\n\t\t\t\t\tBy Trevor Marshallsea<\/b>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Listen<\/p>\n
Where do you start with the story of Piggyback?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a tale with such a sprinkling of unexpected, strange and purely wild elements that \u2013 were this not racing and breeding \u2013 it\u2019d be hard to believe.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s an Australian-bred stayer (no wait, there\u2019s more) \u2013 an Australian-bred stayer who after winning last Saturday\u2019s Colin Stephen Quality (Gr 3, 2400m) goes in to wave the flag and battle a field of mostly European imports in Saturday\u2019s The Metropolitan (Gr 1, 2400m) at Randwick.<\/p>\n
And she\u2019s a stayer by Trapeze Artist, that speedy son of speed sire Snitzel (Redoute\u2019s Choice), who won his four Group 1s from 1200 metres to 1400 metres.<\/p>\n
The Metropolitan field has 18 starters and 14 of them are from Ireland, France or Britain.<\/p>\n
Only three were bred in Australia \u2013 and two of those by Trapeze Artist.<\/p>\n
Aside from $26 shot Piggyback, there\u2019s Wagga Wagga Gold Cup (Listed, 2000m) winner Flying Bandit, at $19.<\/p>\n
Trapeze Artist, now covering his seventh book at Widden Stud for $33,000 (inc GST) \u2013 down from $55,000 last year and an initial $88,000 \u2013 has sired 118 winners, from 202 runners.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s only had four offspring even tried past 2200 metres, for two winners. One is the five-year-old Piggyback, the other is another from the stallion\u2019s first crop in Trapeze Torque, who\u2019s also won at 2400 metres, in a Sunshine Coast Benchmark 58 in July. More on him later.<\/p>\n
Further confounding conventional wisdom, Piggyback \u2013 trained by Ciaron Maher for Dynamic Syndications \u2013 is out of a mare by Choisir (Danehill Dancer), who had enough stamina to win seven races, between 1000 metres and 1200 metres.<\/p>\n
And if you want to bend things further, she\u2019s got the oft-dicey double Danehill (Danzig) in her pedigree, in the least desirable of the three possible ways you can execute that business \u2013 via two sons. At least it\u2019s more diluted than some Danehill duplications, at 4m x 4m, via Snitzel\u2019s sire Redoute\u2019s Choice and Choisir\u2019s dad Danehill Dancer.<\/p>\n
Bred by Trapeze Artist\u2019s breeder and owner Bert Vieira, Piggyback is out of a mare who has a fitting name in all of this: Wowee.<\/p>\n
Vieira bought her off the track for $210,000, and ended up selling her before Piggyback started racing, for $30,000.<\/p>\n
Breeders are often sanguine about such matters. You can\u2019t keep \u2018em all, the glorious uncertainty, and all that. The colourful Vieira is cut from a different cloth.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo I regret selling her? Yes I regret selling her,\u201d he tells It\u2019s In The Blood. \u201cI bought her for $210,000. She didn\u2019t show much so I sold her. Next thing you know, Piggyback comes out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wowee\u2019s first five sold foals included one that fetched $6,000 and another knocked down for a princely $3,500. He\u2019s Piggyback\u2019s full\u2013brother, incidentally, and he was retired as a three-year-old after five runs in the NSW bush highlighted by a ninth at Dubbo. To give him his due, he was tenth on the turn.<\/p>\n
Those first five sold foals netted a combined $171,500. And then last February, her next one fetched $170,000 \u2013 a colt for Wowee\u2019s new West Australian owners, by Maschino (Encosta De Lago), who was among the top 15 lots at Magic Millions Perth.<\/p>\n
By that stage, Piggyback was a Sydney city winner, having taken a 2000-metre Randwick Benchmark 72 as her third win in five starts. Still, that\u2019s quite a turnaround for her mum as far as the sales ring goes.<\/p>\n
As for Piggyback, her sale adds probably the most bizarre twist to this tale yet.<\/p>\n
An early October foal, but something of an ugly duckling, she missed the main auctions, and was offered by Widden for Vieira at the Gold Coast National Yearling Sale.<\/p>\n
She was purchased \u2013 for what Vieira calls a disappointing $32,000 \u2013 by a buyer identifying as Louis Bloodstock. No one was sure who that was, but they would soon become familiar with the name, for Louis Bloodstock bought 21 of the next 87 lots via online bids. All fillies, they cost a combined total just shy of $1 million.<\/p>\n
The man behind the splurge was soon revealed as none other than Rob Ferguson, former Magic Millions part owner and Torryburn Stud owner.<\/p>\n
And in a story which gained some notoriety, his spree was found to be drug-enhanced.<\/p>\n
Well, who among us can\u2019t say we haven\u2019t bought a few things we didn\u2019t need online on a big night \u2013 if perhaps not a million bucks worth?<\/p>\n
The substance involved was innocent and legal, but it was shopping on steroids \u2013 literally.<\/p>\n
For those who haven\u2019t heard this ripping yarn, it transpired Ferguson, suffering from a lung condition, was in the midst of being taken off a course of the drugs by his doctor, the side-effects of which can be an experience of \u2018invulnerability\u2019. He sure shopped like it.<\/p>\n
It was also revealed that each purchase brought him a feeling of great euphoria. He also had his dog at his feet, and that dog was called Louis.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was like having been at the Magic Millions bar all day and then deciding to buy some horses. It felt like a great idea at the time,\u201d Ferguson told ANZ News at the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just one of those things that happened. I\u2019ll probably end up famous because of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ferguson awoke the next morning, possibly asked \u201cWhat have I done?\u201d, and decided to put his 22 fillies up for auction a couple of months later in a Magic Millions online sale, with reserves of half what he\u2019d paid.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I purchased these fillies I am sure I made a lot of vendors happy. This time around I will probably be making a lot of buyers happy,\u201d he said, adding \u201cit was never my intention to own these horses\u201d.<\/p>\n
Somewhere in Sydney, Dynamic Syndications\u2019 father and son team Dean and Adam Watt, well versed in the capricious ways of this sport, exchanged a glance.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen Dad and I read about the story, we just turned to each other and said, \u2018You just know that one of these 22 is going to turn out to be a really good horse, and it will be a really good story\u2019,\u201d Adam tells It\u2019s In The Blood. \u201cWe just had to be the ones to find that horse.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fortunately for the Watts, their veterinarian Tim Roberts had been contracted by Magic Millions to vet \u201cThe Ferguson 22\u201d. They asked him to pick out a couple, then had another vet and agent Greg Nash confirm those choices, and ultimately they bought the filly who became Piggyback for \u2013 as expected \u2013 less than Ferguson had paid, at just $27,000.<\/p>\n
The second of their pair, incidentally, was Red Hot Lizzie, a $10,500 buy who\u2019s now a dual city winner.<\/p>\n
Piggyback took her time. She debuted as a December three-year-old with a Gosford win over 1200 metres \u2013 more Trapeze Artist\u2019s style \u2013 then spelled before winning her second start, at Orange.<\/p>\n
After that Randwick 2000-metre victory at start five, Maher tried her over 2500 metres at Flemington, for a decent fourth of 11, before another spell.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe just didn\u2019t come up in her next campaign last summer,\u201d Watt said, as Piggyback managed two fifth placings and a sixth between December, 2024 and February this year.<\/p>\n
This preparation, however, has been an upward spiral, starting with a 1300-metre Warwick Farm win in May, including a Randwick 2400-metre fourth five starts later before a confidence-boosting 2200-metre Doomben victory in hot time at her following start, and into last Saturday\u2019s Colin Stephen win \u2013 which was gained by 0.58 lengths.<\/p>\n
Piggyback has been up for a long time and will be spelled after Saturday, but already her connections can start dreaming big.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s now passed the first ballot clause for next year\u2019s Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) \u2013 winning a Group race over at least 2400 metres in the preceding two years \u2013 and so the Watts and co can entertain thoughts of not just having an Australian-bred stayer in the great marathon, but one by Trapeze Artist.<\/p>\n
From whence does her staying power come? The answer might be simple: Her second dam Zeal won only one of ten, but was by that great stamina-bearer Zabeel (Sir Tristram).<\/p>\n
That blood came through in Wowee, who won three from ten for John Sadler, becoming a stakes winner over distance at her last start in Morphettville\u2019s SA Fillies Classic (Gr 3, 2500m).<\/p>\n
What\u2019s more, Trapeze Artist\u2019s 2400-metre Sunshine Coast winner, Trapeze Torque, also has Zabeel, being out of a mare by his grandson Lonhro (Octagonal).<\/p>\n
Trapeze Torque also has double-Danehill, at 4m x 3f (his second dam). Gender balanced is statistically the best way to duplicate Danehill, but in Piggyback we find perhaps more for the \u201cexceptions\u201d file, regarding that double-male dodginess.<\/p>\n
\u201cQuite a lot of that double-Danehill cross really doesn\u2019t work,\u201d Watt says, \u201cbut for whatever reason, Choisir mares with Danehill-line stallions does work well.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Piggyback has two other duplications in her first five generations, with a 5m x 4f of Lunchtime (Silly Season) and \u2013 how Australian is this? \u2013 a 5m x 5f of Biscay (Unfuwain), feeding strongly into the female lines of Trapeze Artist and Choisir.<\/p>\n
The great blue hen Natalma (Native Dancer) is there in spades, with 11 mentions from columns six to nine, while influential British 1920s mare Selene (Chaucer) makes ten appearances, and Mumtaz Begum (Blenheim) six.<\/p>\n
Hyperion (Gainsborough) is the most common stallion, with 18 spots in the first nine generations, one more than Nearco (Pharos).<\/p>\n
And so we take our learnings:<\/p>\n
\u2013 Trapeze Artist can leave a stayer \u2013 his Group 1 winner had some stickability in being Caulfield Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) hero Griff, after all;<\/p>\n
\u2013 You can have double male Danehill if it\u2019s through Choisir and;<\/p>\n
\u2013 You shouldn\u2019t buy horses on steroids.<\/p>\n
This rollicking tale could also have another brilliant chapter to come, next spring.<\/p>\n
\u201cImagine a daughter of Trapeze Artist out of a Choisir mare rolling around in a big two-mile race on the first Tuesday of November, taking on the international raiders?\u201d Watt says.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019d be quite the story.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Trevor Marshallsea Listen Where do you start with the story of Piggyback? It\u2019s a tale with such…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":466300,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4107],"tags":[1071,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-466299","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-racing","8":"tag-racing","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115300077730751501","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=466299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466299\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/466300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=466299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=466299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=466299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}