Friday saw Showcasing's first winner in the Southern Hemisphere when the Liam
Birchley-trained Hardline (NZ) (Showcasing) was an impressive winner on debut
at Doomben. Sold for $43,000 by Haunui
as a weanling, he was purchased by Hallmark Stud and sold at Karaka's Select
Sale for $130,000.But, it was fellow Haunui graduate Showboy that stole the show with an impressive performance in taking out the Group Two Wakefield Challenge Stakes at Trentham on Saturday.
A $15,000 purchase out of Haunui's Festival Sale draft, Showboy jumped second from the outside and did plenty of work early to try and get a across. Caught three wide for the trip, the strong chestnut kept giving in the run to the line holding off a strong late challenge from Serena Miss (NZ) (Iffraaj), the filly providing a Haunui Farm-sired quinella.
Haunui's Mark Chitty says, "Hardline's win on Friday was pretty exciting given the way that he won and, the fact that Showcasing's first winner in the Southern Hemisphere came in Australia was also pretty important. I was hoping for the dream result yesterday and it happened!
"The amazing thing is, is that both Hardline and Showboy were paddock mates as foals and, we used both of them to promote Showcasing's first Southern Hemisphere crop as foals and again as yearlings. Then, for one to be his first winner and the other to be his first stakes winner, Group Two at that, is quite remarkable."
From four Southern Hemisphere starters, Showcasing boasts a Group Two-winner, a winner in Australia, a stakes performer and, a placegetter. "Four from four have run in the money so that's not a bad start and he has three qualified for the Karaka Million so far," says Mark.
Showcasing's Northern Hemisphere success boasts 27 winners from his first crop with seven stakes performers including Group Two-winner Toocoolforschool and Group Three-winner and Group One-performer Cappella Sansevero.
"We've been waking up to some fantastic Northern Hemisphere results over the past few months so it's certainly nice to get the job done on our turf. It was great to receive so many texts and messages from people saying congratulations. It's a real boost for everyone that has supported Showcasing, the members of the syndicate and, all the breeders that have sent mares over the last four seasons. And, for Iffraaj to sire the second place-getter was the icing on the cake. We've got two pretty exciting young stallions in the barn at the moment – long may it continue!"
News from Haunui Farm
