Markane, old yarns and a cruel cut

The win of Mark One at the Sunshine Coast last Friday reminded me of a story I wrote this time last year on The Thoroughbred website about his sire Markane, a Red Ransom stallion who is leaving a few winners from his Queensland base.

It is the connection between Markane (pictured) and his half-brother Just Awesome that initial aroused my interest to write the story.

Mark One is a 4YO from the imported mare Lady Smytzer, by Spectrum. Lady Smytzer comes from the direct family that produce the sensational dual Oaks winning filly Pawneese (b m 1973, Calvin (FR)–Plencia (FR), by Le Haar (FR)), bred in Ireland of all French stock. Pawneese won the 1976 Epsom Oaks and Prix Diane (French Oaks) and the King George V1 and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

Pawneese’s dam Plencia is the fourth dam of Mark One.

Markane, who was raced by Tony Santic of Makybe Diva fame, has now sired 17 winners from 47 starts. Most of his best winners are from Santic’s supply of good-class mares.

For readers of The Breed, I reproduce that November 2008 story:

Just one cruel cut

In 1995, Lee Freedman took the call from the manager of a spelling farm in Queensland anticipating one of his regular updates on a team of outstanding horses wintering in the sun following the Brisbane carnival in 1995.

One of the group was the promising stayer Doriemus (Ch g 1990, Norman Pentaquad (USA)-Golden Woods (NZ), by Zamazaan (FR)) who Freedman was “hiding” away from the handicapper in preparation for an assault on the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups after three sprints runs in Brisbane. Doriemus would go on to win the Cups double.

Also spelling was the classy sprinter, the handsome Just Awesome (b h 1990, Last Tycoon (IRE)-Kew Gardens (FR), by Kenmare (FR)), who was sent to Freedman earlier that season in an effort to try and win a Group 1 race to enhance his stallion prospects. Just Awesome, after a succession of Group placings, had finally won an elusive Stakes race – the 1994 Listed Concorde Stakes (1100m) at Rosehill.

Just Awesome won first-up for Freedman at Caulfield on April 15, 1995, over 1000m, but he failed badly when 13th in the Group 1 Goodwood Handicap (1200m) at Morphettville in May, a race that had looked perfectly suitable for the 4YO entire. Freedman sent him to Brisbane to finish a promising and luckless seventh in the Group 3 B.A.T.C. Sprint (1350m) at Doomben, a run that didn’t transfer to the Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap (1400m at Eagle Farm) when Just Awesome raced on the pace before tiring for 16^th behind Rouslan. Freedman sent both runner-up Schillaci (Gr g 1988, Salieri (USA)-Biscarina, by Biscay) and Just Awesome for a spell in the sun.

The phone call from Queensland, in the days before trainers could be easily contacted by mobile phone, came into Freedman’s Flemington office, accompanied by a tone of voice that immediately alerted Freedman something was amiss. “Just Awesome has been gelded by mistake,” came the panicked voice on the other end of the phone.

I was sitting in the next office to Freedman. As his racing manager of two years, I was well accustomed to a Freedman outburst. This one was a monumental, Hall Of Fame performance. “What do you mean gelded by mistake?” “What do you mean half-gelded?” were just two of Freedman’s demands that can be repeated.

It transpired that a vet had arrived with an authority to geld a colt, but a staff member had misdirected the vet to a yard containing Just Awesome. Just Awesome had the required impressive physical equipment for gelding, and the vet, who broke all the rules by not checking the horse’s brands, set about his task. He had removed one testicle when the farm manager spotted what was happening and halted proceedings as the knife was being raised to complete the job. Just Awesome was left a rig (a stallion with one testicle).

And if the vet wasn’t in enough trouble, Just Awesome was part-owned by Brian Agnew, who apart from owning Wakefield Stud in Scone, also happened to be one of Sydney’s leading litigation lawyers. The vet, and the farm, faced the prospect of a financial “gelding” as the stallion value of Just Awesome had – apparently – been considerably devalued. The case was settled out of court.

Just Awesome recovered from his “operation” quicker than those associated with him, and returned to racing in the spring. His best efforts in five starts were seconds in the Listed Bobbie Lewis Quality (1200m) at Flemington and the Group 3 Schillaci Stakes (1200m) at Caulfield. In all, he had eight starts as a rig before retiring to stud in 1997. Ironically, it was back to Queensland for the son of Last Tycoon as Fred Brown’s Glen Avon Stud, on the Darling Downs, took him on, despite the risk of a lower than normal fertility.

Thanks to Brown’s good management, Just Awesome’s physical limitations had little effect on his breeding capabilities. He served 56 mares in his first season, with 47 live foals resulting. The following year he had 48 foals from 68 matings. Unfortunately, Just Awesome’s luck ran out in the winter of 1998 when illness took his life. As so often happens, the stallion became a posthumous sensation. He sired six Stakes winners from those first two small crops, including the New Zealand Group 1 winner Sound The Alarm and the Group 2 Missile Stakes winner Pompeii.

My memory of the Just Awesome story was sparked by the results of the Ascot races in Perth last Saturday. The impressive juvenile winner on debut, Bronze Bullet (Ch g 2006, Markane- Smytzer’s Fury, by Rory’s Jester), is a son of Just Awesome’s half-brother Markane (B h 2000, by Red Ransom (USA)-Kew Gardens (FR), by Kenmare (FR)) who was retired a five start maiden, after a knee injury in 2004. The obvious person to snap up Markane for stud duties was Fred Brown, who immediately promoted the horse’s connection to Glen Avon’s sadly missed Just Awesome.

Then on Tuesday, Brian Mayfield-Smith produced a promising first start winner Tinking (B f 2005, Markane-Gold Anthem, by Made Of Gold (USA)) capped off a big four days for the young stallion. Tinkling, jointly owned by Tony Santic’s Emily Krstina (Aust) Pty Ltd Syndicate and Fred Brown, is a half-sister to Santic’s very promising Starspangledbanner (Ch c 2006, by Choisir), who impressively won the Inglis 2YO Classic (1000m) at Moonee Valley on Cox Plate day.

Markane, whose career under trainer David Hall and owner Tony Santic began promisingly with a second behind Scaredee Cat (now a promising young sire in New Zealand) in the 2002 Listed Debutant Stakes (900m) at Caulfield, served 77 and 74 mares in his first two seasons. The attraction of the Just Awesome link was working, and the numbers also were boosted by mares sent by Santic to Queensland, under a share arrangement with Brown.

The quality of the Markane foals were such that they were surprisingly popular as yearlings, selling for as much as $70,000 off a $4,400 service fee. Santic was so impressed that he sent 34 mares to the young stallion in his third season in 2006, boosting the horse’s harem to 107. In 2007, Brown sold Glen Avon, and Markane was moved to the nearby Eureka Stud, and his fee was raised to $5,500. Last year he covered 82 mares.