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The son of Dalakhani Reliable Man celebrates another flurry of weekend winners.

Photo credit \ Warwick Media

A Reliable Source of Versatility

Reliable Man’s latest flurry of weekend winners again served to emphasise the versatility of the imposing son of Dalakhani.

The Westbury Stud stallion produced a dashing two-year-old winner at Scone where the Bjorn Baker-trained Renaissance Woman powered home to open her account over 1300 metres.

At the other end of the distance scale, Grinzinger Star added to his silverware haul with success in the City of Port Augusta Cup over 2300 metres while his sister Reliable Star made it a brace of middle-distance victories on the bounce at Belmont.

Renaissance Woman settled off the pace in a small field before improving near the turn and unwound impressively in the closing 150 metres to account for the seven-figure yearling Flash Steel.

The filly was bred by Gerry Harvey and was sold through Westbury’s draft at Karaka in 2021 with the Knutt family’s Attunga Stud signing the ticket at $250,000.

She is out of the Fastnet Rock mare Mrs Kennedy, who made a return visit to Reliable Man last season. She is a half-sister to the G1 Oakleigh Plate winner Mrs Onassis.

Renaissance Woman is bred on the same cross as the G3 Soliloquy Stakes winner De La Terre and her sister Aalaalune, who finished runner-up in the G1 Diamond Stakes. 

Grinzinger Star was originally purchased by prominent Victorian owner John Wheeler and won twice from Danny O’Brien’s stable before he was snapped up for A$18,000 at the Inglis Digital June Sale in 2021 by South Australian trainer and part-owner Kylie McKerlie.

The six-year-old has since won a further eight races and his fifth Cup with his earnings now in excess of A$300,000.

Grinzinger Star returned a special performance to win his local Port of August City Cup as he shouldered 65kg and conceded 9kg to the runner-up.

“I’m so happy, he ran third in the Cup last year and has just gone on with it ever since,” McKerlie said.

“We all thought the weight might get to him and he had been up a long time, but he’s a champion and did it easily.”

Grinzinger Star was bred by The Oaks Stud and is out of the G1 New Zealand Oaks winner Artistic whose daughter Reliable Star has now won on four occasions.

Trained by Adam Durrant, she was secured at Karaka for $100,000 by respected bloodstock agent John Chalmers on behalf of leviathan Western Australian owner Bob Peters.

Reliable Man’s associate sires El Roca and Swiss Ace were also to the fore with the former’s son Moeraki crediting the Fastnet Rock stallion with his fifth Hong Kong winner from just seven starters this season.

Moeraki placed in two of his three New Zealand starts, including a third in the G3 Waikato Stud Slipper, when trained by Danica Guy before his sale to clients of Michael Chang’s stable and posted his latest success over 1200 metres.

“This horse deserved to win in Class 4. His rating had dropped a lot and he had a little break and we started from scratch again and brought him up slowly,” Chang said.

“His best performances have been on dirt, he had a good gate and it wasn’t a strong field so he deserved to win.”

Moeraki was bought out of Westbury’s Karaka draft for $80,000 and is a son of the More Than Ready mare Go Kate Go. 

The half-sister to the multiple stakes winner Karakakatie was served last season by Swiss Ace whose son Skilord doubled his winning tally when he scored over 1100 metres at the Sunshine Coast.

The Westbury home-bred was a A$45,000 Magic Millions National Yearling Sale graduate before trainer Mark Currie picked him up for A$5000 at the Magic Millions Online Sale this year and that now looks a particularly smart piece of business for the Toowoomba conditioner.

Skilord’s dam Alamea, a Fastnet Rock mare who foaled a filly by Reliable Man before visiting Redwood, is from the family of the Australian Group 3 winners Saint Encosta, Sheer Talent and Kittens.