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Rheinwood Pastoral's top three foals

Updated: Jan 13

Written by Kit Gow - Featured in The Thoroughbred Report - Friday 10th January 2025


A prestigious broodmare and spelling farm located in the Southern Highlands, Rheinwood Pastoral Co. recently saw their name in lights when Inglis Classic Yearling Sale graduate Private Harry (Harry Angel {Ire}) topped a remarkable first preparation with his bombshell victory in the $3 million Magic Millions Sunlight. Manager Kirsty Willis took us through the farm’s top three foals born this spring.


Beautiful and she knows it


“This filly moves like a dream,” Willis introduced a filly by Arrowfield Stud’s The Autumn Sun first. Bred by Brigid Kennedy of The Loch Equine, she is the fourth living foal from The King’s Widow (All Too Hard). “She just glides across the ground. She is smart and very athletic, she loves to gallop - and fast. She is beautiful and she knows it!”


“This filly (The Autumn Sun x The King's Widow) moves like a dream. She just glides across the ground. She is smart and very athletic, she loves to gallop - and fast.” - Kirsty Willis

The King’s Widow is a winning daughter of Dowager Queen (NZ) (Savabeel), a winner of three Listed races in New Zealand, including the Listed Champagne S., before crossing the pond to challenge Australia’s best fillies. She recorded placings in the G1 VRC Oaks and G1 Flight S. and was narrowly outside the placings in a number of other top-flight contests. Her other offspring include Listed Debutant S.-placed Queen Of Rocks (Fastnet Rock) and the promising Tenbury Wells (Fastnet Rock), who was fifth in El Castello’s (Castelvecchio) G3 Gloaming S. this past spring.


So far, two of The King’s Widow’s foals have hit the track, with her promising son Glory Elite (Russian Revolution) a three-time winner in Hong Kong. He was initially sold to Mitchell Bloodstock (FBAA) for $150,000 at the 2022 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale out of Sledmere’s draft, before J Ting purchased him from Glenn Haven Thoroughbreds for $200,000 at the Inglis Ready2Race Sale later the same year. The King’s Widow visited Maurice (Jpn) in September and has tested positive in foal to him.

The Autumn Sun x The King's Widow (filly)
The Autumn Sun x The King's Widow (filly)

“This filly reminds me so much of Autumn Glow, she is so classy with a great head and eye,” Willis said. “It is our hope that, when sold, she finds a fantastic trainer and goes on to replicate the successes of The Autumn Sun and his progeny on the racetrack. Her owner Brigid (Kennedy) has been a big supporter of The Autumn Sun from day one, and I know she will be well rewarded when this quality filly hits the racetrack.”


The Autumn Sun was sorely missed in the breeding shed this past season due to injury, with his stock only rising in his absence. All five of his stakes winners - three of whom have scored at the highest level - are fillies, and six of his eight stakes-placed offspring are also fillies. Go the girls!


Kirsty Willis
Kirsty Willis

Super smart, super sassy


From the first crop of dual Derby-winning Hitotsu, the filly out of Cheyenne Sue (Zizou) commands the spotlight. Injury curtailed Hitotsu’s career, but not before he could complete a rare G1 Victorian Derby-G1 Australian Derby double, with a win in the G1 Australian Guineas in between. To date, his first crop features 121 foals from the likes of Autumn Angel’s (The Autumn Sun) Group-winning dam Angel Of Mercy (Hussonet {USA}) and dual Group 2 winner Saavoya (NZ) (Savabeel).


“She is a sassy filly with a very high opinion of herself!” Willis said. “She is super smart and very athletic, she will make it as a racehorse.


“It is our hope that this filly is purchased by a top stable and she goes on to replicate the racetrack successes of her relatives.”


Hitotsu x Cheyenne Sue (filly)
Hitotsu x Cheyenne Sue (filly)

Cheyenne Sue hails from an excellent family, as the half-sister to G1 Doomben 10,000 winner Mazu (Maurice {Jpn}) and Champion 2YO Filly Headway (Charge Forward), who backed up her excellent juvenile season with victory in the G1 Coolmore Stud S. as a 3-year-old. This makes Cheyenne Sue a daughter of G2 Silver Shadow S.-placed Chatelaine (Flying Spur) and a close relation to G3 Taranaki 2YO Classic runner-up She Turns Heads (Headwater).


While she may not have shone on the track to the same extent as her siblings, Cheyenne Sue kicked her broodmare career off with a bang, producing Let Me Sleep On It (Manhattan Rain), winner of the Listed Redoute's Choice S., as her first foal. Let Me Sleep On It has visited some of the country’s premier stallions since retiring to the broodmare barn, including a trip to G1 Golden Slipper S. victor Shinzo this past spring.


“We bred this mare to Hitotsu as she is a half-sister to Mazu,” Willis continued. “This filly looks to have inherited Hitotsu’s good looks - let’s hope she also inherited his Group 1-winning race ability!”


“We bred this mare (Cheyenne Sue) to Hitotsu as she is a half-sister to Mazu. This filly looks to have inherited Hitotsu’s good looks - let’s hope she also inherited his Group 1-winning race ability!” - Kirsty Willis

Cheyenne Sue has no yearling in the sales this year, but she visited In The Congo in the spring and has an unnamed 2-year-old colt by Ole Kirk that was purchased by Anthony Freedman Racing for $85,000 at the Inglis Ready2Race Sale last year, where he was presented by Fernrigg Farm.


Bold and inquisitive


After the exploits of Private Harry, it is hard to go past his half-brother by Zousain, out of Happy Pilgrim (Congrats {USA}).


“He is beautifully proportioned, strong and athletic,” Willis said. “He has a great head and an intelligent eye with a big, strong hindquarter. He is bold and inquisitive.”


“He (Zousain x Happy Pilgrim) is beautifully proportioned, strong and athletic. He has a great head and an intelligent eye with a big strong hindquarter. He is bold and inquisitive.” - Kirsty Willis

Happy Pilgrim was a three-time winner on the track and is the half-sister to the four-time winner Snipzu (Snippetson), who placed in the G3 McLachlan S. and Listed Gimcrack S. Snipzu is best known as the dam of Kai Xin Dragon (Unencumbered), a talented Hong Kong performer who ran third in the G1 JJ Atkins Plate before export, and freshman sire Don Corleone (Extreme Choice), who was twice placed at Group 1 level before retiring to Eureka Stud this past spring.


“One characteristic the mare always throws in her foals is good bone and strength, and very powerful hindquarter,” said Willis. “It was one of the standout traits with Private Harry too! Both him and Private Harry are November foals - in fact, the Zousain colt was born on the morning Private Harry won his first race, so that was an exciting day for the team!”

Zousain x Happy Pilgrim (colt)
Zousain x Happy Pilgrim (colt)

Aside from her unbeaten son Private Harry, who has amassed over $1.3 million in prizemoney from his meteoric rise over four starts, Happy Pilgrim has produced five-time winner First Crusade (Nicconi) and Lucky Lily (Santos), who recorded her third win in October. Kurrinda Bloodstock bought both Private Harry and his 2-year-old half-brother Lance Corporal (Anders) at the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale over the last two years, and will no doubt return to the venue next month to view their half-sister by Captivant, who is Lot 274 in Rheinwood Pastoral’s draft.



“She looks sharp!” Willis said of the half-sister. “She is powerful with good bone, she moves with such purpose.


“It is our hope that both the Captivant filly and this colt find happy homes with great trainers, and they go on to have successful racing careers, just like Private Harry.”

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