Digital Age

A close relative of Mauritzfontein’s exciting young sire Digital Age proved popular at the second day of the 2023 Tattersalls October Yearling Sale, Book 1, on Wednesday.

Consigned by The Castlebridge Consignment, the Lope De Vega colt out of the Craig Bennett owned G1 Moyglare Stud Stakes winner Cursory Glance was knocked down to MV Magnier and White Birch Farm for 850,000 guineas.

The colt is a sibling to two Listed winners in Voodoo Queen and Tinker Toy, both of whom raced in the colours of Bennett’s Merry Fox Stud. There is plenty going on in the next generation too as Cursory Glance is a half-sister to Willow View, dam of the aforementioned Digital Age and G3 Prix la Rochette victress Acer Alley.

“The most pleasing thing for me is to breed horses that Coolmore buy and Juddmonte underbid,” said Bennett. “It means you’re ticking boxes at the elite level. When we first came into the game in 2006, this is what we strived to achieve.”

He added: “Lope De Vega is having a great year and anyone could bid on his progeny. We’ve sold one horse to Coolmore before, jointly with Newsells Park, and that was Ylang Ylang. She’s a Group winner and could be anything, so let’s hope this fella can do the same.”

Cursory Glance, a daughter of Distorted Humor, is a half-sister to the classy Sweet Memories, who ran second in last week’s G3 Princess Royal Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Stakes.

Winner of the 2020 G1 Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic, Digital Age, who shares his outstanding sire Invincible Spirit with top stallions I Am Invincible and Kingman, is standing his first season at stud this year.

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.

Mauritzfontein’s blue blooded young stallion Digital Age got another boost to his stellar pedigree page when his close relative Sweet Memories won the Listed British EBF 40th Anniversary Chalice Stakes at Newmarket on Saturday.
A three-year-old daughter of Sea The Stars, Sweet Memories made it two wins from just three starts when she claimed Saturday’s Chalice Stakes.
Under Hollie Doyle, the John and Thady Gosden trained filly hit the front a furlong from home and kept going strongly to claim her biggest win to date.
A half-sister to G1 Moyglare Stud Stakes/G3 Albany Stakes winner Cursory Glance (by Distorted Humor), Sweet Memories is out of the winning Sadler’s Wells mare Time Control. The latter, a great granddaughter of outstanding racemare Time Charter, also ranks as the dam of the unraced mare Willow View (by Lemon Drop Kid).

Willow View, in turn, is the dam of G1 Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic Stakes winner Digital Age, a son of Invincible Spirit who stands his first season at Mauritzfontein in 2023. From the same male line as the aforementioned Sea The Stars, Digital Age earned more than $1 000 000 during his career which also saw the bay land the 2019 G2 American Turf Stakes.
Digital Age shares his outstanding sire with a pair of top-class stallions in the form of I Am Invincible and Kingman respectively, with the former recently crowned Australia’s Champion Sire for 2022-2023. It was a second consecutive General Sires title for I Am Invincible, who was responsible for 22 stakes winners in Australia last season, and his progeny earned more than AUS$23.445 million in Australia in 2022-2023.
Fellow Invincible Spirit son Kingman is another to have had an excellent year in 2023, with Kingman having been responsible for 19 stakes winners this year thus far including impressive G1 Grand Prix de Paris winner Feed The Flame.

Mauritzfontein’s blue blooded young stallion Digital Age gained a handsome update to his pedigree page when his close relative Voodoo Queen won the Listed Sky Bet Sunday Series Pontefract Castle Fillies Stakes at Pontefract on Sunday.

A four-year-old daughter of Frankel and Digital Age’s close relative Cursory Glance, Voodoo Queen looked to be coming of age on her latest outing when third trying 14 furlongs for the first time in the G3 Bronte Cup. Racing handily early behind the leading pair in Sunday’s contest, Voodoo Queen was unleashed wide in the straight and won the race with a smart surge approaching the furlong pole with One Evening staying on best of the remainder.   Voodoo Queen carries on a golden spell for her sire and becomes the second black-type winner for her dam, Cursory Glance whose first was the Listed Lady Wulfruna Stakes winner Tinker Toy.

The progressive Voodoo Queen has now won three of nine starts and is the latest stakes winner to emerge from her outstanding family.

Her dam Cursory Glance, who won both the G1 Moyglare Stud Stakes and G3 Albany Stakes at two, is a half-sister to Willow View, the dam of Digital Age.

The latter, a son of outstanding sire Invincible Spirit, was a graded stakes winner at three and four, with Digital Age scoring his biggest win when victorious in the 2020 G1 Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic Stakes at Churchill Downs.

Digital Age shares his sire with 145 stakes winners including such outstanding performers as Kingman, Moonlight Cloud, Fleeting Spirit, Profitable and the very promising young sire Magna Grecia.

A half-brother to Mauritzfontein’s well performed young stallion Digital Age proved popular on the second day of the 2022 Tattersalls October Yearling Sale, Book 1.
Consigned by Fittocks Stud, the Dubawi colt (Lot 301) out of Willow View was knocked down to Japanese trainer Yoshito Yahagi for 1 600 000 guineas at Wednesday’s session making the half-brother to Digital Age the fourth highest priced yearling sold on the day.

Yahagi said of his purchase, “This colt has very good points of Dubawi. This is my first Dubawi. He will come back to Japan. This is my first timebuying at Book 1. First and last!”

The colt’s dam Willow View (by Lemon Drop Kid) is not only dam of G1 Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic Stakes winner Digital Age, but also G3 Prix la Rochette winner Acer Alley.

The blue blooded Willow View, whose granddam Time Away won the G3 Musidora Stakes and ran third in the G1 Prix de Diane, is herself a half-sister to G1 Moyglare Stud Stakes queen Cursory Glance (by Distorted Humor).

Digital Age, one of more than 20 G1 winners for his outstanding sire Invincible Spirit, is set to commence stud duties at Mauritzfontein in 2023.

Mauritzfontein’s exciting new stallion Digital Age shares his outstanding sire Invincible Spirit with the newly crowned Australian Champion Sire of 2021-2022.

I Am Invincible, like Digital Age a son of Green Desert’s star sire son Invincible Spirit, was officially crowned Champion Sire in Australia for the past season on Monday.

The Yarraman Park resident was not only Leading Sire by stakes for 2021-2022, but he was also Leading Sire by individual winners for the season just past. In total, runners by I Am Invincible banked AUS $19 860 096 for 2021-2022, with I Am Invincible responsible for 17 individual stakes winners last season.
I Am Invincible’s black type winners last season were headed by a quartet of G1 winners -Home Affairs (Coolmore Stud S., Lightning S.), Imperatriz (Levin Classic, NZ Thoroughbred Breeders’ S.), Lombardo (The Goodwood H.) and Marabi (Oakleigh Plate).

In total, I Am Invincible has been responsible for 79 stakes winners of which 13 are G1 winners. He has also been Leading Sire of 2YOs in Australia in 2018-2019.

A stunning individual, I Am Invincible reliably transmits those handsome dark bay good looks to his offspring along with a good dose of his brilliant speed and no matter what the quality of mare, he delivers the goods.
I Am Invincible stands this spring at $247,500.

His paternal half-brother Digital Age was a top-class racehorse, whose victories included the G1 Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic Stakes of 2020 as well as the 2019 G2 American Turf Stakes.

Mauritzfontein’s exciting new stallion Digital Age hails from a top-class female line, and the son of Invincible Spirit gained a further boost to his pedigree page following close relative Voodoo Queen scored at Newmarket on Friday.
A three-year-old daughter of Frankel, Voodoo Queen had not been seen since breaking her maiden over this distance on the RowleyMile Apr. 29, tracked fellow returning Natasha throughout the early stages of Friday’s Bet At racingtv.com Fillies’ Handicap. Earning the lead from that rival and her fellow Gosden-trained Morning Poem passing the furlong pole, the 13-8 favourite asserted up the rising ground to beat the latter by one and a quarter lengths.

Trained by Roger Varian, the lightly raced Voodoo Queen has now won twice from just four starts.

The beautifully bred filly is out of the Distorted Humor sired, G1 Moyglare Stud Stakes winner Cursory Glance, a half-sister to Willow View -the dam of the top-class Digital Age.

The latter earned more than $1.263 million during a career which saw Digital Age capture the 2020 G1 Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic Stakes.
Digital Age, who shares his sire with such top-class stallions as I Am Invincible and Kingman, stands his first season at stud in 2022.

Mauritzfontein’s exciting new stallion Digital Age hails from a truly outstanding family and his female line was yet again to the fore on Tuesday when promising two-year-old Carmela made a stunning, winning debut at Yarmouth.
A first ever winner for her sire Tasleet (who like Digital Age hails from the Green Desert male line), Carmela broke well and was always travelling strongly in the five-furlong heat. It took only a shake of the reins from jockey Richard Kingscote for her to surge clear of her rivals, and she eventually won by a cosy two and a quarter lengths.

Her trainer Dave Loughnane holds Carmela in high regard and he plans to run her next in the Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot.

The filly sports legendary racemare Time Charter as her fourth dam, with that brilliant mare also fifth dam of Digital Age.

One of the finest racemares to race in Britain in the 1980’s, Time Charter was Britain’s Champion 3YO Filly of 1982 and Britain’s top-rated older filly/mare for both 1983 and 1984.

Her descendant Digital Age, a son of outstanding sire Invincible Spirit, showed top-class form on the turf, with his victories headed by a win in the 2020 G1 Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic Stakes -a race won previously by such stellar performers as Manila, Lure and subsequently highly successful sire English Channel.

Invincible Spirit, whose G1 winning son Digital Age is set to stand his first season at Mauritzfontein in 2022, is the sire of outstanding Australian stallion I Am Invincible. The latter, who recently supplied his 12th G1 winner when his daughter Imperatriz landed the G1 Levin Classic, made headlines when ending up the Leading Sire by both Aggregate and Average at the recently concluded Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.

I am Invincible, whose yearlings at the Easter Sale made up to $2 million, had 31 yearlings sell for $22.5million at an average $725,806.

His top lot sold at the sale was the grey filly out of Pinocchio who was knocked down to Mitchell Bloodstock on behalf of The Yellow Brick Road Company’s Phillip Visalli for $2 000 000.
I Am Invincible also had million dollar sales as follows:
$1.7million Filly from Ruud Awakening bought by James Harron Bloodstock
$1.5million Colt from Egyptian Symbol bought by Kia-Ora Stud / TFI / Ciaron Maher Bloodstock
$1.35 million Colt from Fireworks bought by James Harron Bloodstock Colt Partnership
$1million Colt from Calming Influence bought by Tom Magnier
$1million Colt from The Pinnacle bought by TFI / Kia-Ora Stud

Invincible Spirit, whose talented daughter Pearls Galore won Wednesday’s Listed Gradguide Heritage Stakes at Leopardstown, is also the sire of another top stallion in the form of the once beaten champion Kingman. The latter came up with an impressive debut winner on Wednesday when his three-year-old daughter Night Battle came from off the pace to land a fillies’ novice stakes at Lingfield by three-parts of a length, and Night Battle looks a promising sort in the making.

Mauritzfontein’s exciting new sire Digital Age gained a handsome update to his pedigree when his close relative Tinker Toy captured the Listed Mansionbet Lady Wulfruna Stakes at Wolverhampton on Saturday.
A gelded son of War Front and Digital Age’s G1 winning relative Cursory Glance, Tinker Toy, lined up for this second stakes start coming back off a runner-up finish in a Feb. 19 seven-furlong Lingfield handicap on seasonal return. Sharply away and positioned in a prominent second after the initial strides, he was scrubbed along for his challenge rounding the home turn and kept on strongly under a continued drive once gaining an advantage at the top of the straight to hold on in game fashion for a career high.

“We’ve always held him in high regard,” said winning rider Jack Mitchell. “He’s lightly raced because he’s a little bit fragile, but Roger (Varian) and the team have done a really good job with him and got him here on song. It was a very competitive race and last time at Lingfield he was still a bit rusty. He hadn’t run for a long time, but it was a track record that day. His class was there and we came here with a bit of confidence.”

Now a four time winner from just eight starts, Tinker Toy is out of G1 Moyglare Stud Stakes winner Cursory Glance, a half-sister to Willow View, dam of Digital Age.

The latter, a son of outstanding sire and sire of sires Invincible Spirit, won five times including the 2020 G1 Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic Stakes where Digital Age accounted for the G1 winners Rockemperor and Bowies Hero among others.