| South Australian stallion
Devaraja added another accomplishment to his early stud career when one of his
three-year-olds scored a record breaking win at Wyong yesterday. And there was even better news to come for the South Australian
based stallion who ended the day with a double at the provincial New South Wales meeting.
It was the first time Devaraja had scored an interstate
double. And not a bad feat considering those winners were the only two runners on the
Wyong card for the SA based sire.
Abraham Plains, a three-year-old gelding, overcame his wide
barrier to win dazzling style by a length and a half in a 1200 metre Maiden in class
record time.
The gelding had shown good promise in two good trial
efforts for his astute trainer John Hawkes.
The three-year-old is owned by a husband and wife team who
were former Adelaide locals and are shareholders in Devaraja.
"The Andersons are acutally shareholders in
Deveraja," Oakside Park's Trevor Harrington said.
"The story with their mare Welsh Actress (the dam of
Abraham Plains) is an interesting one," Harrington added.
"They were good friends with local breeder Vic Meirs
(the breeder and owner of top sprinter Agalia) and he talked them into going to the
Kildare Park Dispersal Sale."
"Welsh Actress was one of two mares they purchased and
she was in foal at the time to Will Dancer," he reflected.
The resultant foal was Montcalm Wolfe who started his
winning account at Murray Bridge before graduating to become a winner at Moonee Valley. He
then ventured to Sydney where he is the winner of four races for John Hawkes.
The Welsh Saint mare had missed to Devaraja the season
before the successful mating with Khaptivaan's brother and she is currently in foal to
Charnwood Forest.
"We tried to get Welsh Actress into foal with Devaraja
the season before but she unfortunately didn't get into foal and she actually had a cyst
on an ovary," Harrington recalled.
Since retiring to stud at Oakside Park Stud in 1996,
Devaraja, a three time winning son of the mighty Sir Tristram, has proven to be one of the
most popular and best valued stallions in South Australia.
At stud Devaraja is the sire of stakes winners Prince Raja,
Develan, Mighty Raja, Raja Lane and the stakes placed performer Endota.
As demand for Devaraja continues to increase with a swag of
top class performers littered throughout South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales,
the best is still to come from the attractive bay stallion.
"In his first three crops he only served small books
of mares," Harrington said. "But last season he served 110 and they (the mares)
were also of a better quality."
Harrington is yet to finalise a fee for Devaraja for the
2002 breeding season. That could just depend on how his swag of runners go in the next
couple of months, especially at the Adelaide Cup Carnival.
Whatever happens you can be guaranteed one thing. Devaraja
is likely to be again serving over 100 mares. He's earned that! |
