This family is Smokin’

Lee Freedman’s impressive prospect, Smokin’ Joey, comes from a much-travelled international family, but one with its roots firmly entrenched in Australian racing history.

Smokin’ Joey, a big, leggy colt by Encosta De Lago from the Blazing Sword mare Dalzing, came with big strides to win last Saturday’s Listed Blue Sapphire Classic (1200m) at Caulfield – the same race that last year launched the career of the still unbeaten filly Black Caviar (by Bel Esprit).

The Hall of Fame trainer is now aiming Smokin’ Joey for a Brisbane campaign that will include a run in the Group 1 The T J Smith (1600m, Eagle Farm), a race he has previously won with another late-maturing juvenile, the exceptional Mahogany (by Last Tycoon (IRE)), who won the race in 1993.

Smokin’ Joey has a most intriguing pedigree, but you need to follow the female trail back a century or more to get to the crux of it. His dam Dalzing (m 1991, ex-Dalaal, by Taj Rossi) has also produced Smokin’ Joey’s brother, the top-class Our Smoking Joe (b g 2000), whose only Stakes win, when trained by Freedman, is the Group 2 2006 St. George Stakes (wfa 1800m, Caulfield), but he is many times Group 1 placed.

Dalzing, who died last December without producing a foal since Smokin’ Joey, also is the dam of Freedman’s promising 3YO filly, Gallant Lady (ch f 2005, by Galileo (IRE)), who recently has finished runner-up behind Danaupair Starlet in the G3 SA Classic (2500m, Morphettville) and beat all but Exceptionally in the Listed VRC St Leger (2800m, Flemington) – all Dalzing’s progeny are raced by Victorian breeders Joe and Anna Lanteri – the Mildura-based Lanteri family is one of Australia’s leading producers of table grapes.

Dalzing’s second dam is the imported mare Mira Mila Milica (USA), who from another mating to Taj Rossi produced the classy sprinter Taj Quillo, winner of the 1986 Group 1 Gadsden Stakes (1200m, Flemington). Mira Mila Milica also is the dam of the multiple Listed winner Magical Storm (by Magical Wonder (USA)).

This is an American family that has its origins in Argentina in the 1950s – there is a line of Argentinean mares in this family tracing back to the turn of the 20^th century when the mare Sleeping Sickness was imported to South America from Great Britain.

Sleeping Sickness was a well-named daughter of the mare Malaria (GB), herself an equally cleverly-named daughter of the mare Mosquito (GB), who was born in 1874. This is where the connection to insects and associated diseases ends and the link to Australian racing history begins.

Mosquito, by Toxophilite (GB), is a daughter of an unnamed mare – a daughter of the 1853 Epsom Derby winner West Australian – simply known as the West Australian mare. Mosquito is the 13th dam of Smokin’ Joey.

While the West Australian mare may not have earned herself an official name, she has etched a place in racing history as the dam of the champion stallion Musket (GB) – a brother to Mosquito – who is best known as the sire of the legendary Carbine (NZ), a champion international sire and winner of the 1890 Melbourne Cup.

Musket, from his New Zealand base, also sired the 1883 Cup winner Martini Henry (NZ) and the champion sire Trenton (NZ), runner-up in the 1886 Cup and the sire of the Cup winners Auraria (1895) and Revenue (1901) and the wonderful champion mare Wakeful.

This is a family that in the last 100 years has been influential in England, Argentina, North America, New Zealand and Australia. Smokin’ Joey, if Freedman’s predictions are on the money, has a big future on the racetrack and as a sire prospect, especially if he can win his Group 1 as a 2YO in Brisbane.

For Freedman, the ultimate aim is to win the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m, Caulfield) in October, a race he also won with Mahogany.

Footnote: The Group 1 South Australian Derby Kidnapped (b c 2005, Viscount–Youthful Presence, by Dehere (USA)) also comes from a world-famous family. His seventh, eighth and ninth dams are Hall of Fame mares – starting with his ninth dam, the freakish racemare and broodmare gem Mumtaz Mahal (by The Tetrarch).

Mumtaz Mahal’s daughter, Mumtaz Begum (by Blenheim (GB)), is the dam of the incomparable sire Nasrullah (GB) and his half-sister Sun Princess (by Solario (GB)) – Kidnapped’s seventh dam – who is the dam of another breed-shaping sire-influence, Royal Charger (GB), the sire of the great Turn-To (IRE), who founded the sire-line that produce Sir Ivor (USA), his son Sir Tristram (IRE)) and his son Zabeel (NZ).

Photo: Smokin’ Joey, winning at Caulfield, courtesy Freedman Racing.