More Than Ready scores twice at Group 1 level last weekend with Prized Icon (Champagne Stakes) on Saturday and Turquoise Power (Macau Derby) on Sunday.
Both his elite winners are from mares by Danehill.
Turquoise Power (4g More Than Ready – Elle Duccio by Danehill) originally raced under the name Duccio in Australia and won the More Than Ready Plate at Canterbury as a spring three year-old for Gai Waterhouse. He also finishing second to stablemate Hampton Court in the LR Dulcify Stakes at Randwick.
The gelding arrived at Geoff Allendorf’s Macau stable in December and is unbeaten in two starts on turf at Taipa earning the equivalent of AUD 232,750.
Turquoise Power looked to be struggling on the heavy surface before Joao Moreira weaved a passage close to the rail to score by two lengths from the dead-heaters Sandtop (Henrythenavigator) and Perfect Alloy (Big Brown).
“Thank God we had Joao,” Aussie-expat Allendorf said at the presentation. “It was a brilliant ride.”
The Macau Derby winner is a brother to Perfectly Ready (G1 Goodwood Hcp) who has carved out a successful stud career at Brighthill Farm in New Zealand.
More Than Ready is a world-wide phenomenon and he started 2016 on a winning note with stakes winners Life Imitates Art (Florida) and More Aspen (Dubai).
Strawberry Hill owner John Singleton is one of the Vinery champion’s strongest supporters and he has been rewarded with G2 Todman Stakes winner Kiss And Make Up and G1 Vinery Stud Stakes placegetter Happy Hannah this year.
Happy Hannah is from the same crop as More Than Ready’s Group 1 winning fillies Perfect Reflection (Kingston Town Classic) and Entisaar (SAf Allan Robertson Championship).
Singleton raced More Than Ready champion More Joyous and her Group 2 winning sister More Strawberries. Both mares have yearlings by southern hemisphere time to Frankel. To no-one’s surprise, Singo kept the More Joyous colt and sold the More Strawberries filly for $1.60 million at the Inglis Easter Sale earlier this month.
There are more Group 1 races on the horizon for More Than Ready starting with USA colt Tom’s Ready (Kentucky Derby) and he also has Taj Mahal (T J Smith) and Eagle Way (Queensland Derby) in the mix for the Brisbane winter carnival.
