Results of the wisdom of her adored horseman father Tommy Watson, one of the great characters of NSW racing for nigh on half a century from his training base at Cessnock in the Hunter Valley, has softened the blow of his loss several years ago for his daughter Deleis.
On his advice she purchased a quarter share for an outlay of $2,500 in a Spinning World filly initially trained at Taree by Tommy’s good friend Ross Stitt but later in Sydney by Allan Denham. Named Heavenly Glow, she followed up nine wins in17 outings, including the AJC Australian Oaks and STC Arrowfield Stud Stakes, and earnings of $792,000 by being sold to Patinack Farm as a breeder for, reportedly, a million dollar figure.
The gap in her life, left by the severance of her connection with Heavenly Glow, is now being filled for Deleis by Youthful King, a Youthful Legs 4-year-old gelding which she bred and owns and which made it three wins from ten starts when successful over 1200m at Newcastle on January 23 with Australia’s most winning jockey, Robert Thompson, aboard. Winner of the Oaks and Arrowfield on Heavenly Glow, Robert and also Deleis have been at Cessnock all their lives.
Earlier Thompson rode winners for Tommy Watson, one of the most astute judges of bargain buys at Sydney horse sales. One of his last was Youthful King’s dam Supreme Whiskey, a half-sister by the good class American Gone West 2-year-old Supremo to South Australian Derby third Neugine, which he picked up in Sydney as a yearling for $250 and gave to Deleis.
Unlike Heavenly Glow, their was no fairytale on the racetrack in Supreme Whiskey for Deleis when she raced her out of the Stitt stables, the best of her13 efforts being two seconds and two thirds on country tracks.
Supreme Whiskey has atoned for her modest racing showing by producing Youthful King as her first foal, and only living one to date. Besides Saturday’s win, this Gregory Judd, Broadmeadow trained gelding has shown good ability with two successive sprint wins, one of them by four lengths, at Cessnock in mid 2009, a long neck second at Tamworth and a third and a fourth in December at Newcastle.
He could go on to do well for a number of years, being by Youthful Legs, a sire who has only had mid road opportunity but whose stock can stand up to a lot of racing. His other runners have included Youthful Jack (12 wins, five stakes), Get Up (11 wins, two stakes), Malta (14 wins, two stakes), Sir Redford (11 wins), Adhemar (12 wins) and Youthful Edition (12 wins). Six have each won nine races.
Based at Steve Miller’s Erin Park Stud near Tamworth on behalf of a syndicate headed by Scone breeder Russ Lazarus, one of the owners of 1987 Melbourne Cup winner Kensei, Youthful Legs is a handsome near black former smart American performer who genetically is nearly a three-quarter brother to both Danehill and Northern Dancer.
He is by the Nearctic sire Explodent and from the Roberto mare You’re My Lady, producer of five stakes winners and of the dam of the Brief Truce Caulfield Cup and Rosehill Guineas winner and Cox Plate (second) and Victoria Derby (third) placed Diatribe. He stands at John Thompson’s Coronet Farm, Wybong, Hunter Valley.
Youthful Leg’s dam is a half-sister to the mother of Danehill and from a half-sister to Northern Dancer.The grandsire of Danehill through Danzig, Northern Dancer was also by Nearctic.
Youthful Legs also has close blood ties through sire and dam to Al Samer, a son of the champion Danehill sire Redoute’s Choice in use at Emirates Park, Digger’s Rest, Victoria. Al Samer is out of another half-sister to Youthful Legs.
