The Darley Deal

Rockmount and Darley Stud have had a long association and it gives us all great pleasure when our combination succeeds. August 22nd saw the Darley owned Formal Attire win with consummate ease over 1000 metres at Sandown. Trained by Brian Mayfield-Smith and confidently ridden by Corey Brown, the Danehill entire was a happy horse after having a three week freshen up here at the farm. A lot of credit to this horse’s success is also down to the expertise of our farrier John Pittard who has worked tirelessly on this horse’s feet. Formal Attire’s next assignment was a city meet held at Seymour on September 9th. He was just nudged out over the concluding stages to record a good 2nd with the run full of merit considering his program has been interrupted due to the EI outbreak and a definite dislike for the track. Confidence would still be high in him winning a stakes race this spring.

The same meeting saw the first run back this campaign for another Darley owned horse in Art House. A Redoute’s Choice ½ brother to the Rockmount owned Sacha Royale, Art House just failed to hold out the odds on favourite Skiddaw Peak and there is no doubt that this stallion will make his mark in spring stakes races. A wide actioned horse behind, Art House will also benefit from the larger tracks of Flemington and Caulfield.

Embracing, a three year old Darley owned barnmate to the above two horses, found one a bit too hot for him when resuming at Cranbourne on September 2nd. The colt is a good looking son of Elusive Quality out of a Rodrigo De Triano mare, and his run was full of merit. However, the Rockmount pretrainer was beaten fair and square by Weekend Hussler part owned by Rockmount principle Jill Kewish!

The Darley team have an exciting group of 2 year olds coming through the Rockmount system. These include ½ brothers to the likes of Murtajill, Magnus, Suntagonal, Media, Timbourina, Laisserfaire and Sky Cuddle, and daughters of Tycoon Lil, Bulla Borghese and Rose Archway to name just a few.