Straight off the back of another
Big Saturday in the USA for the
Boom First Crop Sire in the USA JUSTIFY, who kept his
incredible momentum rolling with
two (2) new individual winners, one at Pimlico when debutant How Lucky scored, bring up the baker’s dozen for the sire.
Then an hour later
debutant Gandolfini took JUSTIFY’s tally to 14 Individual Winners in his first crop in the Northern Hemisphere.
Then on
Monday morning at Royal Randwick, it was the
Southern Hemisphere’s turn to see the first couple of JUSTIFY progeny heading to the sport and they didn’t let anyone down with
two (2) outstanding efforts by his progeny.
Both were very impressive.
JUSTIFY - Leading First Crop Sire in the USA
RANDWICK TRIALERS 19/9/22
There was an eye-catching win by JUST GISELLA and the other named LEARNING TO FLY was a wow factor runner-up in slick time.
HEAT 8 – Fillies – JUST GISELLA
The Michael Freedman trained filly
JUST GISELLA did a great job to give
Coolmore’s USA Triple Crown hero JUSTIFY (USA) a good heat win but had to overcome some significant adversity to claim victory.
She was held up on the rail to the 150m and had to be angled out of there by Tommy Berry before he could ask her to lengthen. When she got out behind the three runners across the track infront of her, she landed four-deep and despite losing momentum, she had clear galloping room. The long striding
Just Gisella quickly found her rhythm and hit the line strongly in a most encouraging performance to beat a
Trapeze Artist youngster named Sky Artist.
Whilst the time was a touch slower than some other heats, it was the way this filly peeled off her last couple of sectionals that was super impressive. No doubt the further they go the better this filly will be.
A $200,000 Magic Millions purchase for James Bester Bloodstock from the Coolmore draft,
Just Gisella was bred by Dr Denis O’Brien and his wife Claire and was foaled and raised at Coolmore.
She is a half-sister to good metro winner Agassi from stakes-placed Fastnet Rock mare Halle Rocks, a half-sister to Group 3 winner Diamond Earth.
HEAT 4 – Fillies – Sicilian – 51.38 seconds
The First JUSTIFY we were able to see in action in Australia was the filly LEARNING TO FLY who was doing just that!
She finished runner-up to the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott trained I Am Invincible filly Sicilian who is a natural speedster. She was quick to begin and led all the way on the fence for an impressive but narrowing victory.
However, the flashing lights were on the Annabel Neasham trained JUSTIFY (USA) filly LEARNING TO FLY who surged into second place.
Learning To Fly was the run of the trial, having stood flat footed as the barriers crashed back and gave all her peers a clear length head start before she elected to jump away. Had she cleared the machines on even terms, the result would have been significantly different.
Both these JUSTIFY Fillies will be genuine hopes in the Gimcrack Stakes should connections head that was, as the extra 150m of these events will suit far better than the 850m scamper of Monday’s dash.
SATURDAY’S WINNERS 17/9/22:
HOW LOVELY brings up the "Baker’s Dozen" Recording 13 Individual Winners for JUSTIFY
Justify’s first born in the Northern Hemisphere is now a winner, after
HOW LOVELY (2f Justify x Foreign Affair, by Exchange Rate) Won on Debut at Pimlico.
HOW LOVELY
Racing over five furlongs on the turf,
HOW LOVELY ran into trouble out of the barriers, but after regrouping, settled near the back of the pack. Hugging the fence in the middle stages she was angled out from the rail rounding the turn to make sure she had clear running room, as she started to close.
Racing down the middle of the track down the straight, she won by a widening 1½ lengths.
HOW LOVELY is a homebred for Audley Farm, out of a half-sister to group winner and multiple Group 1 placed So Perfect, and stakes-placed Scat Eddie. Both are by Justify’s own sire Scat Daddy. Their winning dam is a half-sister to Group 2 winner Cowtown Cat.
Justify became the sire of 13 individual winners with that group including four (4) stakes winners and three (3) group stakes winners with five (5) stakes performers overall.
At Los Alamitos GANDOLFINI was the Next JUSTIFY Debutant to WIN on Saturday
Gandolfini (2c Justify x Dorothy’s Aurora, by Simon Pure) became the
second debutant winner of the day for his remarkable young sire on Saturday, when scoring a debut victory in a Los Alamitos Maiden Special Weight Hcp.
GANDOLFINI
The
one mile (1600m) dirt race saw
Gandolfini race close behind the leaders early on, before making a wide run around the far turn. As they raced past the 200m marker,
Gandolfini took over the lead, then duelled down the straight with another runner. In the end,
Gandolfini was too tough, too strong and had a half-length advantage over the runner-up, with the balance of the peers more than five lengths behind the winner.
Trained by
Justify’s own trainer Bob Baffert, Gandolfini is owned by SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, Robert Masterson, Stonestreet Stables, Jay Schoenfarber, Waves Edge Capital, and Catherine Donovan.
The ownership purchased
Gandolfini for $470,000 from Woodford Thoroughbreds at the Fasig-Tipton New York Saratoga Sale.
Gandolfini is out of the stakes-placed Dorothy’s Aurora, who is a granddaughter of multiple stakes winner Madame Roar. The extended family also includes Brazilian Horse of the Year Jolie Olimpica.
Now JUSTIFY is the sire of 14 winners, led by five stakes performers and four stakes winners, led by three graded stakes winners on both dirt and turf.