The Group 1 $325,000 One Thousand Guineas on Saturday provided further success for the underrated sire No Excuse Needed.
Daffodil, a daughter of No Excuse Needed and the O’Reilly mare Spring capped off some impressive efforts from earlier in the spring with a convincing victory. Having won her last start comprehensively at Egmont over 1200 metres, she handled the step up to the metric mile with ease, racing clear over the final furlong to defeat the brave Bertolini filly Juice by a length in a slick time of 1.34.39. The win was her third from seven starts and took her earnings to a tick over $238,000.
The filly is trained by one of the elder statesman of the NZ training ranks, Kevin Gray. As such the comments of her trainer post race when quoted as saying “She is a lovely filly, easy to train, and I think No Excuse Needed is going to be another O’Reilly” bear serious respect. O’Reilly has been one of NZ’s more dominant stallions, winning last year’s NZ General Sire’s Premiership amongst other achievements.
No Excuse Needed has commenced the 2008-09 season in promising fashion. He is currently the leading sire of three-year-olds, is placed second on the Third Season Sires Premiership and is ninth on the General Sires Premiership.
Sir James Lodge have plenty of reasons to be excited about the recent deeds of this young sire, having purchased three of his progeny at the 2008 NZB Weanling Sales at Karaka. These included a filly out of The Big Storm, who is bred on the same No Excuse Needed – O’Reilly cross as Daffodil; a filly out of Pinnat, a three-quarter sister to the sire’s other flagship performer Takeanotherchance, winner of the Wanganui Guineas this season and subsequently sold to Hong Kong; and a powerfully built colt out of the speedy winning Volksraad mare, Bible Class. There are still racing shares available in all but The Big Storm filly, see “Ownership Opportunities” on the website for more information.
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