While the win in the Group 1 Breeders Crown for 3YO trotting fillies was to many a foregone conclusion, with Im Ready Jet starting $2.40 favourite, the performance of the second-place getter Ofortuna would have had many a favourite-backer holding their breath.

The daughter of Majestic Son put in a powerful finish to get within a neck of the leader at the post and was a further glimpse of the potential the filly has shown in her first season on the track.

 

Her very first outing proved successful, winning on debut in TR2:02.4 at Ballarat back in February and given a light campaign in the run up to the Breeders Crown series.

To date, she has had just 10 starts and saluted three times, with three close placings. Her close second placing at Tabcorp Park Melton in a time of TR1:57.2 against Im Ready Jet (Quaker Jet), a veteran of 16 starts and over $150,000 in earnings, was a sign that the filly is continuing to step up.

Not that the family is unfamiliar with success – Ofortuna (left) is out of the unraced Wind Cries Maori mare, Fortunate Phoenix, from the outstanding producer, Dodo Rocket (Wagon Apollo), connected largely with HBV member and breeder, Ash Haynes. So named for a relentless string of non-structural injuries that eventually saw her retired to the breeding barn without taking part in a race, Fortunate Phoenix was fortunate to have patient owners who saw a future for her in the breeding barn instead. By that time, older brother Canadian Phoenix (Malabar Maple) had clocked three wins, and half-brother Hadrian’s Phoenix (Eilean Donon) had just hit the track, recording a win and a fourth placing in the Group 1 Breeders Crown.

Her first service to Eilean Donan missed, and her Danny Bouchea foal lived only a few days. The following season, Alabar’s Majestic Son (Alabar) was engaged and the match was successful, with a healthy filly dropping on November 30, 2016. She was given a year off and by the next breeding season swung around, Fortunate Phoenix had a high-performing sister taking all before her – Princess Phoenix (The Pres) – who had at that time already counted two Group 1 victories in her trophy case.

“We really liked Ofortuna as a foal, she was a flawless type,” explains Haynes. “She went on to sell well at the Australasian Premier Trotting Sale, and so it made sense to return to Majestic Son”. The mating proved successful, with a full sister dropping in 2019 and currently entered for the 2021 APTS sales in February (Lot 101). The cross replicated the Garland Lobell influence of The Pres, the sire of Princess Phoenix, being by Andover Hall, a full brother to the sire of Majestic Son, Angus Hall. Fortunate Phoenix has a 3x3 to Red Coach Glory and the match brought lines to Noble Victory and Penn Hanover into the mix.

Fortunate Phoenix was not served in 2019 but has just returned a positive to Volstead (Haras des Trotteurs); the resulting foal will have a 4x4 paternal cross to Valley Victory in addition to the dam side 4x4 to Red Coach Glory. “We’ve liked Cantab Hall for a while, and after another of our mares threw a lovely Volstead colt, we thought we would give him a try with Fortunate Phoenix,” said Haynes.

It’s not just Fortunate Phoenix back to the barn for another season – Dodo Rocket has been served after a season off, by Aldebaran Eagle at Aldebaran Stud. Haynes suggested that given the success he (Aldebaran Eagle) has had in North America, and the previous success of the Muscle Hill cross, it seemed a sensible match. “It’s also great to be able to support local studs and for an older mare, fresh semen is an attractive proposition,” said Haynes.

Muscle Hill is the sire of Peregrine Phoenix, a $50,000-earning son of Maple Eve Phoenix – a similarly unraced half-sister to Fortunate Phoenix, also bred by Haynes along with a Group 1-winning brother in Eljaykay Phoenix (Sundon, $260,000), and a 2019 Aldebaran Eagle filly, also listed in the APTS catalogue for 2021 (Lot 109).

With the success so far of these two sisters in the barn – Fortunate Phoenix and Maple Eve Phoenix – along with their sibling Princess Phoenix’ track stardom, it would be surprising if the next crop did not produce yet another exciting trotter. Now with Benstud, Princess Phoenix has a 2020 Majestic Son colt on the ground – an interesting 3x4 cross to Garland Lobell through full brothers Andover Hall and Angus Hall. Benstud are also breeding from a further daughter of Dodo Rocket, Princessa Ruth (Down Under Muscles) who has a 2019 Creatine filly (entered in the Nutrien 2021 Yearling Sale, Lot 121) and most recently, that tried-and-true cross to Majestic Son for a colt on October 30.

We also wait to see what a fourth sister might do, with Veruckte Phoenix (Eilean Donan, $35,000) with a rising 2YO filly by Majestic Son at foot, and in 2019, a Father Patrick colt – all bred in Victoria by the Barnes family.

An interesting line in the family is the damsire of Dodo Rocket, an American stallion named Joey’s Bird. By Greentree Joey, Joey’s Bird was the same age and raced in the same Harvey stable as Albatross and while the latter had taken all before him in 1971, Joey’s Bird had been rested for the season after an ankle injury. The stable cited that he had been too impressive as a two-year-old to risk him. In Australia he had 73 starters, for 54 winners, the best being Group 1 winner, Kano Joe (TR2:04.7) who won a heat of the Inter Dominion at Moonee Valley in 1989 and the Gammel in 1992. The New York Daily described Joey’s Bird as ‘of a medium size in an era when pacers are shrinking to Arabian standards’. Interestingly, as a broodmare sire, he took a 72% strike rate; while Dodo Rocket never raced, her dam Jolabyrd recorded two winners from two starters with Byrdie Num Num (Speed Supreme) and Darlingsford (RC’s Dee Jay).