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Gai Waterhouse was talking Melbourne Cup after her High Chaparral three-year-old Thinkin’ Big made a spring statement with his classy win in the G3 Gloaming Stakes at Rosehill on September 22.
Thinkin’ Big (High Chaparral x Nothin’ Leica Cat by Tale Of The Cat) recorded his first stakes victory, becoming the 120th stakes winner for his late sire and raising speculation that he could be a starter in this year’s Melbourne Cup.
No southern hemisphere-bred three-year-old has run in the Cup this century and the last one to be placed was the Waterhouse-trained Victoria Derby winner Nothin' Leica Dane in 1995."He is nominated for the Melbourne Cup," Waterhouse said of Thinkin’ Big, being one of only two Australian 3YOs among the 183 entries.
"He reminds me so much of Nothin' Leica Dane and he is also in his family."Thinkin' Big will have his next start in the G1 Spring Champion Stakes (2000m) at Randwick before heading to Melbourne.
• Gai Waterhouse and co trainer Adrian Bott celebrated a Group double at Rosehill when the classy mare Shumookh won the G2 Golden Pendant.Shumookh (Dream Ahead x Shamekha by Secret Savings) was G1 placed last season and had come on from her first-up second in the Listed Mona Lisa Stakes at Wyong.
Shumookh, an Emirates Park homebred, is the 10th individual stakes winner for shuttle sire Dream Ahead, the son of Diktat who stands at Murrurundi in the Hunter Valley at the property formerly run by Emirates Park but now managed by Aquis Farm.Shumookh has won two of her seven starts and earnings of $384,495 and hold huge residual value as a broodmare as she is one of six winners out of three-time G1 winner Shamekha.
Her second dam Lifetime Story (Don’t Say Halo) is a half sister to the G2 winner Brave Warrior (Cossack Warrior) and his G2-placed brother Al Faaris.Waterhouse and Bott also train Shumookh’s two-year-old half-sister Shuwaamekh (Snitzel) but Shamekha has missed the past two seasons and is not in foal.
Dream Ahead’s European progeny include the G1 winner Al Wukair and G2 winners Dark Vision and Donjuan Triumphant while his local products include the G3 winner Dreams Aplenty.• The talented Foxwedge mare Noire landed her first stakes victory in the G2 Shannon Stakes at Rosehill.
The five-year-old, raced by Denise Martin’s Star Thoroughbreds, had finished second in her previous two starts in stakes races including the G2 Sheraco Stakes at her previous start.Martin, who also purchased and syndicated Foxwedge’s G1 winner Foxplay, paid $135,000 for Noire as yearling.
Noire is a half-sister to six winners including the stakes-placed trio Global Dream, Maraatib and Valoura from Valadon, a Woodman half-sister to G2 winners Timbourina and Media.Valadon is a daughter of the two-time Listed winner Valourina (Snippets), who is a half-sister to the G2 winner and dual Group 1 placed Timbourina (Timber Country).
Noire, the tenth stakes-winner by Foxwedge, has now won seven times with five placings from 15 starts and prizemoney in excess of $450,000.