Un-named (All Too Hard – Tale Of Choice)

Tom Dabernig to train.
5% shares $7,5900 – 10% shares $15,900

At this year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Sale I’ve had about 40 yearlings vetted. This is an expensive exercise but necessary to ensure our owners buy into horses that give them the best chance of getting a runner. It was a tough sale with yearling after yearling we had selected going for, in some cases ridiculous prices. In the end we were lucky enough to secure some excellent yearlings including this filly for what I consider to be reasonable prices.

Since x-rays became available we have had just two yearlings not get to the races from about 190 purchased. In total since we started in 1997 we have 355 of 367 yearlings get to the races. These are exceptional figures but give our owners confidence they are buying into will get to the track.

This filly passed all our checks. She is correct and vetted out without any issues. I expected her to fetch about $150,000 to $200,000 and was pleasantly surprised when we secured her for $110,000 incl GST. This filly could well prove to be one of the best buys in the sale. We have achieved this on a number of occasions. Flying Jess, Rubisaki and Seonee are three recent examples.

The filly is very athletic. I inspected her in the Hunter Valley in December. She is a beautiful looking filly. I like chestnuts and have had some ripping chestnut fillies over the years including the NSW BOBS Horse Of The Year in Fituese, Xtremetime who was her sire Extreme Choice’s only 2yo Listed winner in his first crop with the outstanding broodmare Zelady being another.

A couple of years ago I purchased a weanling filly by All Too Hard. She races as Emmadella and looks to have plenty of upside with two strong wins and two placings from just five starts. I believe she is a stakes filly. She is out of a Snitzel mare with that sire being by Redoute’s Choice which is very positive.

Tale Of Choice is a very well-bred mare with two winners from as many to race. She was a good 2yo winning in Sydney and being placed 3rd in the ATC Group 2 Sweet Embrace Stakes. The second and third dams are international mares with Group 2 and Group 3 winners. They have both thrown Group winners.

I have purchased some great fillies over the years from the Gold Coast Magic Millions Sale including Flying Jess, Hijack Hussy, Xtremetime, Calming, Huiskes, Hidden Wonder, Greenmount Belle and Calming Influence.

The Stud

Lime Country Thoroughbreds are relatively new to the Australian Breeding ranks but Greg and Jo Griffen are certainly making their mark since moving over from NZ in 2016. Lime Country have become regular sellers at the major sales and from what I have witnessed inspecting their drafts they know what they are about.

Some of their better horses have been Nudge, Chosen Legend, Straight Charge, Holyzman.

The Trainer

The first horse I sent Tom was Double Rock who had been having issues jarring up on the firm tracks we had to put up with during the drought. The mare has matured and really blossomed in the great environment at Warrnambool. First up she finished a close second to a smart galloper and backed this up with two more second placings and then a strong win, which she richly deserved. It is important mares win a race before going to stud and Tom
achieved this goal.

It didn’t take Tom long to get us off the mark with our 2nd runner Tillotson scoring twice at Stawell and then at Moonee Valley in Saturday company where she ran a class record. She had been struggling being trained at Randwick which is an incredibly busy environment with Warrnambool being a perfect fit for her.

I moved Embeller to Tom with the aim being getting ‘Black Type’ which is so important for mares going forward as breeders. Tom almost pulled off a great training performance with Embeller running a close 2nd in the Group 3 Bow Mistress Stakes first up for him. He got the mare the valuable ‘Black Type’ we were chasing. Only bad luck cost us the win. She was then retired and I look forward to inspecting her yearlings in due course.

Tom then stepped out a 3yo filly named Whistlefield winning her maiden impressively. We now have eight horses with Tom and I’m thrilled with the way he handles his horses. He is an outstanding communicator and runs a very good operation.

We now have eight horses with Tom and I’m thrilled with the way he handles his horses. He is an outstanding communicator and runs a very good operation.

 Emmadella by All Too Hard  – two wins and two placings from five starts!!!  Similar cross to our new filly!!!