3 minute read
Colt salutes judge at Canterbury.
The Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained Yardstick (2 c ex Exceleine by Exceed And Excel) landed the Sky Racing Active Maiden 2YO Plate (1100m) at Canterbury on Wednesday and in the process became the second winner for the former Newgate Farm-based Criterion (Sebring).
Having the first start of his career, the two-year-old colt beat Magic Ruler (Snitzel) by a length and a quarter with another three quarters of a length back to Rule Of Law (Snitzel) in third.
"Every time he has stepped out he's improved a little bit and today was a good stepping stone for him," winning jockey Nash Rawiller told Sky Thoroughbred Central.
"There was a bit of form in the race and probably some race-fit horses but his ability carried him through.
"He's had a good blow and he should improve a lot from the run.
"He's had a good grounding and is very well-educated. He can hopefully build into the early part of the spring, have a crack at something at Listed or Group level and come back a nice horse next preparation."
The colt was purchased by Dynamic Syndications and Dean Watt Bloodstock for $160,000 at the 2019 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale and he is the first winner out of three-time scoring Exceed And Excel (Danehill) mare Exceleine.
Further back this is the same family as Listed winner Victorian Order (Zamindar) and Group 2 winner and now sire Domesday (Red Ransom).
Exceleine's second foal - a colt by Flying Artie (Artie Schiller) - was purchased for $65,000 by Group One Bloodstock and Two Bays Farm at the 2019 Magic Millions National Weanling Sale, while the following year Astute Bloodstock paid $160,000 for the colt at the Inglis Premier Yearling Sale. In 2019 the mare produced a colt by Cornerstone Stud-based stallion Sir Prancealot (Tamayuz) and she was covered by him again last season.
The now pensioned Criterion's struggles with fertility are well documented, he stood at Newgate Farm for three seasons and has in total 19 foals on the ground. Yardstick is one of three starters for the stallion and he joins Blaze A Trail as his other winner.
