Speedy filly Eloping will be out to attain millionaire status at Caulfield on Wednesday when she tackles the $250,000 Listed MRC Blue Sapphire Stakes, while at Caulfield last Saturday her two year-old three-quarter brother Of the Brave kicked off his career with an impressive debut win in the Listed MRC Debutants Stakes.
The siblings were both bred by Michael Christian's Saconi Thoroughbreds and
sold as yearlings at Magic Millions, Eloping (Choisir) for $120,000 and Of the
Brave (Starspangledbanner) for $170,000.Eloping, prepared by Peter Morgan and Craig Widdison and Of the Brave, prepared by Mark Riley, are from 12 year-old Rory's Jester mare Runaway Jesse, a half-sister to Group III winner All Courage.
"Eloping is a great story and I can't tell you how much fun we've had out of her," said Michael Christian, a former Collingwood legend in the AFL and breakfast radio host with a passion for horses.
"I sent her to Magic Millions to sell her as I needed the money.
"Peter Morgan liked her and was keen to buy her, but my partner Siobhan Miller had fallen in love with her.
"They hatched a plan to buy her with Siobhan bringing in a group of her friends to pay the $120,000 and make up one of those all women's syndicates.
"When it came time to pay, a lot of them dropped out and Siobhan was left with most of it, which seemed a bad thing at the time, but has turned out the best thing!"
Eloping has won five of 10 starts earning $859,150 with highlight victories in
the Group III MVRC Champagne Stakes and ATC Royal Randwick Stakes."She tries so hard and has given us so many thrills and great days at the races in Melbourne, Sydney and even Brisbane," Christian reflected.
"I'm nervous about tomorrow though. It looks good on paper, but you still have to go out there and win it."
Runaway Jesse has had four foals to race all winners with her stakes-winners Eloping and Of the Brave (pictured Greg Irvine) joined by Group II placed Jesse's Girl (Choisir), who is also now at stud for Saconi Thoroughbreds.
"I have eight mares in total, but some of those I only own half of," Christian explained.
"I have 40 acres at Whittlesea in Victoria and keep the mares I own outright on the farm. We send them away to foal down and be served and then they come back with their new foals when they are safely back in foal.
"We grow out the young horses here and then about eight weeks before a yearling sale I send them out to be prepped by the experts."
Runaway Jesse joined Saconi Thoroughbreds back in 2006 and has been there ever since.
"I saw her advertised privately over in South Australia and had been after a Rory's Jester mare for a while so sent Adrian Hancock to go and have a look at her for me," Christian revealed.
"He liked what he saw. He said she was a nice, strong mare with good conformation, so I bought her 50/50 with another bloke."
The first foal from Runaway Jesse was a Choisir filly called Jesse's Girl.
"We sent her to Magic Millions and couldn't get a bid on her so bought her back
through Dean Hawthorne Bloodstock to syndicate amongst friends," Christian
said."She ran fourth to Star Witness at her first start and ended up being Group placed on several occasions, so I bought the other partners out of her when she finished racing so we could breed on with her."
Runaway Jesse has no yearling for the sales next year having slipped in 2012, but has foaled this spring producing this lovely filly by Sepoy, while Jesse's Girl has a yearling filly by Sepoy that will be entered for Inglis Premier and has just produced a colt by All Too Hard.
Given the burgeoning success of this family, Runaway Jesse has had an upgrade this year and is booked to Fastnet Rock, while Jesse's Girl will be covered by Snitzel.
"I agonized over whether to send Runaway Jesse to Starspangledbanner, but she slipped the year before and I just wanted to make sure we got a foal," Christian said.
"The whole aim of what I'm doing here is to hopefully identify something special and then build a family from it internally.
"We had some luck a few years back with a mare called Bella Inez that produced Group II winner Hallowell Belle and Group III winner Fuddle Dee Duddle."
Bella Inez died tragically in 2012 leaving behind a now two year-old filly by
Star Witness called Bella Orfana."She died of colic just five weeks after Bella Orfana was born and it was a shattering experience," Christian recalled.
"Danny O'Brien came and saw Bella Orfana in the paddock earlier this year and wanted to buy her, but I just couldn't do it, although eventually decided to sell him 20%."
Mr Christian also has a share in the placed four year-old Sebring mare from Bella Inez, called Artic Dream, and has acquired a 50% share of the now retired Fuddle Dee Duddle in partnership with Widden Stud.
"Fuddle Dee Duddle has been covered by Zoustar and we're just waiting on a positive. It's all about finding these female families and then trying to enhance them," Christian concluded.
"You hope for good luck and learn to keep your fingers crossed!"
