Queen of the Desert Sires

2008 SIRES

REAL JESTER | BELLOTTO | TAOS

The $12,000 CentreRacing Queen of the Desert Stakes, one of Alice Springs’ racing’s time-honoured events, promises again to be a hard-fought contest on XXXX Gold Alice Springs Cup Day.

The fillies and mares 0-80 1200m event invariably attracts some of the best gallopers of the fairer sex in commission – the role of honour includes such notables as two-time winner Rose Of Tirol, Tap Dance, Greimota, Cover Gal, Queen of the North and last year’s winner, the impressive Lady Lyn, to name a few.

It was first run in 1995, and continues to provide the fillies and mares with a good stake and for the first three placegetters, an added bonus in the form of a free stallion service.

For the second straight year, Lindsay Park Stud has again been most generous in donating a service to their exciting son of Rory’s Jester, Real Jester, while John Hickmott’s Lakewood Stud has also come on board with services to the fine winner-producing stallions Bellotto and Taos. The Club is indebted to both studs for making these services available.

The CentreRacing Queen of the Desert Stakes is not only a race which looks good on the pedigree page of a filly or mare – due to the generosity of the studs involved, it also helps to ensure that additional young stock are bred to race in the Northern Territory, consequently keeping numbers up and making racing a viable proposition for the future.

Real Jester stands at Lindsay Park for a fee of $6,600 (GST inc). By Rory’s Jester from the multiple stakes-winning mare Dangerous Seam, Real Jester showed any amount of ability on the racetrack, finishing second to Testa Rossa in his very first raceday start in the Gr II Maribyrnong Stakes before winning the Listed Merson Cooper Stakes. He subsequently ran a creditable fourth in a vintage Blue Diamond Stakes behind Redoute’s Choice and Testa Rossa!

Retired to stud in Western Australia, he served only small books of mares and in the 2005/06 season, from 17 live foals, produced seven two-year-old runners for five winners and three stakes performers, including the Merson Cooper Stakes winner Red Pluton and Real Cheeky, a runner-up in the Gr II WA Guineas and stakes placed up to 1800m.

However, in his first season at Lindsay Park, in 2006, he served 90 mares, and his yearlings in 2007 sold to a top price of $140,000. He has a number of good performers currently racing in Perth, such as Fairest And Best, Jestceny and Blescay.

Bellotto, a son of Mr Prospector, went to stud in 1989 after a brief but successful racetrack career. He ran second, beaten a neck by Don’t Forget Me, in the Gr 1 2000 Guineas at Newmarket, and third to Reference Point in the Derby of the same year at Epsom. He gained a Timeform rating of 131 as a three-year-old.

He has proved to be a tremendous stallion, and currently ranks in the top 50 sires currently active in Australia. Some of his top sons and daughters include Bullwinkle, Bellzevir, My Brightia, Clang, Seto Bridge, Zip Zip Aray and Fraud to name a few. His record as a broodmare sire is also second to none, being broodmare sire of over a dozen stakes winners.

Taos, a son of Australian champion sire of 1978/79 Century and the Bold Aussie mare Cloud Pink, was a fine galloper, winning eight times including the Gr III BATC Sprint, and he was placed second in the Gr I VRC Sires’ Produce Stakes.

At stud, from limited opportunities, he has left a number of good performers, including Taos Pleasure (pictured), the winner of 13 races and over $300,000 in stakes. He finished a fine third to Jade City in last year’s Palmerston Sprint in Darwin, and was a recent open handicap winner at Cheltenham.

He leaves winners on a regular basis week in-week out, and is an excellent proposition when breeding to race.