Pretty Brazen ridden by Luke Currie wins the Furphy Let’s Elope Stakes at Flemington Racecourse. (Natasha Morello/Racing Photos)
A quick assessment of the figures shows that prominent Queensland breeders Linda and Graham Huddy are already significantly in front with their initial $700,000 purchase for a daughter of Darley Northwood sire Brazen Beau out of Pretty Penny.
Now a four-year-old named Pretty Brazen, the mare took her earnings to $571,775 with the Group 2 victory in the Let’s Elope Stakes (1400m) at Flemington on Saturday.
Throw in a price tag of around $1 million as a broodmare when her racing career is over and it’s easy to see why the figures keep climbing.
But it’s not a money thing for the Huddy’s who own equine property, Peachester Lodge.
“It was a big thrill to win, but horrible not being there,” Linda said.
“We went and looked at her at the sales and my husband actually did the bidding so he took the blame at the time and the credit now.
“She was a beautiful yearling and the page was always going to be the page. The old mare has done a great job.”
Pretty Brazen’s dam Pretty Penny has produced Group winning Sertorius (Galileo; $1.82 million in prizemoney), Dollar For Dollar (High Chaparral and $621,745) and Rezealient (Sebring and $261,715). Dollar For Dollar and Rezealient are still racing.
Pretty Brazen also won the Group 2 Sandown Guineas (1600m) last November and as Linda points out, it was the first time a filly had won the race for 14 years.
“It was a big thrill and I was there that day,” Linda said.
“I thought she was over the odds on Saturday ($20) but I thought she’d be top four, but those other two fillies, Arcadia Queen and Savatiano, you couldn’t underestimate but we were second up but I thought she’d like Flemington.
“You know racehorses, you can’t be too confident.”
Linda said she understood trainers Tony and Calvin McEvoy were looking at backing up the mare in Saturday’s $500,000 Group 1 Sir Rupert Clark Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield.
Calvin McEvoy was full of praise for the mare.
“She was fantastic, really tough,” he said in his postrace interview.
“She has been training on really well since her first run (seventh in the 1200m Cockram Stakes) and we thought that her first-up run was probably a pass mark. We expected a little bit more.
‘’Now that she got to the 1400, that’s where we really see the best of her. It’s great for Luke (Currie) to get his first winner back.
We’ll look at the Rupert Clark now depending on how she comes through it. It was firmer out there today. It’s a fantastic result for the Huddy’s.”
And Linda said she was always impressed with Brazen Beau (I Am Invincible) as a stallion, especially as she believes he should have won the Group 1 Diamond Jubilee (1207m) at Ascot when he finished second, beaten half a length.
“But with Pretty Brazen, she had the page and I think she was the dearest,” Linda said.
“There was an under bidder, so someone else actually liked her and I think it was Darley so it gives you a bit of confidence knowing that they went to whatever they went to.”
Darley’s Victorian general manager Andy Makiv it was pleasing to see an expensive filly like Pretty Brazen take the next step and produce on the racetrack.
“She has won over half a million dollars and is a multiple Group 2 winner, so I am delighted for the Huddy’s who are a great client of ours,” Makiv said.
“And we are obviously very pleased for the stallion.”
Makiv said Brazen Beau’s book of mares has been capped at 100 mares for this season and he’s fully booked.
The stallion did not shuttle back to England and has remained in Australia after serving 127 mares last season.
“He has been fully booked since early in the season and he is obviously a promising young stallion so people have recognised that he is probably the gun stallion out of his crop,” Makiv said.
“These proven stallions are very hard to find and he is proven and can get two-year-olds and three-year-olds and looks the go.
“And there are certainly no problems with people wanting to use him, so he a very exciting stallion to have.”
Makiv said Darley was sending 20 of their best mares to nine-year-old Brazen Beau that had shown he could get multiple stakes winners in a season.
And he pointed out that Brazen Beau’s other highly priced yearlings – Ideas Man ($575,000) and Larimer Street ($420,000) were stakes winners, while North Pacific ($800,000) is a Group winner.
“The really exciting thing about the stallion is that he gets good sorts and the expensive ones run which is a wonderful thing,” Makiv said.
“If you can breed a good one, you can get money for it in the ring and if you are prepared to spend money on them there is a chance they’ll run.”
And the Huddy’s will continue to concentrate on buying and breeding fillies with nice pages so they can initially race and then hopefully breed from.
While Pretty Brazen has followed the script perfectly, Linda knows better than most that breeding is a tough game.
“It’s great when they do what she has done and it’s good when they have got the pedigree already,” she said.
Linda said they are sending 25 broodmares to stallions in Australia this breeding season and they will also send mares to New Zealand based stallion, multiple Group 1 winner Preferment which they co-owned and still have a share in.
“There are good reports on them as two-year-olds,” she said.
“We have three fillies by him, two of own and we actually bought one which is a half-sister to The Candy Man (Casino Prince/Melody).
“He is cult hero in Queensland and has beaten us a couple of times so we thought if we get the half-sister, at least when we he beats us we can say: ‘At least we’ve got the half-sister by Preferment.’
“So it’s worked out well.”
Linda will again send a group of her broodmares to Swettenham Stud’s stallions, including Pentamerous which produced nine-time Group winner Shoot Out and Group winners I’m A Princess and Cassandra Shadow – all raced by the Huddy’s.
Pentamerous (Pentire/Johnny Loves Jazz) was purchased by Linda after they bought Shoot Out, which amassed $3.2 million in prizemoney.
Up until last year, I’m A Princess was the last foal produced by Pentamerous but with the expertise of Sally Watkins from Willaroon Thoroughbreds and vet Caroline Duddy, of Riverbank Farm, the mare produced a stunning colt by Toronado last year.
“She is due to foal in about a month to Toronado again,” Linda said.
“The colt is back here, we bought him home and it would be nice to get a nice filly.
“We are sending one of Pentamerous’ daughters (Shoot Fer Love) to Toronado this year. She has a Dundeel filly, (Stick ‘Em Up), which we sold as a yearling) and she raced in the Australian Oaks (finished fifth) but it’s hard to lead in those sorts of races over a mile and half but she might do something as a four-year-old.”
Linda is also sending one of her broodmares to first season stallion I Am Immortal at Swettenham Stud and another to Puissance de Lune.
Pentamerous, which went five years before producing a colt to Toronado, is now 20-years-old and Linda says a decision will have to be made soon about her breeding future.
Linda said they would concentrate on buying fillies then racing them and hopefully breeding from them.
They family occasionally buys a colt, or retains one to race to have a bit of fun.
As a co-owner of Victorian stallion Lucas Cranach, they have bred a couple from him which they race.
One of them, six-year-old gelding Get Stuck In has won eight races and $275,450 in prizemoney for Eagle Farm trainer Tony Gollan.
