NEWS (May 2009)

25/05/09

BLACK PIRANHA ON TARGET FOR STRADBROKE  

Following three consecutive Group 1 seconds, talented middle distance performer Black Piranha is on target to break his Group 1 ‘duck’ in the $1m Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) at Eagle Farm on June 6.

Black Piranha has firmed to 7.00 equal third favourite for the Stradbroke with TAB Sportsbet following his slashing Doomben 10,000 second behind Apache Cat on Saturday.

Prior to the Doomben 10,000, Black Piranha was runner up in both the Group 1 George Ryder Stakes (1500m) and the Group 1 AJC Doncaster Handicap (1600m).

The Con Karakatsanis gelding drops 5.5kg on his Doomben 10,000 second, and looks well weighted to record a deserving Group 1 victory in the Stradbroke.

A Stradbroke win by Black Piranha would most likely catapult his sire Clang to the top of this seasons Queensland Sire Earnings list, ahead of rivals Show A Heart and Sequalo.

Standing at Willowbend Stud, Beaudesert, Clang has produced 62 individual winners in Australia this season for prizemoney earnings in excess of $2.35m.

Clang is already the sire of two Group 1 winners in Calaway Gal (Golden Slipper Stakes) and Clangalang (AJC Derby & Epsom Hcp).

 
14/05/09

BRILLIANT SPRINTER TO WILLOWBEND STUD  

David Lucas of the famed Queensland nursery Willowbend Stud is pleased to announce the addition of the brilliant stakes winning sprinter Southwestern Heat (USA) to his stallion roster for 2009.

A winner on both dirt and turf, and a stakes winner over 1200m, Southwestern Heat is a son of the brilliant Champion 3yo filly Xtra Heat. The winner of an amazing 26 races from 1000m to 1400m, including 8 as a two-year-old, Xtra Heat is widely regarded as the best three-year-old sprinting filly in North America for the last 10 years.

Southwestern Heat is a son of leading sire Gone West, in turn sire of Western Winter (Champion sire of South Africa) as well as the leading sires Mr Greeley, Speightstown, Zafonic, and promising first season sire Mughaareb (USA). A $600,000 Keeneland September Yearling, Southwestern Heat was raised and consigned by the world renowned Taylor Made Farm.

“We have raised all the foals out of Xtra Heat at Taylor Made and she just gets an outstanding type. Southwestern Heat was a stunning type from day one and if he gets stock like him and his mother they will be well sought after in the sales ring and on the racetrack,” said Taylor Made Farm’s Frank Taylor.

In races where he often set opening fractions of 21.35 and 44.24, Southwestern Heat clearly had the precocity and explosive speed you would expect from his genetic inheritance and his conformation, a strongly build, muscular type, is typical of what Australian breeders look for in a successful stallion.

“We are really excited to be standing such a naturally talented horse as Southwestern Heat. The Australian breeding industry and indeed Willowbend has built its reputation on standing sound tough sprinters and by all accounts Southwestern Heat was one of the fastest horses in North America in his year and he is out of a mare that is widely considered one of the best sprinters ever. We are sure that he will be well received by breeders and trainers alike, “ said David Lucas.

Southwestern Heat will stand alongside the proven stallion Clang as well as Natural Destiny, Rock of Cashel and Nothing to Lose (USA) at Willowbend. His 2009 fee will be $4,400 inc GST. A limited number of shares will be available in the stallion.