On Saturday at Rosehill the Peter Snowden-trained EPAULETTE who was already assured a place in the Golden Slipper with a first up victory in the Black Opal Stakes LR (1200m) all bar stole the show when he and boom Lonhro colt Pierro battled out a thrilling finish only to be pipped right on the post by a nose in the Gr2 Todman Slipper Trial.
What's the significance of this result to Dynamic ?
Dynamic Syndications at the recent Melbourne Premier Sale purchased the top colt by Champion Sire EXCEED AND EXCEL (son of Danehill) from SHOOT THE STARS a grand-daughter of Sadler's Wells and a 1/2 sister to Dual Group 1 Winner CARNEGIE EXPRESS.
Importantly for Dynamic Syndications (who have given our colt to Peter Moody to train) was that he is bred on the proven Exceed And Excel / Sadler's Wells Cross which had produced 7 of the 44 Stakes Winners by Exceed And Excel including his boom son HELMET.
Epaulette is a three-quarter brother Helmet.
How ? Epaulette and Helmet are both sons of the mare Accessories the Sadler's Wells line mare. Whilst both Helmet (by Exceed And Excel - A Son of Danehill) and Epaulette (by Commands - a son of Danehill) show the Danehill / Sadler's Well's cross is one of the most pre-potent crosses at work in the Stud Book.
Epaulette became the 67th Stakes Winner bred on the superb Danehill / Sadler's Wells cross and with Sadler's Wells being a son of Northern Dancer this was the 385th Stakes Winner bred on the Danehill / Northern Dancer cross.
Whilst if we drill down further, Danehill is a son of Danzig. The Danzig / Northern Dancer cross has now produced its 786th Stakes Winner.
Again Dynamic Syndications, by buying our Exceed And Excel colt from Shoot The Stars (a Sadler's Wells line mare) have added another statistically strong set of data heavily into our favour to achieve racetrack success.
Its foundation information like what was set out in the above paragraph that comes with over 30 years experience and our commitment to due diligence work and our solid belief in genetically balanced pedigrees and thorough physical inspections (which most importantly ALWAYS includes X-ray inspections) continues to give Dynamic Syndications huge advantages over our competitors and is a main factor behind rewarding Dynamic with an 82.5% Runners : Winners Strike Rate.
In the Black Opal, Epaulette showed plenty of natural dash to take up a forward spot in the early stages of Canberra's richest race, outside the leader.
In the Todman Slipper Trial he sat back in the field and peeled wide before unleashing down the centre of the track just to peak on his run the last 30m and got pipped on the post. This will have him rock hard for the 1200m Golden Slipper in a fortnight.