By Jack McInerney –
It was Friday 25th September 2015 and a very modestly bred little filly by Sire ALL AMERICAN out of bush mare CONDESAAR, who had 2 career starts consisting of an 8th of 14 at Muswellbrook and a 12th of 14 at Cessnock was sent to the trials for the first time.
The fillys name was YANKEE ROSE, and was under the care of trainer Clarry Connors, her trial was very much just a run of the mill trial as she worked home under her own steam to run 4th, ridden by Sam Clipperton. Big Clarry mustn’t have been too overly impressed by what he saw in said trial as the horse was then moved on by Syndicators Derby Racing to David Van Dyke, known my many in racing simply as DVD.
When you take into account that the initial purchase price of Yankee Rose was a mere $10,000 as a yearling what took place over the next few months is truly mind boggling and for the owners must have been some ride indeed as she won 3 of her first 4 runs, banking an incredible 1.6 Million dollars prizemoney.
She only won 1 more race, the G1 Spring Champion stakes, from a subsequent 6 more starts, but was notably Disqualified from her Group1 second placing in the G1 Flight Stakes due to the presence of a banned Anti-Inflammatory called Ketorolac. DVD was fined $25,000 and maintained his innocence with his Vet declaring on record the horse was administered an injection into her fetlocks 8 days before the race, the limit being 7 days.
Also another a few other notable things about YANKEE ROSE’s career was that she ran second in the G1 Golden Slipper to CAPITALIST. Also that she was the first filly ever in history to win the G1 Spring Champion Stakes, beating the now stud stallion SWEAR. Following that win she was aimed at the 2016 Cox Plate, after running a massive race with Dean Yendall wasting, getting down to 47.5kg for the ride she ran third to the great mare WINX who won her second of 4 Cox Plates.
After her gallant display in the Cox Plate there were rumours that DVD was floating the idea of sending her to the Oaks, run over the stamina sapping 2500 metres. And the rumours proved to be true as she was entered for the Oaks and after a hype train that hasn’t been seen with many horses since, she was sensationally sent out as a heavily backed $1.95 Favourite.
After a cushy run she was presented by Yendall at the turn to the home straight but offered very little, fading to run 14th in the 15 horse field. The winner of the race was the Lee Curtis trained LASQUETI SPIRIT at 151-1 courtesy of a ride from Brenton Avdulla which can only be described as something off the computer game G1 Jockey rather than anything you would see in real life!
After recuperating from her Oaks sojourn YANKEE ROSE was went to Queensland for two eagerly anticipated trials in preparation for a comeback, she beat a horse now racing in North Queensland called JACK LANCASTER by 0.3L in the second trial and the alarm bells were ringing. She only had one more start in the 2017 edition of Memsie Stakes where she clearly wasn’t right running 9th of 11 runners.
Now is where the story gets absurd. After her failure in the Memsie she was nominated for the Makybe Diva Stakes, but word filtered through that the owners had decided to sell her to Japanese interests. This quote is from the Courier Mail, Published on 13/9/17:
“Queensland Horse of the Year Yankee Rose could have run her last race, with her owners making the decision to sell the dual Group 1-winning mare. The four-year-old was scheduled to run in Saturday’s Makybe Diva Stakes, but was not among acceptors on Wednesday.Trainer David Vandyke said Yankee Rose was ‘half a grade lame’ in one of her feet on Wednesday morning, but not the one that has caused her troubles in the past. Additionally, she has swelling in her off fore fetlock.”
The main thing to remember here is that she was sold to Japan for an undisclosed amount, presumably at least 1.5-2 million, so add that onto the 2 million dollar prizemoney she won in her whirlwind 10 start career and you are at about 4 million dollars all from a 10k yearling which is pretty mind-blowing no matter which was you look at it.
After being covered by one of the now deceased Demi-Gods of international horse racing DEEP IMPACT and producing a filly which was sold for 2.75 million in 2019. She was supposed to be covered again by the great horse himself but he was withdrawn from stud duties so in his place she was covered by son of Deep Impact, Saxon Warrior. The next year she then went on to be covered by Japanese sprinting sensation LORD KANALOA and as a result foaled a colt. Now is where it starts to get hard to fathom, her son went through the ring and was sold for a eye watering 4.49 million dollars AUD.
So next time someone tells you that you are wasting your time with modestly bred horses just remember a 10k yearling by a run of the mill sire, out of a 2 start maiden bush mare went on to win 2 million dollars prize money, 2nd in a slipper, 3rd in a Cox Plate, then was sold for another 2 million then produced a 2.75 million dollar filly then a 4.45 million dollar colt. Dreams do come true and Miracles can happen! The ownership group of Yankee Rose surely used up their entire lifetimes luck in one hit by scoring her, and what a ride it would have been! The stuff dreams are made of.
There is nothing better than a story of a battler in racing, and Yankee Rose, who was transferred stables after one trial, seemingly bound for a life of mediocrity ended up earning her owners 4 million dollars and went on to produce progeny valued to the tune of at least 7.2 Million AUD. Astounding by anyones measure.
I hope she keeps producing high class progeny long into the future. She was only around for a short time but my oh my did she create an impression. Yankee Rose – The Little ATM on legs.
Thanks for Reading!
Yeah The Punt 