Planet Rocks G1 Guineas

New Zealand Bloodstock's 2012 Karaka Yearling Sales are heating up with a half-brother to the Karaka graduate Planet Rock - the winner of yesterday's $300,000 Group 1 New Zealand Bloodstock 1000 Guineas (1600m) - set to be offered.

The Group 1 New Zealand Bloodstock 1000 Guineas lived up to the bill yesterday with an epic contest down the Riccarton straight, with Planet Rock (Fastnet Rock x Akris) showing just how tough she is, racing on the pace three and four wide with no cover.

Trained by Peter and Dawn Williams and ridden by Hayden Tinsley, the daughter of Fastnet Rock came wide into the straight and went after the leader, the Graeme & Debbie Rogerson trained Karaka graduate, Abeautifulred (NZ) (Handsome Ransom x You Beauty). In a hammer and tong battle down the straight, it was Planet Rock who emerged victorious, taking the race by a long head.

The result was significant for a number of reasons. It was an emotional victory for Peter and Dawn Williams who have trained in Canterbury for 37 years since it was their first Group 1 victory on their home track at Riccarton, and even more poignant since the pair are set to relocate to Auckland in less than a fortnight.

For her sire, Coolmore's Fastnet Rock, Planet Rock is his fourth individual Group 1 winner this season. The win also gave the sire the NZ 1000 and 2000 Guineas double with the $1 million NZB graduate Pop 'n' Rock winning the Group 1 2000 Guineas last weekend.

It was also a big result for Wellfield Lodge's principal Bill Gleeson who bred both Planet Rock and the runner up Abeautifulred, whose sire Handsome Ransom stands at the stud.

"It was a great result," said Gleeson. "Planet Rock is a big, powerful filly, she stands at close to 16.2 hands, and she ran very well. She is from a Zabeel mare and looks to be a staying type so to see her win like that yesterday is very promising.

"She will come back to Wellfield for a small break and then she will be aimed at the NZB Filly of the Year races over Christmas and the New Year. She is bred to run 3200 metres so the step up in distance shouldn't worry her.

"She has a half-brother in the 2012 Karaka Yearling Sales by Alamosa and he is an outstanding individual. Abeautifulred also has a half-brother by Alamosa in the Karaka Yearling Sales and he too ticks all the boxes and is a lovely colt.

"Planet Rock's dam Akris is in foal to Alamosa and is due to foal in a few weeks. The mare was actually stuck in Australia when we sent her to Fastnet Rock due to EI which meant she had to foal down there which wasn't the plan. We didn't get the mare and Planet Rock back to the farm until after she was born.

"We are going to wait and see how Akris foals down before we make any decisions as to whether we cover her again this season."

With the 1000 Guineas also the third leg of the 10-race New Zealand Bloodstock's Filly of the Year Series, Saturday's win gives Planet Rock 12 points and the early lead. The last four winners of the 1000 Guineas have all gone on to take the final crown so Planet Rock has put herself firmly in contention.

Planet Rock is the 16th individual Group 1 winner for her damsire, the incomparable Zabeel. The damsire of 86 individual stakes winners, the elite list includes Darci Brahma, Faint Perfume, Samantha Miss, and Anacheeva.

Planet Rock is also the third stakes winner from the Fastnet Rock/Zabeel cross. With 13 runners, the cross has also produced the outstanding Group 1 winner Atlantic Jewel, the Group 2 winner Curved Belle, and the stakes placed Teardrop Rock and Rockadubai.

Bred by Bill Gleeson, Planet Rock was purchased by Ger Beemsterboer from Wellfield Lodge for $290,000 at New Zealand Bloodstock's 2010 Karaka Premier Sale. She has now won three of her seven starts and over $275,000 in stakes.

Fastnet Rock has three BOBS eligible two-year-olds set to go through the ring at New Zealand Bloodstock's Ready to Run Sale next week:

• Last year's leading vendor Lyndhurst Farm will be offering a Fastnet Rock colt at Lot 301 from the winning Fusaichi Pegasus mare Secret Silence, a half-sister three stakes performers.
• The filly from Esker Lodge at Lot 310 out of the Group 3 placed Centaine mare Shimo Star. Centaine mares paired with sire sons of Danehill have proven highly successful at stud with a winners to runners ratio of over 65% and over 10 stakes winners including Rockwood, Zingaling, Kaphero and Hoystar.
• Plus Curraghmore Stud's gelding at Lot 79 from the unraced Dieseis mare Cotton.

With just two starts coming into the Group 1 New Zealand Bloodstock 1000 Guineas, Abeautifulred showed that she is a tough filly and looks to have a bright future in front of her. She takes second place in the Filly of the Year Series with seven points.

Capital Diamond (NZ) (Lucky Unicorn x Diamond Smile) capped of a successful Christchurch carnival for her trainer Lisa Latta who won the Group 2 Coupland's Bakeries Mile with the Karaka graduate Platinum Princess earlier in the week. Capital Diamond earned 3.5 points in the Filly of the Year Series, putting her in fifth position.

To view the leader board and race schedule for New Zealand Bloodstock's Filly of the Year Series, click here. The next leg of New Zealand Bloodstock's Filly of the Year Series, the Group 3 Eulogy Stakes (1600m), will be held on 10 December at the Manawatu Racing Club.

ENDS

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