Three winners in one Caulfield day for Gilgai!

Long-toothed racing and breeding types are scratching their head wondering the last time a Victorian breeder had three winners in one day on a Melbourne metropolitan race card.

Whenever that might have been, the new marker has was set on Saturday by the remarkable Gilgai Farm of Nagambie.

At Caulfield, Gilgai bred horses Supido (Sebring), Portion Control (Snitzel) and Nikitas (Snitzel) all saluted demonstrating once again the genius of Gilgai owner Rick Jamieson.

“Without question, Saturday was a racing and breeding highlight for me and the farm,” Rick said.

Supido was certainly the biggest highlight of the three winners taking out the Group 3 Sir John Monash Stakes. The Group 1 placed five year old has been given plenty of time to mature by his trainer Michael Kent, but the rewards now seem to be paying off.

“That was a very good win in the Monash. It will be interesting to see how he takes the step up to 1200 metres, but I’ve always thought he was a Group One horse,” Jamieson said.

“His dam (Lady Succeed) has been a bit of a problem mare and had a few issues along the way, but it’s a mighty pedigree – Machiavellian’s family – and she’s had four winners from as many to race.”

With such a strong pedigree, a Group 1 win this Spring would certainly put the entire right at the top of many commercial stallion farm’s shopping lists.

But back to Rick Jamieson and his breeding fortunes.

The breeder of Black Caviar, All Too Hard, three other high class Group 1 winners and numerous other high achievers has clearly got his ‘formula’ right.

And it is the success he has had with his breeding principles that gives him further confidence in his new venture of standing a stallion this coming breeding season.

UK bred Cable Bay is Rick’s current breeding project – correction – obsession.

Having spent months and months trawling through international pedigrees, Rick eventually landed on the son of Invincible Spirit.

In recent weeks, Rick has been busily sifting through hundreds of pedigrees of mares submitted by breeders interested in being part of his (and his syndicate partner’s) Cable Bay project.

But Rick, sticking true to his principles, says he has ‘knocked back’ a large army of mares based on his project in finding the strongest matches to the young stallion.

It’s not to say the breeder cannot absolutely take their mare to Cable Bay, who will stand at Woodside Park. It’s just strong advice provided and strong advice perhaps heeded considering Rick’s success.

Rick has been pleasantly surprised at the range of breeders who want to share in his project.

“The mare owners have predominantly come from Victorians…but there are quite a few from New South Wales I didn’t expect to be honest,” he says.

He has committed six of his own classy broodmares to the stallion including Group 1 winner Mirjulisa Lass and All Too Hard’s sister Brigitte.

The Cable Bay syndicate has also invested several million in a further dozen or so black type, well-related mares.

Only time will tell how Rick and Cable Bay go in the commercial world of Australian thoroughbred breeding, but certainly he hopes that Saturday’s trio of winners is a sign of future success.

UPDATE: The Gilgai bred success continued at Geelong on Tuesday when the Heath Conners trained 2YO colt Clear Signal (Bel Esprit) won in a major upset. He was a $81 chance! Clear Signal was bought out of the 2016 Inglis Premier Yearling Sale by Blue Sky Bloodstock for $115,000.

Source: TBV