The Melbourne Spring Carnival is undoubtedly the signature event of Australian thoroughbred horse racing and it is good to see Riverdene Stud playing a hand in some small way. At the time of writing, two horses conceived at our operation are in contention for some of the bigger events staged during Melbourne Cup week after making very positive impressions in recent feature contests…

ARMIDALE’s Group winning sprinter Tesbury Jack has been among the top-tier sprinters in Australia for quite some while and was seen at his very best with a brilliant first-up victory in October.

Assigned the Thai Airways International Sprint (G2) at Caulfield for his return to competition after a major health scare, Tesbury Jack showed his finest battling qualities to score in a three-way photo-finish.

The strapping son of ARMIDALE has now won six of his 16 career starts, amassing some $481,150 in prizemoney for his lucky connections. This, of course, is quite a tidy effort when one considers that the original service fee involved to bred the top sprinter was just $4,000.

Longer-term, regular jockey Darren Gauci is convinced Tesbury Jack will prove effective over 1400 metres. Followers of the gelding could well see ‘Jack’ back in the winner‘s enclosure before his summer break.

Already a Group 1 winning son of ZARIZ, Lazer Sharp returned to something like his best form when runner-up to Gallic in the MVRC Moonee Valley Cup (G2) on the Cox Plate program.

Now racing in the colours of Shadwell Farm and trained out of Lindsay Park by David Hayes, Lazer Sharp raced into Melbourne Cup calculations and was being quoted as a 30/1 chance when the final field was determined.

No matter what the outcome on the first Tuesday of November, the four-year-old is clearly one of the best credentials stayers in training and seems certain to fly the flag for the breed at many interstate carnivals to come.

For the record, Lazer Sharp has already accrued $437,000 in prizemoney to date.

It is hard to believe that we are still waiting for our first 2-year-old event of the 2007/08 New South Wales racing season.

The Equine Influenza outbreak has caused disruptions in every sector of the thoroughbred racing and breeding industry, but probably none more so than the freshman sires category of 2007/08.

With New South Wales and Queensland still to stage a juvenile contest this season, the usual listings pertaining to this category have little or no meaning compared to previous years.

As a consequence, stallions with their first 2-year-old runners in 2007-08 will need more time than under normal circumstances to establish their credentials, with exciting resident stallion HALF HENNESSY no exception.

In fact, HALF HENNESSY has no fewer than 19 members of his first 2-year-old crop named and, presumably, ready to race.

As the vast majority of his stock entered into training in NSW, we do not expect to see him represented in a race until 2008 when, hopefully, normal service resumes in Sydney and the surrounding area.

As for HALF HENNESSY’s contemporaries, 18 first season sires have so far had a runner, but none have had more than two.

Of this contingent, only Exceed And Excel and Tough Speed have broken through to record their first winner as a sire, the former proving to be the front-runner of the division with a couple of stakes winners to date.

The fact that ZARIZ could be responsible for a SAJC South Australian Derby (G1) winner and MVRC Moonee Valley Cup (G2) runner-up should not come as too much of a surprise, as the multiple Group winning sprinter has some exceptional middle-distance influences in his own pedigree to compliment any of his partners.

Tolomeo (Ire), damsire of ZARIZ, was an Arlington Millions (2000m) winner when the race was one of the highlights of the trans-Atlantic turf racing calendar, while second-dam of Rogue’s Delight landed a Geelong Oaks Trial when the event was a major lead-up to the VRC Oaks.

Throw-in the genuine staying influences of Scenic (Ire) and Sadler’s Wells, found in the top of Scadabba’s tabulation, and a Group 1 Classic winner of Lazer Sharp’s calibre is always possible if breeding to ZARIZ.

Also very much in Lazer Sharp’s favour is the galloper’s 4 x 4 inbreeding to Northern Dancer. The Kentucky Derby winner was the greatest influence on world breeding before his grandson Danehill (USA) came along, dominating the GB/Ire Classics for the major proportion of his remarkable stud career.