If it thrills you to see the progeny of top-class mares taking their formative steps, then you are in for a treat with the runnings of the Group III Canonbury Stakes and Group III Widden Stakes at Rosehill Gardens on Saturday.
In the Canonbury, four of the six acceptors are out of stakes-winners, and another, The Little Pumper, is a son of a Group 1 Flight Stakes runner-up.
Claiming a good deal of attention in the Widden Stakes are a pair of $900,000 Justify (USA) fillies.
Just Glamourous, a daughter of the dual Group 1 winner Global Glamour, went into everyone's black book when a slashing fourth on debut at Warwick Farm.
Owned in similar interests is Annabel Neasham's highly-regarded debutant Learning To Fly. The daughter of Justify is a daughter of Fastnet Rock's Group III MRC Chairman's Stakes-winning daughter Ennis Hill.
The Widden is a nightmare to work out, so we will get back to the Canonbury Stakes.
The Peter and Paul Snowden-trained Golden Slipper favourite King's Gambit makes his eagerly awaited reappearance since demolishing a field of upwards of five lengths in the Listed Debutant Stakes at Caulfield last October.
Bred by Gooree Stud and owned by some of the biggest names in the game, the striking son of I Am Invincible is out of Group III ATC Birthday Card Stakes and Group III ATC Triscay Stakes winner Sultry Feeling (Encosta de Lago).
Sult
A Group 1 also eluded Sultry Feeling's triple Group III-winning half-brother Swift Alliance. The son of don Eduardo fell just short of Group 1 glory when edged out by Shellscrape in the Group 1 Galaxy at Randwick when conceding the winner 3.5kgs.
King's Gambit is the fourth foal of Sultry Feeling and the best to date.
The daughter of Encosta de Lago has been a reliable producer with four fillies and two colts in her first six seasons.
They include a Snitzel colt catalogued for the Inglis Easter Australian Yearling Sale (Lot 392) and a precious Extreme Choice filly foaled on October 16.
Sultry Feeling revisited I Am Invincible last spring.
The Russian Revolution colt Red Resistance is expected to offer stiff resistance to King's Gambit.
A fighting winner on debut over the highly regarded Merchant Navy filly Steel City at Rosehill, Red Resistance is the second foal of Lonhro's magnificent daughter Heatherly winner of the Group II MRC Rubiton Stakes and placed at the highest level in the Moir Stakes and Oakleigh Plate.
The Chris Waller-trained Snitzel colt Shinzo makes his career debut in the Canonbury.
Sporting the all-navy silks of Coolmore, Shinzo has looked the part in three barrier trials.
He is a brother to the Magic Millions 2yo Classic winner Exhilarates out of the dual Group 1 winner Samaready.
While Sultry Feeling has been a joy in six seasons, Samaready's first seven seasons have often been heartbreaking. Shinzo is just her second live foal, and the daughter of More Than Ready was exported to Ireland in February last year.
We can't leave the Canonbury without mentioning the Annabel Neasham-trained Fameux.
Like King's Gambit, Red Resistance, and Shinzo, Fameux did not see a sale ring.
The son of Exceed And Excel was not far from the winner when a well-supported fifth on a heavy track at Canterbury on January 6.
Fameux is the first foal of the Group 1 Coolmore Classic heroine Daysee Doom (Domesday), a $1.1million purchase for Widden Stud / David Redvers Bloodstock at the 2022 Inglis Chairman's Sale.
