
Mauritzfontein’s resident sire Digital Age hails from a red hot family and he received another boost to his female line when his close relative Hosier won the G3 James Squire Premier’s Cup at Randwick on Saturday.
A seven-year-old son of Camelot, Hosier defeated Military Mission by one and a quarter lengths in Saturday’s race with Bois D’argent (GB) back in third.
With his stakes breakthrough, Hosier (IRE) advances his record to eight two one from 17 starts with earnings of $516,190.
“He came to us in great order. I didn’t know him that well, although he was trained at Newcastle (by Kris Lees),” Mark Minervini said. “I obviously knew he was a quality horse. We’ve got a lot of young horses and we’ve got a lot of country and provincial horses, but we needed a Saturday city-grade horse.”
Hosier arrived in Australia after placing once in two starts for Joseph O’Brien in Ireland. He won five of seven for Robert Hickmott and two of four for Kris Lees before Minervini Racing shelled out $100,000 to secure him at the 2023 Inglis May (Late) Online Sale.
He is the best of three winner from six to race for G1 Prix Diane runner-up Time Ahead (Spectrum), a half-sister to G3 Musidora Stakes winner placed Time Away (Darshaan), with the latter the third dam of Digital Age.
The latter, a son of Invincible Spirit, is set to stand his first season at Mauritzfontein this year.