AIR DEFENCE FLYING TOWARDS THE VOBIS SIRES GUINEAS

With a horse costing a modest $4000, veteran Bendigo trainer Shane Fliedner can hardly wait to tackle the more fancied runners in the $500,000 VOBIS Sires Guineas (1600m) at Caulfield on April 17.

The race, for three-year-olds, is restricted to the progeny of category A VOBIS qualified horses, which means they are sired by Victorian sires.

Fliedner’s Air Defence was sired by Stryker (Fastnet Rock x Laetitia) when he stood at Three Bridges Thoroughbreds at Eddington. The stallion was then sold and stood three seasons in New South Wales, serving a modest book of mares each year.

Stryker was purchased earlier this year by Victoria’s Platinum Thoroughbreds where he will stand alongside Scorpz (Charm Spirit x Forbetterforworse) at Hilldene, near Seymour.

You could say that Fliedner had some inside information when he purchased the then colt from Merton Creek Thoroughbreds’ draft at the VOBIS Gold Yearling Sale.

The previous year Fliedner had paid $14,000 for a colt, which now races as Travail, out of Air Defence’s dam Jomar Star. The colt was by the more commercial Reward For Effort and was also offered by Merton Creek Thoroughbreds for breeder, Dr Dawn Giltinan.

Fliedner said Air Defence made his own luck at Moonee Valley when he won the $200,000 VOBIS Gold Reef (1600m) and then ran third in the listed Bendigo Guineas (1400m) in his last race.

“People didn’t think much of it at Moonee Valley after he was coming off a benchmark 64 race (1300m) at Bendigo,” Fliedner said.

“And then after Moonee Valley he didn’t do too bad a job in the Guineas at Bendigo.

“We rode him at little bit quieter at Bendigo as we wanted to have a look at him with some different options. He will be ridden just the same and will be in the first couple and that’s the way he likes to race.

“The 1400m was a bit sharp for him the other day and he whacked away all right but probably going to Caulfield and a soft track will more than likely help him.

“But any way you have to deal with what you get.”

Fliedner said the Sires Guineas was a great race and described it as a bonus for horses like Air Defence to get a crack at some big prize money.

And he said that when Air Defence’s older half-brother Tavail ran second at his third start, he followed up by taking more interest in another colt, which became Air Defence, out of Jomar Star at the sales.

“When he (Travail) ran second in that maiden at Bendigo I thought I’d follow it up as I thought that horse can gallop,” he said.

“He unfortunately had a hairline fracture in a hip and he is sitting in the paddock these days having six months off. But he has won a race at Wangaratta.

“But you always like to think you can get a cheap horse that can win you a few races and Air Defence has gone beyond our expectations.”

Fliedner said he bought the horse on type and said there was nothing wrong with him but what also sealed the deal was that he knew his half-brother had ability.

He said the beauty of having a VOBIS Gold qualified horse was that there are plenty of races to win around the country and they’re lucky to have one good enough to compete in town in a race worth $250,000 to the winner.

“We have lobbed into the right race at the right time,” he said.

“It is a good initiative.”

Air Defence, which Fliedner races with several stable clients, has had seven starts for two wins, one second and two thirds for $172,385 in prize money.

Fliedner said while he knew Stryker was a good tough racehorse, he relies more on the dam than the stallion when he looks at breeding.

“I always go on the dam,” he said.

“No dam, no horse.

“Stryker has thrown some good horses. They are tough.

“When Air Defence won his maiden at Kilmore he beat a horse (Grinzinger Lord) that then ran third at his next start in a listed race in Melbourne.

“I thought then that it’s not too bad and we might pick up few races.

“He is a good worker and you just have to translate that to the races which with some horses can be the difficult.”

Fliedner, who has been training for more than 20 years, has 12 horses in work.

Merton Creek Thoroughbreds’ Sunny Mitchell said the owner of Jomar Star, Dawn Giltinan, really liked the pedigree cross with Stryker.

“She  was very particular about going to that stallion and even though he wasn’t in vogue, she really liked the pedigree cross and she is actually thrilled that Air Defence is going so well because it sort of backs up her judgement,” Sunny said.

“And her stallion selection was correct.

“But when the colt was sold the stallion wasn’t in vogue but Dawn purpose bred him because she just liked the pedigree cross. It just reinforces that if you do the right analysis you will probably come out with a really good horse.

“It mightn’t sell that well, but it might be a really good horse.

“And it’s really lovely for Dawn to follow him and to have that success with the progeny of one of the mares and then to be able to follow what he is doing.

“And it was really good for Shane because he’d bought the Jomar Star colt the year before and he was really pleased with that horse and that’s why he came to look at the next progeny out of that mare at the next sale.”

Sunny said that Fliedner finished up by buying two yearlings from the Merton Creek draft that year.

“His comment to me was how the heck did I manage to get that horse for that price, I can’t believe it when I would have gone up to $20,000,” Sunny said.

“And that’s when I said to him if you’ve to some change, come and have a look at this colt (Magnus x Sequel) which he finished up by buying as well which was great for our draft.

“He was very excited at the fact that he didn’t have to pay too much for the Stryker because he expected to. The colt was always a good type and he expected to pay a lot more. But if the stallion isn’t in vogue, they just don’t look at them.”

Sunny, who owns and operates Merton Creek Thoroughbreds with her husband Neil, said it was fabulous for both Fliedner and Dawn who has a full band of broodmares.

Dawn placed her broodmares just 12 months after the Mitchells purchased their Merton farm more than a decade ago.

“She has been with us the whole time and has been a very passionate breeder and does a lot of research on her stallions and VOBIS Gold is everything,” Sunny said.

“She is a very big believer in the VOBIS scheme and Victorian racing in general. And she is one of those super clients who everyone would like to have and we just very fortunate to have her.”

A retired doctor, Dawn has just celebrated her 77^th birthday.

Dawn buys and sells her broodmares and races a lot of horses and usually keeps a small percentage in the horses that are sold but she missed out on retaining a share in Air Defence.

She rang Fliedner to retain her usual 10 per cent but unfortunately he had already put a group of clients together and there were no shares left.

“She has bred and raced horses all her life and absolutely loves it,” Sunny said.

“And she would probably breed a dozen a year.”

And the new owners of the Group 3 winning Stryker, Rene Hoefchen and Sarah Pfeiffer, are also hoping that a solid performance by Air Defence in the Sires Guineas will provide the stallion with some renewed interest.

“We bought him two or three months ago and he’ll stand here alongside Scorpz at Platinum Thoroughbreds,” Hoefchen said.

“It was Scorpz’s first season last year and we were looking for a second stallion that would complement Scorpz and they complement each other really well.”

Hoefchen said that so far there had been a lot of interest in Stryker from previous supporters of the stallion who were happy he was back in Victoria.

“I think he has still got a lot to offer,” he said.

Stryker sired the Victorian bred Rangipo which won the 2016 Group 1 New Zealand Derby, plus another three Group 2 races.