Ain't Seen Nothin' yet!

Stepitup’s outstanding success in Singapore shines a light on his dam, multiple stakeswinner and marvellous broodmare Ain’t Seen Nothin’ whose foal by Dundeel is eagerly awaited at Arrowfield this Spring.

All of Ain’t Seen Nothin’s first six foals have won and three of them, Stepitup (by Hussonet), Group 3-winning 2YO Bachman (by All American) and dual Listed winner Ain’tnofallenstar (by Starcraft), are stakeswinners.

That perfect record and Ain’t Seen Nothin’s affinity with a range of stallions are good omens for her unraced progeny, a 3YO Starcraft gelding with Mark Minervini, and a yearling sister to Bachman, as well as her foal from the first crop of six-time Group 1 winner Dundeel.

Barbara Joseph is well-qualified to explain what made Ain’t Seen Nothin’ special as a racehorse, and what she brings to the breeding barn. Barbara bought the yearling daughter of Nothin’ Leica Dane for $20,000 at the 2001 Inglis Classic Sale, trained her in Canberra and raced her in partnership with Dennis Higgs & Ron Ball.

Barbara says, “I bought her because I loved the way she walked and she was related to Patou, a filly I initially trained.”  Patou won eight races, but is best-known as the dam of Polar Success, winner of the 2003 Golden Slipper.

Ain’t Seen Nothin’ was tough to educate as a 2YO and patience was needed to overcome her tendency to run to the outside rail, but her racing career began in spectacular fashion.

Barbara says, “She ran third in her first race as a Spring 3YO and then won six in a row. She had a great will to win, there wasn’t a race where she didn’t try her best, and she could run on all sorts of tracks.”

Ain’t Seen Nothin’s winning streak culminated with a record-setting victory in the Illawarra TC Keith F. Nolan Classic LR. Her 3YO campaign ended with a trip to Sydney where she finished second in the AJC Adrian Knox S. G3 and fourth in Tuesday Joy’s Australian Oaks G1.

The following Spring Barbara took Ain’t Seen Nothin’ to Melbourne for a campaign that produced a second stakes win, in the VRC Let’s Elope S. LR, and a sequence of gallant Group 1 runs: third to Mummify and Grey Song in the MRC Underwood S. G1, fifth in Mummify’s Caulfield Cup G1 and fourth in the MacKinnon S. G1 won by Casual Pass.

They were all significant performances for Barbara, who also trained the 1989 Doncaster Handicap winner Merimbula Bay.  “It was a new experience for me to race a top horse in Melbourne, and Ain’t Seen Nothin’ is right up there with Merimbula Bay. She was a million-dollar horse for us and she helped me immensely.”

Ain’t Seen Nothin’ added a third Listed success and three Group placings to her record before she retired, with earnings of more than $600,000, in November 2004. Subsequently purchased for $460,000 at the 2005 Inglis Easter Broodmare Sale, she has been part of the Arrowfield/Planette Thoroughbred broodmare band ever since. 

Barbara Joseph has kept an eye on Ain’t Seen Nothin’s progeny and was the underbidder on Stepitup at the 2011 Inglis Melbourne Premier Sale.  “He was small, but I really liked him, he was very athletic.” 

The team Barbara now prepares in partnership with her son Paul Jones includes Secret Slave, a 2YO Equiano filly from Ain’t Seen Nothin’s first foal Hidden Charges (by Charge Forward).

“She has a mind of her own, just like Ain’t Seen Nothin’, and she goes all right too.”