VINERY 2011 recruit and reigning Champion USA First Season Sire Congrats continues to underline his “all ’round credentials” with another winner in the U.S on turf.
Three-year-old gelding Gone Rogue posted his first win at start number four when steaking away to score over the mile by 2.5-lens with the third placed horse a further 5.75-lens away.
Gone Rogue is out of a mare by Grand Armee’s sire and one-time Coolmore resident Hennessy (by Storm Cat).
Interestingly, the scene of Gone Rogue’s win was Colonial Downs in Virginia which boasts the widest grass surface of any track in America spanning 180 feet of turf from the inside fence to the out.
The win is further evidence of Congrat’s astonishing capabilites as a sire of winners on all surfaces (Dirt, AWT, Turf), something which will serve him well once his future Vinery Australia bred progeny step-out.
“It’s what we saw early on with More Than Ready in the States, they were every bit as good when switched to turf as they were on the dirt,” says Vinery’s Conor Phelan.
“We know that Congrats sires fast maturing two-year-olds of Grade One standard and we know that they train on. His record of producing grass horses is the last peice of the puzzle – we couldn’t wish for a better Stallion to join our roster.”
