Grylls helps keep Savabeel roll at the top of standings
The ability to ride at a light weight is an invaluable advantage for any jockey and again worked wonders last weekend for Matamata-based Craig Grylls.
On Saturday at Ellerslie Craig gladly got his weight down to ride talented racemare Coldplay at 53.5 kilograms in the $70,000 Eagle Technology Stakes and did the business with a well-timed finishing effort.
That took Craig’s for the season thus far to 28 wins and fourth equal spot on the jockeys’ premiership. The bonus is the number of feature races he has won over the past three months, with his four majors – the best by any jockey of late – headed by the Gr. 1 Livamol Classic on Willie Cazals.
Coldplay races in the colours of Waikato Stud, where she was bred and reared on behalf of longstanding Auckland client Gary Wallace, who brought Garry Chittick into the partnership for the purposes of racing the fouryear-old.
Now the winner of four of her 11 starts and more than $100,000 in stakes, Coldplay is doing her bit to keep her sire Savabeel at the top of stallion standings. On Friday at Otaki one of his three-year-old progeny, Lincoln Blue, became his 55th individual stakes winner when he took the Gr. 3 Wellington Stakes.
Savabeel has not surprisingly been one of the country’s most popular stallions in recent years and has no less than 65 lots listed in the Premier catalogue of the National Yearling Sales in January.
The classy bunch includes a sister to Coldplay and a brother to Lincoln Blue and his Queensland Derby-winning brother Brambles, as well as the progeny of top class racemares Daffodil, I Do, Annie Higgins, Banchee, Guiseppina, Kekova, Platinum Princess, The Glitzy One, The Jewel, Thy and Villifye.
Other keenly sought yearlings by Savabeel include Blandford Lodge’s brother to the mighty racemare Lucia Valentina.
The 2017 National Yearling Sale will also be the last hurrah for Waikato Stud’s deceased champion stallion O’Reilly. His 43-strong Premier offering includes brothers to the champion gallopers Sacred Falls and Shamexpress.