3 minute read
Grandson of Dextrous out to become next high-achiever from the family
Traffic Warden was beaten on debut, but it took the highest-rating performance by a two-year-old so far this season to deny him at Rosehill on December 2.
The James Cummings-trained colt finished a 2-1/4-length second to Storm Boy, who is now Magic Millions 2YO Classic favourite and Golden Slipper second elect thanks to his slick win in the 1100-metre event.
But, along with unearthing Storm Boy, that event showed that Traffic Warden has inherited some of the ability of a family that has delivered feature wins ranging from a Golden Slipper to the VRC Oaks.
Traffic Warden is the first to race from the Exceed And Excel mare Efficiently, who is out of Dextrous, winner of the Group 2 Sandown Guineas when part of the Ingham family's Woodlands operation.
The daughter of Quest For Fame has proven an even better producer for Sheikh Mohammed's Darley operation.
Now 24 years old, Dextrous has had nine to the races, all of whom have won, four of them at Stakes level, including two Group 1 winners – Champagne Stakes winner Skilled (by Commands) and VRC Oaks winner Willowy (Kermadec).
Ambidexter (Commands) won a Group 2 Theo Marks Quality, while Exceed And Excel colt Sidestep (Exceed And Excel) won a Pago Pago Stakes and Royal Sovereign Stakes at Group 2 level but also finished runner-up to Overreach in the 2013 Golden Slipper.
Sidestep is the sire of Kiamichi, who went one better than the old man when she won 2019 Golden Slipper.
Traffic Warden is the result of union between Efficiently and Street Boss, who produced Anamoe after a meeting with Redoute's Choice mare Anamato, and Godolphin Australian racing and bloodstock manager Jason Walsh said that cross was why Efficiently was sent to Street Boss.
"Street Bosses matched with Danehill-lined mares has been a proven formula for Godolphin," Walsh said.
"Beyond Anamoe, there are also Stakes winners like Arcaded, Heuristic, Heresy, Hanseatic and Bistro, who all have Danehill evident in their female line.
"Early in his career, Street Boss had produced several Stakes winners from Exceed And Excel mares and this was a cross that we felt compelled to pursue with Efficiently an obvious candidate."
Traffic Warden was an acceptor at both Caulfield and Randwick this Saturday but has been scratched from Sydney and will head to Melbourne with Jamie Kah to take the reins in the 1000m event, for which he is odds-on favourite.
"We are expecting to see further improvement on Saturday with the benefit of race experience and he is a quality individual that we are hopeful will progress to Stakes level," Walsh said of Traffic Warden.
