Pencarrow graduate continues family legacy
Pencarrow Stud’s foundation mare Richebourg has left a lasting impression on the Australasian thoroughbred landscape, with Gr.1 Queensland Derby (2400m) victor Maison Louis (NZ) (Super Seth) further adding to that legacy with his Classic triumph at Eagle Farm on Saturday.
The likes of Gr.1 Melbourne Cup (3200m) and Gr.1 Caulfield Cup (2400m) heroine Ethereal, five-time Group One winner Darci Brahma, Group One winner Grand Echezeaux, and Group One performers Burgundy, Romanee Conti, Supera and Uberalles are descendants of the mare, and now Maison Louis can add his name to the esteemed list.
“That was a really good effort, especially coming from our core family and it’s good to see that keep going,” Pencarrow Stud Manager Leon Casey said.
“It has been an incredible family for us. They are capable of leaving speed horses that have got great acceleration, and also capable of leaving staying horses that settle well and can just keep finding gears over a trip.
“There are a lot of good families, for whatever reason, do die out, but this family has three quite distinct branches going at the moment, and they are going as well as each other. We are pretty lucky.”
With victory, Maison Louis also continued the incredible run of form of Waikato Stud stallion Super Seth, becoming his fourth individual Group One winner, alongside Linebacker (NZ), La Dorada (NZ) and Feroce (NZ).
“It is good to see Super Seth doing such a good job,” Casey said. "We're shareholders in Super Seth and we've got six mares in foal to him this year. We bred to him consistently right from that first crop and Feroce was another by Super Seth that we bred.
"Cote D’Or will go back to Super Seth this year. He's got those lines of Redoute's Choice, Zabeel and High Chaparral that have just crossed so well with that family before. He is a great mix for that Ethereal family."
Maison Louis is a son of stakes winner Cote D’Or (NZ) (Makfi), who won eight of her 19 starts for trainers Ken and Bev Kelso, including the Listed Matamata Cup (1600m).
The three-year-old gelding was her third foal, with his two older siblings, Dresse' Par Joli and Shooting Stride, also raceday winners.
“She was a very good mare and we possibly didn’t see the best of her,” Casey said. “She has left some nice types. That is her third winner and she is putting together a good record now.
“She leaves a nice type and they are good, sensible horses. That really stood to him (Maison Louis) on Saturday, he settled really well in a slowly run race, and that put him in a great spot to capitalise on things.”
Maison Louis was purchased out of Pencarrow’s 2023 New Zealand Bloodstock Book 1 Yearling Sale draft by Go Racing for $250,000, and he has gone on to win four of his seven starts to date for trainers John O'Shea and Tom Charlton, accruing nearly $680,000 in stakes.
“He wasn’t an overly big horse, but he was a nice type at the sales and sold for pretty good money,” Casey said. “We always had hopes that he would go on to do something.”
Super Seth is well represented at the forthcoming New Zealand Bloodstock National Weanling Sale with six lots by the boom Waikato Stud stallion on offer, with the sale to commence at 10am at Karaka on June 26.
