stakes (1800m) at the Gold Coast 25.04.15
Breeding stakes winners is nothing new for Windsor Park, they have an extensive roll of honour to be proud of, and recently they celebrated the success of two more black type wins when Leebaz (Zabeel-Polish Princess[GB]) won the Group Two Hollindale Stakes and Lady Le Fay (Thorn Park[AUS]-Mia Le Fay) won the listed Manawatu ITM Classic.
However while Leebaz was bred by the farm, Lady Le Fay was bred in partnership with a retired Auckland couple John and Margaret Thompson.
"We have been dealing with Windsor Park now for about 25 years and this is the first stakes winner we have bred, we have had a bit of success and gone close before. It's quite a thrill," enthused John Thompson a member of the Auckland branch of the NZTBA.
Windsor Park General Manager Steve Till concurs with this.
"It was a good weekend, we had Leebaz win the Hollandale Cup and Lady Le Fay win the listed race and Thorn Park got the quinella when Thorn Prince (Thorn Park[AUS]- Julinsky Princess) ran second to her.
"We get a big thrill out of all our winners, but it's a lot more exciting if they are stake winners. John and Margaret Thompson have been clients of ours for over 20 years and we bred and raced the mother Mia Le Fey with them. We bred her from Guinevere (IRE), a mare that Roddy bought in Europe when he was overseas working. She had a brilliant pedigree and was from one of the Aga Khan's good families, it's pretty exciting for them.
"When she arrived in the late 90's there wasn't a lot happening in the family, but soon after Wallace appeared. It was a good quality family, a good base to work from as she had great genetic structure, being by Fairy King(USA) out of a Darshaan (GB) mare. She didn't race and came over here and John and Margaret have been in her ever since."
Although this is the first stakes winner they have bred the Thompsons are no strangers to winning races and have been racing horses as long as they have been breeding them.
"I had a lot of thrills racing Atapi, and more recently with Sir Andrew who won the Hawkes Bay Guineas in 2013, unfortunately he is a day to day proposition at the moment. That's the problem with racehorses you have them today but not necessarily tomorrow," said Thompson.
Atapi won 11 races and was Group One placed four times, Pacific Dawn was another favourite of the Thompsons, he won five races including the Group Two Geelong Cup and the listed Grafton Cup.
Harking back to Lady Le Fay, she is a four-year-old mare who has now won five races for the syndicate of owners that purchased her from the 2012 Select Sale for $25,000.
She is the third foal from the Zabeel mare Mia Le Fay, her first foal was The Tidy Express by Volksraad(GB), she has won five races and has been Group Three placed twice. The next mating also to Volksraad(GB) produced another filly Meir – named after Golda Meir – who has won a race, and is currently in foal to High Chaparral. She is still owned by the Thompsons and Windsor Park. Lady La Fey was next followed by a colt by Thewayyouare (USA) called Theywayweare who is in work in Sydney.
Till believes that her best foal so far is the one they sold at Karaka this year, by Pour Moi(IRE), she fetched $160,000 and was the highest priced Pour Moi filly in the sale. She was bought by clients of Ken Kelso and has been name Etoile.
"She was magnificent and she was the highest price Pour Moi filly in the sale," added Till.
"It's a very good mating with Pour Moi as Mia Le Fey is a big raw boned strong type of broodmare, so he was the right stallion to refine that, and produce a tidy well-made filly. It was a good physical result.
"Guinevere (Fairy King[USA]- Maksana[IRE]) was not an easy mare to mate as she is inbred to Thong through Special (USA) and Thatch, and that has made it difficult. She has Special as the dam of Fairy Bridge (USA), the dam of her sire Fairy King(USA), and Special's brother Thatch is the sire of her grandam Masarika.
"When we look at the matings we have to take that into account. When we sent her to Zabeel we had Special through Nureyev (USA), and then again when we mated Mia Le Fay with Thorn Park we picked it up again through Spinning World (USA) as he is by Nureyev as well.
"It's an exciting family, shortly after Roddy purchased Guinevere, Wallace (Royal Academy[USA]-Maksana[IRE]) appeared in the pedigree, then Maksana became a super produce leaving three Group One winners. The champion mare Dank (by Dansili[GB]) a dual Group One winner, then the Irish champion three-year-old Eagle Mountain (Rock of Gibraltar[IRE}), and Sulk (Selkirk [USA]) a champion filly in France.
"Other daughters have also bred on and although Guinevere didn't leave a stakes winner her daughter the stakes placed Lady Gee, left Lord Badger a listed winner in South Afirca, and Masaraki (Thatch – Miss Melody) the fourth dam won four races in France including two Group One events. She is the dam of two stakes winners."
- Michelle Saba
However while Leebaz was bred by the farm, Lady Le Fay was bred in partnership with a retired Auckland couple John and Margaret Thompson.
"We have been dealing with Windsor Park now for about 25 years and this is the first stakes winner we have bred, we have had a bit of success and gone close before. It's quite a thrill," enthused John Thompson a member of the Auckland branch of the NZTBA.
Windsor Park General Manager Steve Till concurs with this.
"It was a good weekend, we had Leebaz win the Hollandale Cup and Lady Le Fay win the listed race and Thorn Park got the quinella when Thorn Prince (Thorn Park[AUS]- Julinsky Princess) ran second to her.
"We get a big thrill out of all our winners, but it's a lot more exciting if they are stake winners. John and Margaret Thompson have been clients of ours for over 20 years and we bred and raced the mother Mia Le Fey with them. We bred her from Guinevere (IRE), a mare that Roddy bought in Europe when he was overseas working. She had a brilliant pedigree and was from one of the Aga Khan's good families, it's pretty exciting for them.
"When she arrived in the late 90's there wasn't a lot happening in the family, but soon after Wallace appeared. It was a good quality family, a good base to work from as she had great genetic structure, being by Fairy King(USA) out of a Darshaan (GB) mare. She didn't race and came over here and John and Margaret have been in her ever since."
Although this is the first stakes winner they have bred the Thompsons are no strangers to winning races and have been racing horses as long as they have been breeding them.
"I had a lot of thrills racing Atapi, and more recently with Sir Andrew who won the Hawkes Bay Guineas in 2013, unfortunately he is a day to day proposition at the moment. That's the problem with racehorses you have them today but not necessarily tomorrow," said Thompson.
Atapi won 11 races and was Group One placed four times, Pacific Dawn was another favourite of the Thompsons, he won five races including the Group Two Geelong Cup and the listed Grafton Cup.
Harking back to Lady Le Fay, she is a four-year-old mare who has now won five races for the syndicate of owners that purchased her from the 2012 Select Sale for $25,000.
She is the third foal from the Zabeel mare Mia Le Fay, her first foal was The Tidy Express by Volksraad(GB), she has won five races and has been Group Three placed twice. The next mating also to Volksraad(GB) produced another filly Meir – named after Golda Meir – who has won a race, and is currently in foal to High Chaparral. She is still owned by the Thompsons and Windsor Park. Lady La Fey was next followed by a colt by Thewayyouare (USA) called Theywayweare who is in work in Sydney.
Till believes that her best foal so far is the one they sold at Karaka this year, by Pour Moi(IRE), she fetched $160,000 and was the highest priced Pour Moi filly in the sale. She was bought by clients of Ken Kelso and has been name Etoile.
"She was magnificent and she was the highest price Pour Moi filly in the sale," added Till.
"It's a very good mating with Pour Moi as Mia Le Fey is a big raw boned strong type of broodmare, so he was the right stallion to refine that, and produce a tidy well-made filly. It was a good physical result.
"Guinevere (Fairy King[USA]- Maksana[IRE]) was not an easy mare to mate as she is inbred to Thong through Special (USA) and Thatch, and that has made it difficult. She has Special as the dam of Fairy Bridge (USA), the dam of her sire Fairy King(USA), and Special's brother Thatch is the sire of her grandam Masarika.
"When we look at the matings we have to take that into account. When we sent her to Zabeel we had Special through Nureyev (USA), and then again when we mated Mia Le Fay with Thorn Park we picked it up again through Spinning World (USA) as he is by Nureyev as well.
"It's an exciting family, shortly after Roddy purchased Guinevere, Wallace (Royal Academy[USA]-Maksana[IRE]) appeared in the pedigree, then Maksana became a super produce leaving three Group One winners. The champion mare Dank (by Dansili[GB]) a dual Group One winner, then the Irish champion three-year-old Eagle Mountain (Rock of Gibraltar[IRE}), and Sulk (Selkirk [USA]) a champion filly in France.
"Other daughters have also bred on and although Guinevere didn't leave a stakes winner her daughter the stakes placed Lady Gee, left Lord Badger a listed winner in South Afirca, and Masaraki (Thatch – Miss Melody) the fourth dam won four races in France including two Group One events. She is the dam of two stakes winners."
- Michelle Saba
