Not A Single Doubt leads Sires' premiership
“It’s surreal,” was how breeder Andrew Ferguson described his experience of watching Extreme Choice win the $1.5 million MRC Blue Diamond S. 1200m G1 on Saturday.
The number 11 gate and being forced to race wide without cover weren’t enough to stop the colt from scoring an outstanding victory in 1:08.95, almost two lengths in front of his stablemate Flying Artie, with the Redoute’s Choice filly Zamzam six lengths away in third place.
Watch Extreme Choice win the MRC Blue Diamond S. G1.
The $900,000 winner’s cheque has swept Extreme Choice’s sire Not A Single Doubt past Street Cry to the head of the Australian General Sires’ premiership with a new figure of $7,244,601. Not A Single Doubt also tops the table by winners (102) and wins (155), and has claimed the No. 1 spot on both the 2YO & 3YO Sires’ lists.
The result was a career highlight for Mick Price who trained the quinella and, with his Bloodstock Manager Luke Wilkinson, bought Extreme Choice for $100,000 from the Bell River Thoroughbreds draft at the 2015 Inglis Classic Sale.
Bell River, near Wellington in central NSW, is owned & managed by Andrew Ferguson and his wife Georgie who bred Extreme Choice in partnership with good friends Lloyd Walker & Bob Hogno.
The colt’s dam Extremely (by Hussonet) is an unraced daughter of Canadian Group winner Going To Extremes, and has left three other winners, including multiple Singapore winner Raise No Doubt (also by Not A Single Doubt). She has a yearling filly by Duporth, a weanling colt by Smart Missile and is back in foal to Not A Single Doubt.
Unbeaten in three starts, Extreme Choice has now earned almost $1.3 million for his owners Anthony Bongiorno, Matthew Davidson, Anthony Davis, Dennis Foley, Louie Gonzy, Karen & Ross Greer, Paul Horton, Gary Jones, George MacDonald, Paul Marsh, Arch Staver, Jim Turner, Dennis Turner, Shane Walter, Matthew Ward, Brad & Lisa Wheeler, Luke Wilkinson & the Newgate Farm Extreme Choice Syndicate.
Extreme Choice is Not A Single Doubt’s third Group 1 winner after Miracles Of Life and Good Project, and Fell Swoop did his very best to become the fourth, in the race after the Blue Diamond, the $500,000 MRC Oakleigh Plate 1400m G1. He went down by the narrowest of margins to a very determined and deserving winner Flamberge.
Between the two Caulfield features, Good Project was third in the $150,000 ATC Liverpool City Cup 1300m G3 and, earlier in the day, 3YO filly Single Gaze split Ghisoni and Stay With Me in the $175,000 ATC Surround S. 1400m G2.
On Friday evening Secret Agenda, another member of Not A Single Doubt’s 2012 crop, was beaten only by the Beneteau filly Almighty Girl in the $150,000 Typhoon Tracy S. 1200m G3.
In total, the Blue Diamond win and four Group placings have added $1,082,000 to Not A Single Doubt’s earnings in just over 20 hours – that’s around $54,000 per hour.
The son of Redoute’s Choice has four colts and three fillies on offer at the Inglis Melbourne Premier Sale which starts on Sunday. They include a powerfully built colt from Time To Move in the Arrowfield draft, Lot 396.
