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WOODED
Wootton Bassett x Frida La Blonde
Bay – 2017 – 16.2 hh
2025 Service Fee: $16,500 (inc GST)
Race Record
At 2-years-old, in 4 runs
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1st Prix de Tour en Bessin Deauville, 7f .1400m
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2nd Prix la Rochette Gr.3 ParisLongchamp, 7f . 1400m
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2nd Prix Charles Pichegru Dieppe, 7f . 1400m
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3rd Prix Thomas Bryon Jockey Club de Turquie Gr.3 Saint Cloud, 7f . 1400m
At 3-years-old, 5 runs
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1st Prix de l’Abbaye de longchamp Longines Gr.1 ParisLongchamp, 5f . 1000m
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1st Prix Texanita Gr.3 Chantilly, 6f . 1200m
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2nd Qatar Prix du Petit Couvert Gr.3 ParisLongchamp, 5f . 1000m
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4th Qatar Prix Jean Prat Gr.1 Deauville, 7f . 1400m
PROMO
PEDIGREE
NEWS
GALLERY
Race Record
(in France)
| Age | Runs | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Earnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | €45,500 |
| 3 | 5 | 2 | 1 | - | €172,898 |
| Totals: | 9 | 3 | 3 | 1 | €218,398 |
| At 2 : | Deauville Prix de Tour en Bessin (1400m), 2d ParisLongchamp Prix La Rochette, Gr.3 (1400m to Kenway and beating Sujet Libre), 3d Saint-Cloud Prix Thomas Bryon, Gr.3 (1400m to King's Command and Royal Crusade) |
| At 3 : | ParisLongchamp Prix de l'Abbaye de Longchamp, Gr.1 (1000m beating Glass Slippers and Liberty Beach), Chantilly Prix Texanita, Gr.3 (1200m beating Alocasia and My Love's Passion), 2d ParisLongchamp Prix du Petit Couvert, Gr.3 (1000m to Air de Valse and beating Lady in France), 4th Deauville Prix Jean Prat, Gr.1 (1400m) |
Sales Results
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Black-type horses
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Stud Summary
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By Trevor Marshallsea
You mightn’t guess it from his pricetag, but Danehill Stakes (Gr 2, 1100m) winner McGaw (I Am Immortal) hails from a pedigree boasting plenty of blue blood, with strong notes of a particularly regal European family.
The first stakes winner created by an entity named Havaparty – the breeding wing (and nickname) of the like-sounding David Azzopardi of Dream Thoroughbreds – McGaw is the son of a mare Azzopardi bought for $16,000 in Niki Piki Milo (Librettist).
Danehill Stakes | Mcgaw
Mcgaw unravels a scorching sprint on the grandstand side of the straight, winning the Danehill Stakes in a photo finish 🔥
📺 Ch. 78/68, Foxtel 529, Kayo or via our app
REPLAYS: https://t.co/ZIa4a02wC0 pic.twitter.com/1IWxIjgDFs— Racing.com (@Racing) October 4, 2025
And even then the breeder couldn’t turn a profit when McGaw went to last year’s Inglis Premier Yearling Sale, selling from Stonehouse Thoroughbreds’ draft for $14,000 to trainers David and Emma-Lee Browne – which was $6,000 short of his reserve.
But the gelding’s pedigree suggested he’d have a good start in life.
Dream Thoroughbreds raced the sire, I Am Immortal (I Am Invincible), and when they sold him to Victoria’s Swettenham Stud, Azzopardi retained a small share and decided to enter into breeding.
At the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale of 2020, Swettenham conducted research – via G1 Goldmine – into appropriate mares for I Am Immortal. Niki Piki Milo, a Listed winner in New Zealand, came up as a recommendation, and the mare is now responsible for one of that stallion’s two stakes winners.
We all want to repeat influential broodmares if we can, and catching the eye mostly in this mating is a 5f x 5f duplication of important mare Eljazzi (Artaius).
Irish-bred, Eljazzi was a foundation mare for the breeding empire of Saudi Arabia’s Prince Faisal bin Khaled bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, he of the maroon with grey epaulettes carried with distinction by a host of quality thoroughbreds. They include dual Group 1 winners and subsequent sires Belardo (Lope De Vega), a former shuttler to New Zealand, and Make Believe (Makfi).
Most of all, they include Mishriff (Make Believe), who won three Group 1s and the world’s richest race, the Saudi Cup (1800m) in 2021, a year before it attained top-tier status.
The John Gosden-trained Mishriff himself is a product of the Eljazzi family, with that mare being his fourth dam.
Purchased by Prince Faisal in 1982 for 92,000gns, the Henry Cecil-trained Eljazzi won on debut at Leicester by four lengths. She couldn’t win again in three more starts, but became a runaway success at stud.
Her first named foal Rafha (Kris) won five from seven, four in black type, including Chantilly’s Prix de Diane (Gr 1, 2100m), or French Oaks, and was one of Eljazzi’s two stakes winners, alongside four stakes placegetters.
Rafha enjoyed outrageous success at stud. Four of her first nine runners were stakes winners, and three more were black-type placed.
Most notable among these were the Group 1-winning Invincible Spirit (Green Desert) and the Group 3-placed Kodiac (Danehill). They have of course gone on to be super sires, the former with 154 stakes winners, the latter 103.
Rafha also threw the great blue hen Massarra (Danehill), who in Ireland left no fewer than six stakes winners include elite victor Nayarra (Cape Cross) and the Group 1-placed Gustav Klimt (Galileo).
It’s via Invincible Spirit that Eljazzi comes into McGaw’s top-half, nice and strong since Invincible Spirit is McGaw’s third sire.
At the bottom, Eljazzi’s influence is even more powerful, undiluted as she’s McGaw’s fifth dam.
Eljazzi was imported to Australia in 2002, aged 22. That’s not why she feeds into McGaw, but she did become a success here as well.
She threw only two foals here before dying in 2005, but one was Al Anood (Danehill), dam of three stakes victors headed by dual Group 1 hero Pride Of Dubai (Street Cry), now the sire of 18 stakes winners topped by Bella Nipotina, Dubai Honour, and Pride Of Jenni.
While still in Ireland, Eljazzi threw McGaw’s fourth dam Fayfa (Slip Anchor), who was Listed-placed and also came to Australia to throw Listed winner Hillfa (Danehill) and her city-winning full-sister Doduo (Danehill), McGaw’s third dam.
I Am Immortal
Doduo was a three-quarter sister to Massarra, Kodiac and Al Anood, and bore the dams of MRC Angus Armanasco Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m) winner Shuffle Dancer (I Am Invincible) and New Zealand Group 2 and Group 3 victor Contessa Vanessa (Bullbars) – who has renown as one of only three stakes winners by the obscure sire of Mr Brightside.
Dudou’s daughter Joiya (Stravinsky) was a city winner in New Zealand and bore Niki Piki Milo and three stakes placegetters, including the Group 1-placed Bella Gioia and Bella Mente.
Azzopardi put Niki Piki Milo to I Am Immortal for three straight years, yielding the Dream Thoroughbreds-retained I Am Piki, who’s won two from 11 so far, McGaw, and a filly bought at Premier this year by Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young.
Her price was $160,000, and Busuttin and Young’s fellow Kiwi expats David and Emma-Lee Browne were under-bidders, at $150,000. That’s a fair bit more than the $14,000 they’d paid for McGaw from Book 2 at the same sale a year earlier, hinting at the quality they’d seen from him.
McGaw had debuted by then, with a 3.5 length win in an 1100-metre Pakenham maiden. Two weeks after that sale, he followed with victory at start number two in the $1 million Vobis Showdown (1200m).
Second place went to Befuddle (Hanseatic). Raced by Dream Thoroughbreds, and co-bred by Azzopardi – who also has a small share in Rosemont Stud’s Hanseatic – she’s now a Group 3-placed city winner from five starts, further boosting the portfolio of her novice breeder.
“We’ve only been breeding for three seasons,” Azzopardi, who has six mares, tells It’s In The Blood.
“I couldn’t have imagined how much success we’d have so early in the breeding game. I wasn’t expecting it, and I’m not kidding myself – I still know how hard it’ll be to have more success – but to get that kind of success, it’s been a very exciting ride.
“To have bred the quinella in the Showdown was just wild. I wasn’t sure which one to cheer for.
“But McGaw has always shown ability from day one,” Azzopardi says of the three-year-old, now a $15 shot for the Coolmore Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) at Flemington on November 1.
“Watching him grow and fill into his frame has been great, and I think there’s a lot more to come. He’s still a bit of a long-legged baby, so as he matures further, he’ll keep improving.”
Azzopardi had budgeted for roughly double what he paid for Niki Piki Milo. She’d had just two runners, and one winner, from four foals at the time, but came up trumps on G1 Goldmine as a match for I Am Immortal.
“She was by Librettist, which probably wasn’t one of the most attractive of sirelines, but at $16,000 she was worth a gamble,” he said.
“As a yearling, McGaw was probably a bit big and leggy for a lot of buyers, and there wasn’t any real interest from anyone in him. But David and Emma-Lee, because they were New Zealanders, they knew Niki Piki Milo, and knew she was a good horse.
“We probably could have passed him in and raced him in Dream Thoroughbreds’ colours, but we wanted to get the stock of I Am Immortal into some good stables.”
I Am Immortal now has two stakes winners from 64 runners, at 3.1 per cent. That’s not bad among the six sons of I Am Invincible who’ve sired stakes winners so far – second behind Brazen Beau’s 4.6 per cent, and ahead of third-ranking Hellbent’s 2.4 per cent. For the record, the others are Kobayashi (1.8 per cent), Strasbourg (1.5 per cent) and Super One (0.9 per cent).
The other stakes winner for I Am Immortal is Phillip Stokes’s four-year-old gelding Athanatos. Out of an O’Reilly (Last Tycoon) mare, he’s shown stamina by winning Morphettville’s Chairman’s Stakes (Gr 3, 2000m), and is at $16 for Saturday’s Toorak Handicap (Gr 1, 1600m), as another of those sneaky lightweight chances in major Caulfield handicaps for jockey Craig Williams.
While the Eljazzi family runs vibrantly in McGaw, he’s also powered by Danzig (Northern Dancer), at 5m, 4m x 3m, 5m, through four distinct sons. In the top-half, Danzig comes through fourth sire Green Desert and I Am Immortal’s damsire Ad Valorem. Down south, he’s the sire of Librettist, and of third dam Doduo’s sire Danehill.
The influential Nureyev is repeated at 5m x 4m via I Am Immortal’s second damsire Fasliyev, and Niki Piki Milo’s damsire Stravinsky.
Like Eljazzi, American broodmare Special (Forli) is another mare worth noting, at 6m, 8f x 5m, the first and last via Nureyev, and the middle through Sadler’s Wells (Northern Dancer), I Am Immortal’s fourth damsire.
Natalma (Native Dancer) makes a strong nine appearances from the fifth to the eighth removes, with another great American mare Lalun (Djeddah) reinforcing the whole five times at 8m, 8m, 8m, 9m x 9m via Never Bend (four times) and Bold Reason.
The dominant sire is Hyperion (Gainsborough) with 19 mentions from columns seven through nine, ahead of 16 from Native Dancer (Polynesian), at six through nine.
***
Godolphin’s two stakes winners from Saturday come powered by some reliable pedigree tricks, one with a particularly royal blue hue.
The Joe Pride-trained three-year-old colt Attica (Lonhro), winner of Randwick’s Dulcify Stakes (Listed, 1600m), is the first foal of former outstanding Godolphin mare Savatiano (Street Cry).
Now 11, Savatiano won 12 times from 14 starts, with seven stakes wins including five Group 2s. She didn’t quite finish with an elite success, but was placed three times at the top level, including a 0.1-length second in the 2021 All Aged Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m), and a 1.3-length second in the 2020 Canterbury Stakes (Gr 1, 1300m).
Exacerbating that pain, she was first across the line in the 2021 Canterbury Stakes, but was disqualified 12 months later – affecting connections but not punters – for a mysterious, unexplained positive swab to three banned steroidal substances.
Savatiano now has a two-year-old colt named Sabates (Palace Pier) in Ciaron Maher’s stable, and a yearling colt by I Am Invincible.
Attica is also boosted by that ever-reliable staple of pedigrees, a duplication of Mr. Prospector (Raise A Native) at 4m x 4m, coming in strong as the sire of Lonhro’s damsire, and as Savatiano’s third sire.
Godolphin’s winner of Saturday’s Super Impose Stakes (Listed, 1800m) at Flemington – the Team McEvoy-trained Options (Impending) – boasts that much coveted occurrence of having Northern Dancer full-brothers Fairy King and Sadler’s Wells on either side of the pedigree, and close enough in the fourth remove.
Fairy King is there as the sire of Impending’s damsire Encosta De Lago, while Sadler’s Wells is well placed as the third sire of Options’ mother Alternatively (New Approach).
Options also has a doubling of Mr. Prospector, at 5m x 5m.
Original Article: https://www.anzbloodstocknews.com/mcgaw/
By Paul Symes
The Coolmore Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) has traditionally been the domain of the rich and famous, but David and Emma-Lee Browne will be gatecrashing the party with their $14,000 bargain buy McGaw after the speedy son of I Am Immortal (I Am Invincible) bounced out of his first stakes win last Saturday.
Blueblood colts Switzerland (Snitzel), Home Affairs (I Am Invincible), Ozzmosis (Zoustar) and Exceedance (Exceed And Exel) were all whisked off to stud shortly after winning the Coolmore, but there will be no need for the Hunter Valley farms to approach the Brownes should their gelded “goofball” upstage his supposed superiors at Flemington on Saturday, November 1.
McGaw’s unfashionable breeding and paltry price-tag is perfectly in keeping with the Brownes’ training philosophy and their low-key, no fuss approach to life in general, with an admirable unwillingness to take themselves too seriously providing a refreshing contrast in an industry which is often mired in politics and occasional backstabbing.
Their determination to enjoy the journey persuaded McGaw’s motley crew of owners to knock back some seriously tempting offers from Hong Kong in the wake of his breakout win in the $1 million VOBIS Platinum Showdown (1200m), and their steadfast resolve has been duly rewarded with a crack at the Coolmore – potentially via the Gothic Stakes (Listed, 1400m) at Caulfield on Saturday week.
With regular rider Damian Lane unavailable on Victoria Derby Day given his riding commitments at the Tenno Sho meeting in Tokyo, Lachie Neindorf is tipped to take over in the saddle for the Coolmore due to his impressive recent form and his intimate knowledge of the horse, having routinely partnered McGaw at trackwork and in his recent Flemington jumpout.
The decision is yet to be officially rubber-stamped, but what is certain is that McGaw has now banked almost 60 times his purchase price having taken his prize-money haul to $835,720 with victory in the Danehill Stakes (Gr 2, 1100m) at Flemington last Saturday.
Given that the Coolmore carries a prize fund of $2 million, there is every chance that his impressive tally will receive another significant hike but McGaw, with his tendency to daydream one minute and stargaze the next, is blissfully unaware of what is at stake.
“Nothing bothers or fazes this horse and he came through the run super,” Emma-Lee Browne told ANZ News.
“He ate everything on Saturday night and was back to his usual goofy self on Sunday. He still doesn’t know what he’s meant to be doing half the time, either in the stables or at the races, but I suppose that’s all part of his charm.
“We’re just working out how we get to the Coolmore, whether we give him another run in the Gothic or just go straight into it with maybe a jumpout the week before. He had quite a big gap between races when he won The Showdown, that seemed to suit him so it’s definitely something we’d consider again.
“I also think the jumpout leading into the Danehill Stakes was a big factor in him winning the race, because it gave him another look at the straight and seemed to help spark him up and get him switched on a bit more. He was still green and had a good look around in the race, but once Damian wound him up he really flew home so it was a massive thrill for everyone in the stable and his owners to see him win a race like that against some quality sprinters.
“Maybe after he ran fifth at his previous start [in the Poseidon Stakes] some of the owners might have regretted turning down the money from Hong Kong, but I’m sure they’re delighted they stuck fat with him now. Obviously the Coolmore will be another huge step up for him and he’ll need to find a few lengths, but his coat hasn’t come through yet so there’s still plenty of scope for improvement.
“To be honest we’re all just pinching ourselves that we’ve got a horse even capable of running in the race, but the horse is in great form and he’s never let us down in the past. He’s been a real marvel and even though we’ll be going up against some of the best sprinters in the world, you only get one crack at the Coolmore so we’ll be giving it a shot.”
Victory for McGaw, who is rated a $14 chance in the early Coolmore markets, would mark a first at racing’s highest level for emerging stallion I Am Immortal. At a service fee of just $8,800 (inc GST) and with two stakes winners to his name, the Swettenham Stud resident represents tremendous value.
With Toronado (High Chaparral) out of action this breeding season due to a significant recent infection and lameness, I Am Immortal and his barn companions will need to take up the mantle at Swettenham.
If McGaw or Philip Stokes’ Toorak Handicap (Gr 1, 1600m) contender Athanatos (I Am Immortal) can make a timely breakthrough over the coming weeks, the phone of the farm’s principal Adam Sangster is likely to be running hot with some last-minute bookings.
Given that they tend to shop at the lower end of the market, the Brownes quickly caught onto the fact that I Am Immortal’s prodigy were quite capable of outperforming their modest price tags and promptly acquired a handful of his yearlings at the sales earlier this year, including filly Got Tickets who trialled at Caulfield last week.
The one that got away, however, was Lot 354 at the Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale, which was instead knocked down to Busuttin Racing. If Team Browne had the benefit of hindsight, with $571,000 in prize-money about to fill the coffers, they might have been in a position to increase their budget – as Emma-Lee explained.
“We love the breed and we did try to buy McGaw’s full-sister at the sales, but we came up just short,” she said.
“I think we went to $150,000 and she sold for $160,000, so it was a shame to miss out on her but the sale was just before his win in The Showdown. If it had been afterwards, I reckon we would have come away with her because the owners could’ve definitely afforded another bid or two with the money they won.
“But that’s life and we’ve still got a few nice two-year-olds by I Am Immortal in the stable which we really like, so hopefully one of them goes on to become the next McGaw.”
McGaw wasn’t the only impressive performer on Saturday, with stablemate Pondalowie (Deep Field) making up significant late ground to finish fourth behind Miraval Rose (Grunt) in the Rose Of Kingston Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m).
Her co-trainers are now toying with the idea of backing her up at Caulfield this Saturday, either in the Toorak Handicap or the Ladies’ Day Vase (Gr 3, 1600m).
“It was a much-improved run and she’s really enjoying getting up in distance now,” said Browne.
“It was a little bit frustrating because she’s been slow away in her previous runs, whereas on Saturday she jumped well but we had to go back from the wide gate anyway. But she really closed off really sharply and has pulled up very well. We will consider backing her up on Saturday because she’s definitely ready for the mile now, but we’ll see how the fields look before making any decisions.”
One horse who will be lining up on Saturday is Scary (Shocking) as the four-year-old bids to build on his last-start runner-up finish in the R.M. Ansett Classic (Listed, 2415m).
Given that he currently sits in 38th place in the Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) order of entry, Scary would in all likelihood need to win Saturday’s Herbert Power Stakes (Gr 2, 2400m) and incur a weight penalty in order to guarantee a start in Australia’s most famous race.
The Brownes were on track to saddle up their first Melbourne Cup runner when Basilinna (Staphanos) earned a golden ticket via the Andrew Ramsden Stakes (Listed, 2800m), only for a chipped fetlock to dash their hopes; but with Scary bouncing back to the sort of form that saw him finish second in last year’s Victoria Derby (Gr 1, 2500m), the dream is still very much alive.
“We need to get his rating up to scrape into the Cup, but it was just great to see him find some form at Mornington last time,” said Browne.
“His run was fantastic and he was still carrying a little bit of condition, so he possibly peaked on his run but he should be even fitter on Saturday. He’s a big horse and he wobbled a little bit coming round the turn there at Mornington, so getting back on a bigger track like Caulfield should definitely suit him. It would obviously be a dream to have a runner in the Melbourne Cup, so hopefully we can get there with him.”
Original Article: https://www.anzbloodstocknews.com/quick-draw-mcgaw-aims-to-fire-a-shot-at-the-coolmore/
Woodshauna provided his sire Wooded with a first Group 1 winner when springing a surprise in the Prix Jean Prat at Deauville.
The Francis Graffard-trained three-year-old was carrying the colours of John Stewart’s Resolute Racing for the first time, with the operation having bought the colt for £625,000 from Al Shaqab at last month’s Goffs London Sale.
Woodshauna’s career had followed that of his sire, the Group 1 Prix de l’Abbaye-winning son of Wootton Bassett, quite closely until Sunday, when they diverged in spectacular and successful style.
Both Woodshauna and Wooded had won the Group 3 Prix Texanita before the Group 1 contest over seven furlongs, but whereas Wooded’s stamina ran out and he could manage only fourth behind Pinatubo, Woodshauna came into his own, thriving over the seven-furlong trip.
Held up in last by Christophe Soumillon, Woodshauna came with a late run to snatch victory in the shadow of the post. Less than half a length covered the first four home, with Maranoa Charlie, by Wootton Bassett, a short neck back in second, followed by The Lion In Winter, who was a short head behind in third, and last year’s champion juvenile Shadow Of Light a neck further back in fourth.
Woodshauna’s Group 3 success had come over Sands Of Mali filly Time For Sandals, who went on to win the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot on her next start. Both three-year-olds are from the first crops of their respective sires and are their first Group 1 winners.
Bred by Haras de Magouet, Woodshauna is out of Tosen Shauna, a daughter of former Tara Stud sire Alhebayeb who now stands at the McCarthy family’s Meelin Stud in County Cork.
See Woodshauna’s incredible victory below:
WOODSHAUNA wins the Prix Jean Prat | Credit: At The Races
Tosen Shauna was a Listed-placed sprinter and is a half-sister to the Listed Premio Eupili winner Maremmadiavola, by Kheleyf, and to the dams of black-type performers Beat Seven and Blood Moon.
She is out of Naked Poser, a winning daughter of Night Shift and the unraced Art Age who is a half-sister to the Listed Premio Rumon winner Attimo Fuggente. Art Age is out of the Moyglare Stud Stakes second and Irish 1,000 Guineas third Pepi Image.
Woodshauna is the first foal out of Tosen Shauna, who has a two-year-old colt from the second crop of Hello Youmzain, who was bought for €87,000 at Arqana’s October Yearling Sale by Equos Racing International from Haras de Grandcamp. She also has a yearling colt by The Grey Gatsby who has been named Shaunagrey.
Eight-year-old Wooded is the older full-brother of the Group 1 Phoenix Stakes winner Bucanero Fuerte, who was returned to training by Amo Racing this year following an abortive stallion career at Tally-Ho Stud.
Bred by Gestut Zur Kuste out of Frida La Blonde, the pair also have a three-year-old Dubawi half-sister who sold for €2,400,000 from Haras d’Etreham to Oliver St Lawrence at Arqana’s August Yearling Sale. She has been named Battle Rhythm and has a year-younger full-brother who went unsold at €600,000 at last year’s Deauville sale.
He has been named Franqueville and is in training with Yann Barberot for Maurice Lagasse, who also has a foal full-brother to Wooded and Bucanero Fuerte.
The success of Woodshauna is also a boost to Swettenham Stud in Australia as Wooded shuttles to the Sangster family’s Victoria farm for the southern hemisphere season and will have his first crop of runners later this year.
Original Article
https://www.racingpost.com/bloodstock/news/international/resolute-racings-woodshauna-gives-al-shaqabs-wooded-a-first-group-1-winner-amdW84s5sm7z/
Resolute Racing’s Woodshauna gives Al Shaqab’s Wooded a first Group 1 winner
Woodshauna provided his sire Wooded with a first Group 1 winner when springing a surprise in the Prix Jean Prat at Deauville. The Francis Graffard-trained three-year-old was carrying the colours of John Stewart’s Resolute Racing for the first time, with the operation having bought the colt for £625,000 from Al Shaqab at last month’s Goffs […]