Cylinder Beach surged along the inside to win the Recognition Stakes. Picture: Grant Peters, Trackside Photography
Promising Queensland galloper Cylinder Beach (Showcasing[GB]-Queen's Colours[GB]) could be heading to Sydney chasing a Group Two victory in the upcoming Villiers Stakes.
The talented gelding recently kicked off his four-year-old campaign with a smart win in the Listed Recognition Stakes at Eagle Farm, giving him his third win from just 11 starts and carrying his earnings to in excess of A$250,000.
Cylinder Beach was bred by Auckland Branch NZTBA member Tim Harrison from his Rainbow Quest(USA) mare Queen's Colours, who is once again in foal to Showcasing.
According to Harrison, Cylinder Beach was always a lovely athletic looking individual, and he couldn't understand why as a colt he didn't sell at the 2014 Ready To Run sale.
"After the sale I sent him down to Kevin Gray's with the idea of racing him myself. A month or so later Kevin's son Stephen was down looking at yearlings and wanted a potential racehorse for a client Chris Lees who had recently been diagnosed with a brain tumour".
"I persuaded them not to buy a yearling but to buy my two-year-old instead as they would get a result quicker and wouldn't have to wait so long to get their winner, and they bought him for $60,000."
Chris Lees, a former Commercial Insurance Manager based in Singapore, then relocated back to Brisbane, named the horse after his favourite beach spot on North Stradbroke Island, and gave the horse to Desleigh Forster to train. Along with his wife, doctor and a few mates they formed a partnership to race the horse, then sat back and waited for the dream to unfold.
Cylinder Beach commenced racing as a two-year-old in April last year. He ran third at his first start, and then his next three starts were all in Group races. He missed in one and ran third in the Group Two BRC Sires' Produce Stakes and fourth in the Group One JJ Atkins Stakes.
He resumed racing as a three-year-old in October and ran third fresh up, before winning a maiden event a month later. Another spell followed and in Autumn he came out and won the Group Three Gunsynd Classic fresh up, and ran second in the Group Three Rough Habit Plate. His next two starts were in the Grand Prix and the Queensland Derby but he failed to stay the distance and he was put out to spell.
Now as a four-year-old he looks to have come back bigger and stronger and Forster is excited about his future prospects, and while Chris Lees was fortunate enough to see Cylinder Beach win, he has since passed away, and the 74% he owned in the horse has been sold to new owners.
Cylinder Beach is the seventh foal of Queen's Colours (GB) herself a half-sister to the Group One Sydney Cup winner The Offer. She is the dam of three winners including Troopingthecolour(Shamardal[USA]) and Lord Beaver(Keeper[AUS]).
Queen's Colours won two races in Ireland she is a daughter of the Group placed winning Darshaan(GB) mare Valdara(GB). As well as The Offer she is the dam of Cymbal (Singspeil[GB]) a stakes winner in Germany and Musha Merr (Sadler's Wells[IRE]) a stakes winner in Britain and the United Arab Emirates.
"She is from a good international family with loads of black type," Harrison said, "but it's one that the Aussies don't like, so Paul Willetts was able to secure her for me from an Inglis sale for around $15,000 or $20,000 in foal to Oratorio(IRE)".
"I sold that colt for $80,000 then she had a nice Keeper (Beaver Lad) that was a bit small that I sold privately for $20,000, and she has a three-year-old by Nadeem(AUS) who races in Australia as Victory Eight".
"I originally mated her with Showcasing to get a bit of speed into the pedigree, and that certainly seems to have been the case with Cylinder Beach," he added, "and hopefully the Showcasing she is carrying will be as nice a horse as his full brother." – Michelle Saba
The talented gelding recently kicked off his four-year-old campaign with a smart win in the Listed Recognition Stakes at Eagle Farm, giving him his third win from just 11 starts and carrying his earnings to in excess of A$250,000.
Cylinder Beach was bred by Auckland Branch NZTBA member Tim Harrison from his Rainbow Quest(USA) mare Queen's Colours, who is once again in foal to Showcasing.
According to Harrison, Cylinder Beach was always a lovely athletic looking individual, and he couldn't understand why as a colt he didn't sell at the 2014 Ready To Run sale.
"After the sale I sent him down to Kevin Gray's with the idea of racing him myself. A month or so later Kevin's son Stephen was down looking at yearlings and wanted a potential racehorse for a client Chris Lees who had recently been diagnosed with a brain tumour".
"I persuaded them not to buy a yearling but to buy my two-year-old instead as they would get a result quicker and wouldn't have to wait so long to get their winner, and they bought him for $60,000."
Chris Lees, a former Commercial Insurance Manager based in Singapore, then relocated back to Brisbane, named the horse after his favourite beach spot on North Stradbroke Island, and gave the horse to Desleigh Forster to train. Along with his wife, doctor and a few mates they formed a partnership to race the horse, then sat back and waited for the dream to unfold.
Cylinder Beach commenced racing as a two-year-old in April last year. He ran third at his first start, and then his next three starts were all in Group races. He missed in one and ran third in the Group Two BRC Sires' Produce Stakes and fourth in the Group One JJ Atkins Stakes.
He resumed racing as a three-year-old in October and ran third fresh up, before winning a maiden event a month later. Another spell followed and in Autumn he came out and won the Group Three Gunsynd Classic fresh up, and ran second in the Group Three Rough Habit Plate. His next two starts were in the Grand Prix and the Queensland Derby but he failed to stay the distance and he was put out to spell.
Now as a four-year-old he looks to have come back bigger and stronger and Forster is excited about his future prospects, and while Chris Lees was fortunate enough to see Cylinder Beach win, he has since passed away, and the 74% he owned in the horse has been sold to new owners.
Cylinder Beach is the seventh foal of Queen's Colours (GB) herself a half-sister to the Group One Sydney Cup winner The Offer. She is the dam of three winners including Troopingthecolour(Shamardal[USA]) and Lord Beaver(Keeper[AUS]).
Queen's Colours won two races in Ireland she is a daughter of the Group placed winning Darshaan(GB) mare Valdara(GB). As well as The Offer she is the dam of Cymbal (Singspeil[GB]) a stakes winner in Germany and Musha Merr (Sadler's Wells[IRE]) a stakes winner in Britain and the United Arab Emirates.
"She is from a good international family with loads of black type," Harrison said, "but it's one that the Aussies don't like, so Paul Willetts was able to secure her for me from an Inglis sale for around $15,000 or $20,000 in foal to Oratorio(IRE)".
"I sold that colt for $80,000 then she had a nice Keeper (Beaver Lad) that was a bit small that I sold privately for $20,000, and she has a three-year-old by Nadeem(AUS) who races in Australia as Victory Eight".
"I originally mated her with Showcasing to get a bit of speed into the pedigree, and that certainly seems to have been the case with Cylinder Beach," he added, "and hopefully the Showcasing she is carrying will be as nice a horse as his full brother." – Michelle Saba
