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Aurum's Bloodlines in the News...

2008 Melbourne 3 Day Event

The 2008 Melbourne International Three Day Event was very exciting from
Aurum's perspective! Although our horses were not actually competing, their relatives were everywhere!

Each of the five classes was won by a purpose bred performance horse with a predominantly thoroughbred pedigree. In the CIC-W*** 5 of the 8 horses who completed were purpose bred performance horses. More than half of those entered in this class were bred not to be racehorses. As you will see, the successful horses that were ‘off the track’ have pedigrees that are peppered with names that are found throughout the world's great performance horse pedigrees. It is no accident that these horses make good event horses and that many move better than the average thoroughbred.

Lauren Balcomb (right) riding Kootamootoo (by Salute) was a clear winner in the CCI*Junior having led from the dressage and only adding one show jumping rail to her score. Had she been in the senior class, Lauren was still on a winning score, with the same Ground Jury and all! We cannot wait to see Lauren out competing on Aurum Brilliant Connections and Aurum Boadicea in the future. What a shame they are still babies!

Kootamootoo shares many relatives with our Aurum horses as not only is he by Salute, but his thoroughbred dam has in her pedigree (with multiple occurrences of many) the famous Blue Peter, Blandford, Precipitation, Fair Trial, Nearco, Fairway, Dark Ronald, Pharos, Son in Law, need I go on! Our two broodmares Risqué and Byalee Minuet carry the Salute line as does the very smart 2007 colt Aurum Solarius.

The winner of the CCI*, Phantom Stealth ridden by Melissa Van den Berg (nee Hughes), is also by Salute out of a thoroughbred mare who has in her pedigree multiple occurrences of the performance precursors Star Kingdom, Nasrullah (and therefore Nearco and Mumtaz Begum), Hyperion, Phalaris to mention a few. Phantom Stealth had previously been placed 2nd in the CNC 2* at Kooralbyn and Maryborough and prior to that had won the 1* at Kooralbyn. And he is only 15.3!

Placing 2nd in the 1* at Melbourne was War Wizard (right), ridden by Seamus Marwood. War Wizard is by Daley K. This son of Daktylus has produced a number of successful performance horses with perhaps the most famous being World Cup Show jumper Warlord II. He has also produced Grand Prix Dressage horses and Eventers.

The dam of Daktylus, Abeba, is by Absatz, Sire of Argentan who is famous for both his dressage and showjumping off-spring, and particularly for his most famous son Argentinus.

Daley K's dam, Gold Song also has illustrious parentage. Her sire Goldstern is by Gotthard (Grand sire of Bockmann's Genius, 1992 showjumping World Cup final winner and Olympic Silver medalist) a very prominent horse in the G-Line dynasty which descends from the thoroughbred Goldschaum. On the dam side War Wizard's pedigree includes the thoroughbred half brothers Precipitation (sire of the immortal Furioso) and Persian Gulf (important sire of showjumpers and dressage horses) and grandsire of Marlon, one of the most important thoroughbred sires in warmblood breeding after the War. Also present are Blandford and Gainsborough. At Aurum we have Daley K represented in a wonderful broodmare BP Montana, who as it happens had a lovely filly foal (Aurum Daley Flood) in 2007 by Aurum Flash Flood.

Moving on to the CCI ** Koyuna Tora Bora (right) was piloted to victory by Amanda Howell. This a lovely grey mare who is a descendant of the great Souvenir, sire of McCartney (who is the sire of our stallion Aurum Alloy and mare Aurum Poppy). Koyuna Tora Bora led after the dressage and added only one show jumping rail to win by a clear margin. In the 2* I found at least 5 descendents of Souvenir or McCartney, 2 of whom finished in the top five places.

The next 3 placings in the 2* were filled by thoroughbred horses who not surprisingly have their pedigrees peppered with the ‘right horses’ to make good eventing competitors.

Yet again we see occurrences of Nasrullah (Nearco and Mumtaz Begum), Polynesian, Wilkes, Hyperion (Gainsborough), Star Kingdom, Nearco, Court Martial, Fair Trial (Fairway, Phalaris, Son in Law), Hurry On (sire of Precipitation) Blandford, Swynford. These horses occur dozens of times in the pedigrees of these three placegetters. They may have made their way to Werribee via the racetrack, but it is no accident that they are good performance horses.

In 5th position was an Irish Sporthorse, a grandson of the practically thoroughbred sire McCartney out of a thoroughbred mare! This thoroughbred mare has, you guessed it, Nasrullah, Star Kingdom, Wilkes (son of Court Martial and sire of Vain who in turn was the sire of Brilliant Invader), Nearco, Hyperion and so on multiple times in her pedigree. Again this 3/4 thoroughbred horse is bred to excel.

Of course the 3* competition was ‘split’ into two, the CCI*** and the CIC-W***. The CCI*** was won in fine style by Megan Jones and Kirby Park Irish Jester (DOB 1993) a grandson of McCartney. In second place was All Luck (DOB 1994), a thoroughbred who was bred by Emirates Park in Victoria but whose pedigree displays a who’s who of performance breeding! I lost count of the number of appearances of the aforementioned precursors but did note two separate occurrences of the great mare Mumtaz Begum. This mare appears in the pedigrees of a number of really good moving horses and our stallions Aurum Riviere d’Or (through his dam Aurum Belle) and Aurum Alloy (through his dam Begum Belle).

Third place went to Newsprint (DOB 1995) who has 2 crosses of Better Boy (Bay Ronald, Gainsborough, Blandford, Mumtaz Mahal), one via Century and one via Kingston Rose. In addition to these are Rego (Nasrullah) Hyperion, Swynford, Pharos, Son in Law and Star Kingdom.

The CIC-W*** was won in fine style by the thoroughbred gelding Koyuna Sun Dancer (DOB 1999) ridden by Wendy Schaeffer. He added just 2.8 cross country time penalties to his dressage score and was the only one to show jump clear in this class. This must have softened the disappointment of having to withdraw Koyuna Sun Magic from the CCI3* following a clear cross country which had them in 4th place.


Sun Dancer is by the super sire of eventers and show jumpers Brilliant Invader, and of course his dam also has the requisite pedigree. Brilliant Invader, aside from having the runs on the board via his progeny, is amazingly bred as a performance horse.

His pedigree through his sire Vain, includes Court Martial (and hence Fair Trial, Fairway, Phalaris, Son in Law, Hurry On, Gainsborough), Nasrullah (and hence Nearco, Mumtaz Begum and Mumtaz Mahal) and further multiple occurrences of Hyperion, Gainsborough and Phalaris. On his dam side, Brilliant Invader carries Precipitation, Hyperion, Fairway, Swynford and Son in Law (Dark Ronald).

Sun Dancer did not come via the race track as is evidenced by his 1999 birthdate. Like the winners of every class this was a purpose bred performance horse!

Interestingly, Kirby Park Allofasudden (3rd placegetter) has Wilkes, the sire of Vain and grandsire of Brilliant Invader, on his dam side. Aurum not only stands two Brilliant Invader sons in Aurum Invader and Aurum Brilliant Cut but has Vain also represented in our McCartney son Aurum Alloy and our broodmare Aurum Belle. Needless to say there are a number of youngsters available with these bloodlines also.

One thing that becomes abundantly clear from this report as well as doing a similar audit of the results of the recent Sydney 3DE, where all classes were won by purpose-bred horses, and the current National Elite Squad is that if you want to win at eventing nowadays you should be riding purpose-bred horses with at least 50% selected thoroughbred blood. It would appear that the days of winning with a horse off the track are over.

Previously...

At Aurum our focus over the past few years has been more on breeding and less on competing. This means that many of our horses are unperformed (and often not even broken in) themselves. However this does not mean that you cannot see the competition record of the bloodlines that we have. All of our stallions and mares, and therefore our youngsters, have relatives competing successfully all over the world.

Matt Ryan and Bonza Puzzle were not only the highest placed of the Australians who competed at this year’s Badminton Horse Trials but in fact finished in eighth place out of 81 starters. A creditable performance at one of the worlds highest level competitions. Badminton is the longest running and one of very few CCI 4 star competitions worldwide. It is of equivalent level and prestige as the Olympic competition. Bonza Puzzle is an Australian Thoroughbred by Family Ties, sire of our fabulous broodmare Natheira and grandsire of another of our girls, Dreamie.

Across the other side of the world and a couple of weeks earlier, Cammy O’Rourke (at her first 4*) and Kirby Park Irish Jamie finished the Rolex Kentucky CCI 4 star in 11th position. Irish Jamie is another grandson of the Australian horse McCartney, sire of our stallion Aurum Alloy and our broodmare Aurum Poppy. McCartney of course is by Souvenir and each appears in the pedigrees of an enormous number of performance horses, including Olympic Gold Medallist Peppermint Grove.

Each of these horses completed the 4* cross country phase without incurring any jumping penalties.

Closer to home, Regardez Moi has been consistent in blitzing FEI dressage, winning the Grand Prix and the Grand Prix Kur at both Melbourne’s Dressage and Jumping with the Stars and Sydney’s CDI. Scoring 71.25% in Melbourne and then topping this with a 72.05% in Sydney where Gotthilf Riexinger (GER) who is judging at the Olympic Games in Hong Kong, gave Heath and Regardez Moi a score of 72.5%. Regardez Moi is of course the sire of two of our stallions, Aurum Riviere d’Or and Aurum Remarquable, and is also the sire of our broodmare, Risque. Not to mention the yearling colt Aurum Revoir who is for sale.

In addition to riding Regardez Moi in Sydney, Heath also rode Jive Magic to 2nd place in the Intermediate 1 and also the Intermediate Freestyle with a score of 71.5%, just 0.2% behind the winner. Aurum Jive Princess is of course by Jive Magic and Aurum Jolson and Aurum Watch Out (Candy) are by Jazz, the sire of Jive Magic himself.

Back on the Australian eventing scene, at the Sydney International Three Day Event, Brilliant Invader, McCartney and Souvenir were well represented in both the 2 and 3 star classes, not to mention Family Ties and Salute who had offspring on their way up in the lower classes. Koyuna Sun Shine (3rd 3*) and Koyuna Sun Dancer (5th 3*) are both by Brilliant Invader, whilst Koyuna Sun Magic (4th 3*) goes back to Souvenir and Kirby Park Irish Jester (2nd 3*) to McCartney. Two of the stallions that we stand at Aurum, Aurum Brilliant Cut and Aurum Invader, are of course by Brilliant Invader. Because the aforementioned bloodlines are represented in our broodmares and stallions, and in some of the outside stallions that we occasionally use, we have quality youngstock available with extremely well performed relatives!

Earlier in the season, some of these horses featured in the 3 star at Wandin, Koyuna Sun Shine was 2nd, Koyuna Sun Dancer 3rd (both by Brilliant Invader), and Koyuna Sun Magic 4th (Souvenir).

At Camperdown, McCartney was well represented with descendents featuring in the top placings of the 1, 2, & 3 star classes. Worth a special mention is the 3rd placegetter in the 2 star, Dale Flynn who rides one of these. Dale is the astute young rider who has purchased Aurum Simply Brilliant who is by Aurum Brilliant Cut out of our Sanction (sire of 4* horse Flame) mare. Dale also won the CIC 1* at Tonimbuk and more recently was 3rd at Reynella in the 2*. His sights are firmly set on 3* after he completes Naracoorte and Melbourne in the next couple of months.

At Tonimbuk, our Souvenir and McCartney bloodlines were well represented by the winners of the 3*, 2*, 1* (as mentioned above) and even the Introductory! Also a Brilliant Invader daughter, Koyuna Sun Storm, was 3rd in the 2* here.

Hot off the press is the news that Lauren Balcomb, future rider of Aurum Brilliant Connections and Aurum Boadicea, won the 1* at Scone riding her Salute horse Kootamootoo. This combination was just starting back after a long break when they were interrupted by EI. They had a very good run at Sydney and are heading for Melbourne. They must be feeling pretty confident after leading from the dressage at Scone and having the rest of the placings filled by a group of very well credentialed riders.

Salute is represented at Aurum by the very flash foal Aurum Solarius who is very well stamped by this great horse. Salute also appears in the pedigrees of two of our broodmares, Risque (by Regardez Moi) mother of Aurum Watch Out (Candy), and Byalee Minuet (by Richmeed Medallion) mother of Aurum Jolson

Moving away from eventing and dressage, there has been a lot happening on the show jumping front also.

At Dressage and Jumping with the Stars in Melbourne, Daley K was featured in many pedigrees. Daley K has of course been present in the breeding of World Cup Show Jumpers, Grand Prix Dressage horses and many eventers. He was the Grandsire of the winning 5 year old Young Jumping Horse, AEA Orox, and 6 year old Young Jumping Horse, Glenara Bolinger who went on to be the Champion of Champions. Visiting celebrity Melanie Landmeier (Ger) used these horses in her Masterclass before riding them to determine the Champion of Champions. She commented over and over how talented they were. Of course Brilliant Invader, Salute, McCartney and Souvenir were also represented in these classes. Daley K is found at Aurum as the sire of BP Montana and therefore grandsire of her lovely daughter Aurum Daley Flood who is by Aurum Flash Flood. Aurum Flash Flood is by Flooding who also sired Another Flood (Olympic Show Jumper twice!) and a number of other succesful showjumpers so we have no doubt that she will be able to jump!

The ISS EFA Australian SJ Championships were held recently in Sydney and included Championships for Juniors, Young Riders and Senior Riders as well as Young Horse Classes and State Teams events. Once again, and not surprisingly, horses with the bloodlines that we are using in our breeding programme were well represented, and that is not counting those who have these relatives deeper in their pedigrees.

Koyuna Sun Set has Souvenir on both the sire and dam side of her pedigree. She was 4th in the Grand Prix Series Table C, 2nd in the Grand Prix, 4th in the Senior National Championships and finished the weekend in 2nd place on the Australian National Champion Leaderboard. This was particularly impressive when you consider that this event was being run concurrently with the previously mentioned Three Day Event in which her rider Wendy Schaeffer rode to 3rd, 4th and 5th place in the 3*!

Another well known relative of our boys was competing at this prestigeous weekend of Show Jumping, the Brilliant Invader son Koyuna Ted. Late last year Ted was crowned Victorian Country Show Jumping Champion when he jumped the only clear round in the event. In Sydney he was 3rd in the Grand Prix Series Table C, 5th in the Grand Prix, 6th in the Senior National Championships and finished the weekend in 4th place on the Australian National Champion Leaderboard.

Brilliant Invader was also represented in the Junior classes by a grandson, Dreamtime Invader, as was Daley K with a son BP Nero.

SE Prada is a grandson of the great Favoured Bay who has produced such talented horses as Mr Burns, WEG representative and Mighty Heights, a 3* eventer AND a Grand Prix dressage horse! SE Prada was 3rd in the first round of the 1.3m Futurity. Favoured Bay is represented at Aurum by Rose of Helios, who currently has a super quiet and athletic foal at foot, Aurum Brilliant Sun (aka Moses) by Aurum Brilliant Cut.

Salute and Family Ties have combined well in the gelding No Secrets ridden by Colleen Brook. This horse was placed 2nd in the ISS Mini Prix. Salute was also represented by Regal Status who is by the Salute/Ludendorf son Regal Salute. As mentioned previously these bloodlines feature in the broodmare band at Aurum and of course there are youngsters available from these mares.

Only a couple of weeks earlier, at the Copabella Classic show jumping many of the aforementioned horses had featured in the results. In the Amateur classes Regal Status placed on both Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, Olivia Hamood rode Blackall Park Nero to 3rd place in the Magic Millions Young Rider class and Amy Graham rode SE Prada into 3rd in the Shooting Stars Futurity. Following this, No Secrets was 5th in the Welcome Stakes and then on Sunday was 7th in the main event, the Copabella Grand Prix. Doing slightly better was Koyuna Ted who placed 3rd in this event.

I could go on with more similar results but I think that by now you should be realizing that you can get a very good idea of likely competition results using Aurum bred horses. Many of the Aurum horses are used solely for breeding purposes but you can see many of their blood relatives out competing successfully. This is no accident!