PALMERSTON NORTH - The late Malcolm Smith would have been proud of Little Jamie's victory in Saturday's group one $120,000 Manawatu Sires' Produce Stakes at Awapuni.
Smith, the top trainer who died 16 months ago, trained champion galloper La Mer to win the Manawatu Sires' Produce Stakes in 1976. Little Jamie is La Mer's great-grandson.
Little Jamie is out of unraced Standaan mare Little Carey, who is out of Artaius mare Loughmore, a minor winner over 1200m.
Loughmore, who was part-owned by Sir Robert Muldoon and trained by Don Sellwood, is a daughter of La Mer.
Little Jamie is by St Jude, a group one winner of the AJC Spring Championship Stakes in Sydney as a three-year-old.
He was auctioned at last year's National Yearling Sales on account of Poplar Lodge, Cambridge, and went to the bid of Matamata trainer Paul O'Sullivan for $42,500.
O'Sullivan recalled on Saturday buying the colt purely on speculation.
"I didn't even go and inspect the horse before he went into the ring," O'Sullivan said.
"I didn't have to because I knew he was on the list of all the top players, including Roger James, Jim Gibbs, Mike Moroney and Mike's brother, Paul."
O'Sullivan believed James, who prepares yesterday's Sires' Produce third placegetter Spring Rain, was the under-bidder.
"I wasn't prepared to go any higher after I put in a final offer for $42,500, so one more bid from Roger (James) and Little Jamie would have been his."
Little Jamie is owned by Auckland businessman Eric Watson but O'Sullivan revealed it was with no prior consultation that he advised Watson he would be the owner.
"Believe it or not, I just rang up Eric Watson and told him that he owns another one, and hung up.
"There was no problem with that because Eric, who raced Alf with us, already had a growing number of horses in the stable."
O'Sullivan said Watson, an investor and major shareholder in some of New Zealand's leading companies, currently has six horses with O'Sullivan.
He said Little Jamie showed a fair bit of talent right from the time he was broken in.
"He won his first trial over 1150m at Paeroa a few days before Christmas and finished second to Butterscotch in his race debut at Te Rapa (1200m) in mid-January."
Little Jamie then went straight into the $475,000 Mercedes Super Bonus Classique (1200m) at Te Rapa, finishing a close third to Spring Rain and Willie Capone.
His only other run before Saturday's race saw him again defeated by Spring Rain in the Wakefield Challenge Stakes (1200m) at Trentham.
O'Sullivan admitted the sting out of the ground played an important part.
"It definitely helped my bloke and inconvenienced Spring Rain by the look of things, but that's the way it goes."
For rider Lance O'Sullivan the win was his first in either of the Sires' Produce races Awapuni or Ellerslie. Lance O'Sullivan has won every other group one race on the New Zealand racing calendar.
Little Jamie was led back to scale by one of Watson Bloodstock's new directors, Russell Warwick, and Warwick's wife Lesley.
The day before, Watson Bloodstock Ltd officially acquired the bloodstock assets of Cambridge's Westbury Farm, whose general manager was Warwick.
Operating from a new property at Karaka in South Auckland from next January, Watson Bloodstock and Westbury Farm will join forces with breeding operation Chatham Lodge to form a powerful breeding force.
It will continue under the Westbury Farm banner and will have more than 324ha at its disposal between properties at Karaka and Matamata. It's stallion roster will include Gold Brose, Faltaat, Kilimanjaro and Tuscany Flyer.
Little Jamie lasted to win by a short head from the fast-finishing Trinity College, with Spring Rain a neck away third.
Trinity College may have cost herself victory after ducking in sharply with 200m to run.
Spring Rain made the pace but rider Vinny Colgan said the dead track conditions may have dulled his mount's acceleration.
Secret Liaisons made ground impressively for fourth, ahead of Alberton Star.
- NZPA
Racing: Little Jamie follows in path of great-grandmother La Mer
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