Power-Packed Small Oakford Premier Draft

With a half-brother to a recent Group 1 winner on offer, buyers might want to pay attention to Brian McKnight’s Oakford Thoroughbred Farm draft for the 2021 Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale. Oakford Thoroughbred Farm is located in historic Maldon, Victoria, and their select drafts for the Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale have a strong winner-producer record, with horses like Listed winner Authoritarian (Authorized) and group-placed city winner We’ve Got This (Hard Spun) both being sold by Oakford, as well as 2020 winner Kenyan Wonder (Zoustar) who ran fifth behind Gr1 winner Behemoth (All Too Hard) in a group race last autumn. In 2021, Oakford Thoroughbred Farm will present a small, high quality draft of only five yearlings, four of whom are colts. A half-brother to Group 1-winning sprinter Bella Vella (Commands) is Lot 40, and this standout colt is by up and coming sire Shooting to Win (Northern Meteor). Not only that, but his dam is a dual winner and American import, whose first three foals to race are all recent winners, and the family is bursting with black type. If this colt runs half as well as his Gr1-winning half-sister, he’s going to be a stallion prospect, and that’s not something this publication says lightly! A full-brother to recent winner Glitch Inthesystem (Starcraft-Chance Liaison, by Falbrav) is Lot 784, and this colt is closely related to Champion 2YO Colt in Japan Grand Prix Boss (Sakura Bakushin O). From one of Australia’s best families (Circles of Gold) and a proven multiple Gr1 winner, Highland Reel (Galileo) is a hugely exciting first season sire, and his colt, Lot 644, is the first foal of multiple race winner Lara’s Web (Hard Spun), who is a half-sister to Gr2-placed winner Savoie (Ilovethiscity). Tough racemares makes superb broodmares, and Lot 582, a colt by Vancouver, is the third foal of seven race winner Distant Dreams (Shamardal), herself a half-sister to the Listed winner of seven races, Deja Blue (Denman). The sole filly in the Oakford Thoroughbred Farm draft for 2021 is Lot 657, by proven Gr1 sire Artie Schiller (El Prado), best known as the sire of Gr1 Coolmore Stud Stakes winner Flying Artie, as well as Laser Hawk, Good Standing, and many others. This filly is out of winning mare Mark’s Matilda (Domesday) who is a full-sister to stakes-placed winner Cathy’s Mark (Domesday).

Lot 40 is a full-brother to Group 1 winner Bella Vella (pic: Mark Gatt)