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FIRST TWO YEAR OLD SALUTES |
Princess Royale was my most expensive yearling purchase last year at $85,000 from the Gold Coast Magic Millions Sale and today she was the first two year old we stepped out for the season and she scored an impressive win on debut.
She is a beautiful filly and I'm certain that she will go on to give her owners a lot of pleasure.
She ran very good time for her last 600m which was very impressive indeed.
Congratulations to Tony McEvoy and his staff for the job he has done with her.
Joe O'Neill |
| Thursday, 26 January 2012 |
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TWO MORE YEARLINGS |
I was very happy with our purchases from the inglis Classic Sale which were a colt by Haradasun and a Bel Espirit filly. The colt is a really good type of horse that may well get over ground in time and the filly is a great athlete.
The colt is heading to David Hayes and the filly to Mark Kavanagh. Full details will be available later in the week.
Joe O'Neill |
| Wednesday, 25 January 2012 |
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ANOTHER DOUBLE |
The Prime Thoroughbreds team continued to fire with a double in Launceston last night. Another Concerto and Faith'N'Courage were both very good and scored strong wins to position themselves amongst the best three year old fillies racing in Tasmania.
Another Concerto will now head to the Tasmanian 1000 Guineas and Faith'N'Courage will head to the Carbine Club Plate on Derby Day.
Well done to Charlie and Leuella for doing a great job with these fillies.
Joe O'Neill |
| Thursday, 19 January 2012 |
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LADIES ONLY NEED APPLY |
The Commands colt out of Cross Dresser has been purchased to be syndicated for a Ladies only syndicate. This is to take advantage of the $500,000 bonuses on offer for next year's two year old classic for horses solely owned by female syndicates.
The colt is a really nice horse and closely related to the Golden Slipper winner Dance Hero.
Full details will be on the site later in the week.
Joe O'Neill |
| Monday, 16 January 2012 |
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PURCHASES COMPLETE |
The Gold Coast Magic Millions Yearling Sale for 2012 came to a close yesterday with us securing five yearlings. These were the Flying Spur filly (Lot 32), Dane Shadow filly (Lot 104), Commands filly (Lot 437), Commands filly (Lot 506) and Commands colt (Lot 551).
The Commands filly out of Calming (Lot 506) has been purchased outright by a client.
The yearlings will be trained by:
Lot 32 Flying Spur Hulahere - Charlie Goggin,
Lot 104 Dane Shadow Magda - Kris Lees,
Lot 437 Commands Aemilee - Mark Kavanagh, and
Lot 551 Commands Cross Dresser - Tony Gollan.
Full details of these purchases will be available later in the week. I am thrilled to have secured five terrific yearlings for our clients.
Joe O'Neill |
| Monday, 16 January 2012 |
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DOUBLE FOR PRIME |
Our terrific recent run continued with two of our four runners winning yesterday. Our first winner was Sweet Talkin Woman. This mare has really matured and looked very good in the run home at Newcastle. She put the writing on the wall at her previous start and was never in trouble.
Andrew Gibbons deserves credit for a very professional ride.
Whispering Death has always threatened to be a handy horse and put back to back wins together with a strong performance at Ipswich yesterday. Trainer Tony Gollan has done a marvellous job with him.
These wins take our total to the year to 20 wins from 92 starts which is very good.
Congratulations to the owners.
Joe O'Neill |
| Sunday, 15 January 2012 |
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TWO NICE FILLIES |
In my opinion the buying opportunities on offer at the opening day of the Gold Coast Magic Millions were the best I've encountered in the 15 years I have attended the sale.
I had five yearlings on our list that we were interested in and purchased two terrific fillies by Dane Shadow and Flying Spur.
The Dane Shadow filly will head to Kris Lees and the Flying Spur to Charlie Goggin. Half of the shares are already taken up in the Dane Shadow filly and the Flying Spur filly is the best value horse I have ever purchased.
Full details of these purchases will be on our site early next week.
Joe O'Neill |
| Thursday, 12 January 2012 |
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GRAND ZEE WINS |
Grand Zee continued our stellar recent form scoring a strong win at Morphettville yesterday. The three year old daughter of Danzero was having only her second start and drew the horror outside gate at the 1250m start at Morphettville.
The filly was beautifully rated by Simon Price and had the race in her keeping a long way from home.
Congratulations to her owners.
Joe O'Neill |
| Thursday, 5 January 2012 |
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UNCHAIN MY HEART WINS BAGOT HANDICAP |
Al Maher mare, Unchain My Heart assured herself of a career at stud once she finishes racing by winning the Listed Bagot Handicap at Flemington today.
The mare was beautifully ridden by Dwayne Dunne. She drew barrier one and Dwayne put her to sleep midfield until the field turned for home where he angled for an inside run and the mare responded to run away for a very good win.
This mare has done a terrific job winning at Randwick, Canterbury, Moonee Valley and now Flemington during this preparation.
David Hayes deserves a big pat on the back for a job well done. The mare may now have a crack at the $225,000 Launceston Cup and then perhaps the Adelaide Cup.
Unchain My Heart was from the first crop of Al Maher, a beautifully related son of the immortal Danehill.
Joe O'Neill |
| Tuesday, 3 January 2012 |
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2012 STARTS IN STYLE |
Another Concerto set us off on the right track scoring a dominant win at Longford this afternoon. The three year old daughter of Snippetson didn't give her older rivals a look in as she ran away to win easily.
We will have plenty of runners in the coming weeks and I am looking forward to some very good results.
Joe O'Neill
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| Sunday, 1 January 2012 |
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PRIME FINISHES 2011 ON A HIGH |
Whispering Death's was our last runner for 2011 and he did the right thing winning in good style at Ipswich. His win was our first with trainer Tony Gollan and it was a great thrill.
It topped off a successful week with Too Many Reds running a gallant race in the Kevin Sharkey Stakes in Hobart and Sweet Talkin Woman running home stronly for second at Scone.
Too Many Reds run was terrific and he was only collared at the winning post by Tasmania's top horse Geegees Blackflash.
Too Many Reds will now head to the Devonport Cup.
I hope you all have a great 2012.
Joe O'Neill |
| Saturday, 31 December 2011 |
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BIG WIN BY MOSSE DIVA |
The Prime team is on fire with Mosse Diva scoring a great win at Warwick Farm this afternoon. We are having a great season with our Sydney strike rate being exceptional.
David Hayes has done a great job with our horses and this was his second metropolitan win for the week for us following on from Unchain My Heart's terrific victory at Moonee Valley on Friday night.
Our association with Jay Ford has also been very fruitful. He has also won in town on Hidden Wonder, Admiral's Cup, Namsarai and Unchain My Heart.
Mosse Diva's win was our 5th in Sydney this season from only 10 starters for a strike rate of 50% winners to runners.
Joe O'Neill |
| Wednesday, 7 December 2011 |
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UNCHAIN MY HEART WINS AGAIN |
Unchain My Heart scored another terrific win at Mooneey Valley in a $80,000 3000m race on Friday night and really confirmed that she is a stayer on the way up. Since getting her out to 2400m and beyond she has had four runs for a good 2nd at Randwick followed by wins at Randwick, Canterbury and Moonee Valley.
Once again David Hayes has done a marvellous job for us.
Joe O'Neill |
| Sunday, 4 December 2011 |
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HIDDEN WONDER RETIRED |
Hidden Wonder has been retired after losing her zest for racing. The daughter of Danzero was a $50,000 purchase at the 2006 Magic Millions January Yearling Sale and went on to win nine races and in excess of $595,000 in stakes money.
Our thanks go to Kris Lees for the great job he did with the mare. She is likely to be sold at the Inglis Broodmare Sale in May 2012 and would be a welcome addition to any broodmare band.
Joe O'Neill |
| Monday, 21 November 2011 |
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FAITH 'N' COURAGE SALUTES |
Faith 'N' Courage scored a strong win in Hobart yesterday. She did a good job from a wide gate and Steve Maskiell was able to get her some cover before letting her stride forward on straightening.
Faith 'N' Courage is our first runner for the season in Tasmania and she has now had a first and second placing since resuming. Her win was also the first for the racing partnership of Charlie Goggin and his daughter Leuella Meaburn.
Congratulations to the owners and to Charlie and Leuella on a job well done.
Joe O'Neill
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| Monday, 21 November 2011 |
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UNCHAIN MY HEART CONTINUES TO IMPRESS |
Unchain My Heart aided by a near perfect ride from Glynn Schofield scored a strong win at Canterbury on Wednesday over 2800m.
Since stepping up to 2400m races and beyond she has had three starts for two wins and a second. She will now most likely head to a 3000m race at Moonee Valley worth $80,000 on 2 December. This is shaping as a big night for us with Too Many reds and Unser being targeted at nice races.
Our season has continued to progress along very nicely with Unchain My Heart's win being our 11th from just 50 runners for a strike rate of 22%. The big advantage we have over our opposition is that we are able to move our horses to where we feel they are best suited.
All our trainers are doing a good job for us and I am really looking forward to the run into Christmas where we will have plenty of action across the five states we race in.
Joe O'Neill |
| Friday, 18 November 2011 |
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QUIET WEEKENMD AHEAD |
We are set to have no runners this weekend after quite a busy period but will start to see things getting busy again from next Wednesday when last start Randwick winner Unchain My Heart is scheduled to run at Canterbury.
Joe O'Neill |
| Thursday, 10 November 2011 |
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CHARLIE GOGGIN JOINS WITH DAUGHTER IN TRAINING PARTNERSHIP |
Charlie Goggin has announced he will in future train in a partnership with his daughter Luella Meaburn. Leuella has been a foremaon for Charlie for many years and is a fine horse woman. It would be nice if the first runner for the partnership could be the Prime Thoroughbreds filly Faith 'N' Courage.
Good luck to them, they are both great people and I am really looking forward to the Summer Carnival where we should have a number of runners.
Joe O'Neill |
| Sunday, 6 November 2011 |
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OUR TASMANIAN SEASON KICKS OFF |
We will have our first runner for the 2011/12 season in Tasmania when Faith N Courage starts at Elwick on Sunday. This filly is a half sister to our good sprinter/miler Too Many Reds.
Currently we have eight horses with Charlie being prepared for the Summer Carnival.
Joe O'Neill |
| Friday, 4 November 2011 |
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UNCHAIN MY HEART SCORES STRONG WIN |
Unchain My Heart relished the step up to 2600m and had the race won a long way from home at Rasndwick yesterday. The mare has been really racing well without much luck and deserved this very good result.
The mare was ridden to perfection by Jay Ford and once again David Hayes has done a marvellous job for us.
Congratulations to the owners of the mare.
Joe O'Neill |
| Wednesday, 2 November 2011 |
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FIVE RUNNERS ON CUP DAY FOR PRIME |
All being well we wil line up five runners across three states on Tuesday. Heading our team are Hidden Wonder and Too Many Reds at Flemington. Both these horses are in good order and very capable on their day. Damien Oliver who is in rare form will ride these two horses for us.
Unchain My Heart has been racing very well without winning and she lines up at Randwick over 2600m. I love racing at Randwick and we won a race on this day last year with Admiral's Cup. Jay Ford takes the ride.
Unser and Mosse Diva round out our team and will start at Morphettville. These will be ridden by Mark Pegus and Nathan Rose.
Our other runners for the week are Sea Coral at Flemington on Thursday and we will have our first runner in Tasmania for the season with Faith 'N' Courage running in Hobart.
Joe O'Neill |
| Sunday, 30 October 2011 |
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BRING ON CUP WEEK |
I can't wait for Cup week to arrive. At this stage we look like having Hidden Wonder and Too Many Reds running at Flemington on Melbourne Cup day which is very exciting for our owners. Sea Coral will line up on Oaks Day at Flemington and Unchain My Heart will run at Randwick on Cup Day.
Bring on the week.
Joe O'Neill |
| Sunday, 23 October 2011 |
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THE WINNERS KEEP COMING |
Sea Coral's impressive win at Morphettville on Saturday has more than likely earned him a crack aty a 1600m race at Flemington on Oaks Day. He has really matured in the past six months and is racing very consistently. He was always going to win this in the run asnd was far too good in the run home.
He was our 9th winner for the season from only 29 starters which is a good strike rate.
Congratulations to the owners and Tony McEvoy who has done a great job with the horse.
Joe O'Neill |
| Monday, 10 October 2011 |
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UNSER IN STRONG WIN |
Unser gave his owners a great thrill when he finished strongly to win at Morphettville this afternoon. This impressive looking son of Mossman was beautifully ridden by Matthew Nielsen and really let down well off a strong pace.
Unser is by Mossman which is one of our favourite stallions.
Congratulations to Tony McEvoy and his staff on a job well done.
Unser's win topped off a good weekend where our other runner Too Many Reds finished his race off strongly for third in very good company.
Joe O'Neill |
| Monday, 3 October 2011 |
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THINGS GOOD IN HUNTER VALLEY |
I must say that I have never seen the Hunter Valley looking so good. I had a very productive but busy day yesterday running around the farms inspecting our horses.
I'm very pleased with our weanling purchases. They are all in great order and terrific types of horses.
These visits at this time of the year are amongst the most important I do. I get a chance to see large numbers of yearlings in the paddock as well as the new foals. I saw some really good foals.
Joe O'Neill |
| Saturday, 24 September 2011 |
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LORD MONTY WINS |
Lord Monty returned to the winner's circle at Morphettville on Saturday with a determined victory. The horse has been steadily regaining fitness after a long break and put the writing on the wall at his previous start.
David Hayes deserves a lot of credit for the job he has done to get the 'Mont' back. Congratulations to all concerned.
Joe O'Neill |
| Monday, 5 September 2011 |
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AUGUST ENDS IN STYLE |
The first month of the season ended in fine style with Sea Coral scoring his 5th win when he was perfectly ridden by Simon Price at the Balaklava meeting this afternoon.
Later in the day Too Many Reds took on a super field of sprinters and only a poor barrier stopped him from winning. He ran a terrific second to Basil Da Man who is a star in the making.
Overall we had a great start to the season with our 17 starters yielding 6 winners, 4 seconds and 2 thirds. Our horse of the month was Namsarai with two wins from as many starts in Sydney.
Thankyou to our trainers and their staffs for a job well done.
Joe O'Neill |
| Wednesday, 31 August 2011 |
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SEA TRYST WINS AGAIN |
Sea Tryst scored again this afternoon at only his second start at Morphettville. He was giving away a lot away in experience but was simply too good in the final analysis.
Once again he was well ridden by Simon Price. The horse is a half brother to our good mare Believe 'N Achieve.
Congratulations to the owners.
Joe O'Neill |
| Saturday, 27 August 2011 |
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TIMES ARE CHANGING FOR THE BETTER |
I was in the Hunter Valley yesterday heading around some farms inspecting yearlings and newly born foals by the first season sires I am most interested in. It was an intruiging day and probably the biggest change I noticed was that there appeared less yearlings in the paddocks than in previous years.
There has been a correction in the industry and breeders are not sending mares to stallions for the sake of it. In recent times we have seen many many mares over bred. By that I mean the mares were sent to far better stallions than they were entitled to go to. In many cases this saw the resulting foals struggling to get into the level of sale their owners had hoped for. This causes a lot of frustration.
I must say that the overall quality of yearling I witnessed was outstanding.
There is no doubt the price of yearlings will continue to rationalize and there should be terrific value to be had in the forseeable future.
From a Prime Thoroughbreds perspective I will continue to purchase good value yearlings from the farms and offer them to our clients at far reduced prices than I could offer them if they went through a yearling sale.
This strategy has really worked for us with horses of the calibre of Pitt Street, Too Many Reds, Believe'N Achieve, Sea Tryst, Unchain My Heart and Ohmygod being purchased directly from studs.
Joe O'Neill |
| Saturday, 27 August 2011 |
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NAMSARAI WINS AT ROYAL RANDWICK |
Namsarai scored his second city win at Randwick on Wednesday. This was his third win for the preparation and with any luck he should be undefeated this time in.
Kris Lees has done a marvellous job with the horse and while the tracks remain soft he should continue to be competitive.
Prime Thoroughbreds has had a great start to the 2011/12 season with four wins from just six starters.
Joe O'Neill |
| Friday, 19 August 2011 |
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OUR TRAINERS ON FIRE |
The Prime Thoroughbreds trainers have been on fire since of the start of the new season. David Hayes has taken all before him with nine winners since the first of August. This is a remarkable effort and included metropolitan winners in Victoria, NSW and South Australia. David leads the Australian Training Premiership at the time of writing.
Kris Lees and Mark Kavanagh have had four winners each, Charlie Goggin two and Tony McEvoy one.
Keep up the good work lads.
Joe O'Neill |
| Wednesday, 10 August 2011 |
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FAREWELL MAJOR MITCHELL |
Tomorrow a memorial sevice will be held in Sydney to farewell Major James Mitchell. Australian racing was certainly the big winner when James decided to select Australia as the future home for his family and purchased Yarraman Park from George Moore in 1969.
The Major was a wonderful character, he had a superb sense of humour and had a unique way of expressing himself. He was a great story teller and there always seemed to be plenty happening when he was around.
He is a big loss to the Mitchell family. Our thoughts are with Arthur, Bill and Harry and their families at this difficult time.
Joe O'Neill |
| Wednesday, 10 August 2011 |
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TWO STATE DOUBLE |
The Prime Thoroughbreds team has really started the new season off in style with three winners from as many runners.
Today at Canterbury Namsarai was beautifully ridden by Jay Ford and stormed home to win in great style. He has been in sparkling form and deserved this win in town. Well done to Kris Lees for another job well done. He is a terrific trainer and his results for us have been first class from the moment I sent him horses back in 2006. Namsarai is probably our best bred horse being a half brother to New Zealand's top two year old last season Anabandana and also the stakes winner Gybe.
Earlier in the day Believe 'N Achieve's younger brother Sea Tryst scored a dominent win on debut at Balaklava. He sat in behind the leaders and the result was never in doubt once he let down in the straight. He was really well ridden by Simon Price who did a good job as the horse is still very green.
Namsarai was a $40,000 Magic Millions National Yearling Sale purchase and Sea tryst was yet another success for us as a weanling purchase costing just $30,000 as a weanling from Yarraman Park Stud.
Congratulations to the connections of our three winners.
Joe O'Neill |
| Wednesday, 3 August 2011 |
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ZEDI POWER IN GREAT WIN |
Zedi Power was our most expensive yearling purchase in 2010 costing $100,000. Today she showed a terrific turn of foot to win impresively by 6 lengths at only her second start.
She wasn't suited on the wet track first up but on top of the ground looked a really good filly in the making.
What a nice way to start the new season.
Joe O'Neill |
| Tuesday, 2 August 2011 |
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FULL BROTHER TO MOSSMAN WEANLING WINS |
Deemed, the full brother to our Mossman weanling colt out of Mrs. Dee scored a comfortable win at Hawkesbury yesterday. The three year old was due to run at Canterbury on Wednesday but the races were amandoned after heavy rain lashed the course.
Our colt has been very well received and the shares in him moving along quite nicely.
Joe O'Neill |
| Monday, 25 July 2011 |
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MCKAYLA GREEN APPEAL |
On 9 May 2011 we supported a Golf Day in Newcastle to raise money for a little girl named McKayla Green who has a rare desease and needed special equipment to help make her life easier. I received a letter from the organisers to say in excess of $40,000 was raised which is a great effort and I'm certain a terrific boost for her family.
Joe O'Neill |
| Friday, 22 July 2011 |
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ADMIRAL'S CUP SCORES TOUGH WIN |
Admiral's Cup was our fifth winner for June when he scored a tough win this afternoon at Canterbury. He was beautifully ridden by Corey Brown and has really started to come of age.
Congratulations to the owners.
Joe O'Neill |
| Wednesday, 29 June 2011 |
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PITT STREET OFF FOR A SPELL |
Pitt Street will head for a well earned spell. He did a great job this preparation winning thee of his six starts including Saturday wins at Flemington and Morphettville.
He is a very progressive horse and another success for our weanling syndications. He will be prepared for a crack at the Spring Carnival.
Joe O'Neill |
| Monday, 27 June 2011 |
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ANOTHER CONCERTO SCORES STRONG WIN |
Another Concerto scored her maiden win this afternoon in good style and in doing so beat a field of older horses.
The filly showed nice ability early in the season but ran into one good two year old after another and was on trial today over 1400m. She jumped to the front and never looked liked being headed.
Congratulations to the owners.
Joe O'Neill |
| Sunday, 26 June 2011 |
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COUP FOR YARRAMAN PARK |
The Mitchell brothers from Yarraman Park have pulled off a major coup by securing Hinchinbrook to stand at Yarraman Park for a service fee of $16,500. The impressive son of Fastnet Rock was amongst the very best gallopers of his generation.
He is out of the high class producing mare Snippet's Lass who was one of the toughest horses I have had the pleasure of being associated with. She had terrific personality and a great will to win. While she was only small she was all class and had a superb pedigree.
Hinchinbrook is sure to get a high class book of mares and he was highly sought after by studs across the country.
Joe O'Neill |
| Thursday, 23 June 2011 |
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