Sword Of Light Carries A Rich Heritage

By John Berry

For many, Australia Day (Jan. 26, the anniversary of the arrival of the First Fleet in Sydney Cove in 1788) will always be associated with one race, the G1 William Reid S., a weight-for-age sprint at Moonee Valley. That race, in turn, will always be associated with one horse; the mighty Manikato (Aus) (Manihi {Aus}) who achieved the remarkable feat of winning it for five consecutive years, 1979 to '83 inclusive. However, time moves on. The William Reid S. is now run in March, and Moonee Valley no longer races on Australia Day. Instead, Melbourne's Australia Day racing now takes place at Caulfield, where the focus is on younger horses in the lead-up to Victoria's premier juvenile race, the G1 Blue Diamond S. Manikato, of course, can't be kept out of the picture, as the 1978 Blue Diamond was the race in which he burst into the big time. This year's Blue Diamond Previews at Caulfield on Australia Day threw up a couple of interesting winners with Cohesion (Aus) (Lonhro {Aus}) taking the colts' and geldings' heat for Godolphin and Sword Of Light (Aus) (New Approach {Ire}) winning the fillies' race. The latter particularly maintained the feeling of heritage which the day possesses as her background contains notable elements from many decades of Australian racing history.

Taking a wide-angle view of Sword Of Light's background, she descends from Australia's greatest race-mare of the post-war era; Chicquita (Aus) (Blank {GB}) who did so well for Flemington trainer Tony Lopes that he re-named his stable after her, as several decades of Melbourne Cup films can confirm as the viewer watches and hears the field hurtle past the property midrace. Chicquita's 16 victories included the VATC Thousand Guineas, VRC Wakeful Stakes and VRC Oaks treble in the spring of 1949, while the following season she finished runner-up in both the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups. When Chicquita went to stud, her mates included the two most appropriate stallions for her; Star Kingdom (Ire) (Stardust {GB}) who was the best stallion in the land at the time, and Comic Court (Aus) (Powerscourt {Aus}) to whom she had finished second in the Melbourne Cup. Her best foal turned out to be her son of the Golden Slipper-winning Star Kingdom horse Todman (Aus); Eskimo Prince (Aus), winner of the Golden Slipper in 1964. To Comic Court she produced the 1962 Melbourne Cup runner-up Comicquita (Aus) while her daughter of Star Kingdom – Starquita (Aus) – was not as good as that pair, but ultimately proved to be as influential a broodmare as she was entitled to be.

Among the good horses of recent years descending from Starquita are four-time Group 1 winner Alamosa (NZ) (O'Reilly {NZ}) and 2011 G1 Australasian Oaks heroine Lights Of Heaven (NZ) (Zabeel {NZ}). One pair of breeders very happy to have descendants of Starquita in their broodmare band has been 2013/'14 Victorian Breeders of the Year David and Jenny Moodie, principals of Contract Racing. Many very good horses – headed by 2010 G1 Golden Slipper heroine Crystal Lily (Aus) (Stratum {Aus}) who twice finished second in Group One company to the mighty Black Caviar (Aus) (Bel Esprit {Aus}) including in the William Reid S. in March 2012 – have been bred and raced by the Moodies, and Starquita's great-granddaughter Coalition (Pre Emptive Strike {Can}) has been a feature in the pedigrees of many of them. One of the first successful stallions stood by David Moodie was his Listed-winning sprinter Blazing Sword (Aus) (Marscay {Aus}) who sired Contract Racing's 1996 G1 Caulfield Cup winner Arctic Scent (Aus). When Blazing Sword covered Coalition in 1993, the result was Razor Blade (Aus) who won eight races including scoring at Group 3 level in Brisbane and at Listed level in Sydney. Razor Blade then proved to be a stalwart of the Moodies' breeding operation, with four of her six winners having scored in Pattern company. The best of these has been Flamberge (Aus) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}), a Group 1 winner last May in South Australia's premier sprint, the Goodwood Handicap at Morphettville, although Group 2 winner Sunburnt Land (Aus) (Scenic {Ire}) may well also have eventually scored in Group 1 company had he not been killed by lightning when spelling in the paddock after his very rewarding spring campaign in 2008. He had been Group 1-placed up the Flemington straight only five days previously.

Flamberge's full-sister Curtana (Aus) scored at Group 3 level up the straight 1200m at Flemington in 2010, while Durandal (Aus) (Medaglia D'Oro) became Razor Blade's fourth Group winner by taking the G3 Standish Handicap up the same strip of ground on New Year's Day 2016. The better of Razor Blade's two lesser winners was Joyeuse (Aus) (King's Best), who won five sprints in Melbourne as well as finishing third in Listed company in Sydney in 2008. She has now further extended the Contract Racing success story by producing the G3 Blue Diamond Fillies' Preview winner Sword Of Light, who should be able to progress further and to do more to expand one of the success stories of Victorian racing and breeding.