Posthumous Group treble for Tavistock

Apostrophe completed a notable domestic stakes double at Trentham for the late Tavistock when she reigned supreme in the G3 Manawatu Breeders’ Stakes over 2100 metres.And the loss of our much-loved stallion son of Montjeu was further emphasised across the Tasman where his daughter Good Banter triumphed in the G3 Adrian Knox Stakes at Randwick.The Roger James and Robert Wellwood-trained Apostrophe delivered a hollow victory in the mares’ feature to follow the earlier winning lead of Outovstock in the G3 Manawatu Classic.Apostrophe lapped up the middle distance and lobbed along in midfield and let down powerfully in the straight for Masa Hashizume to win by three lengths.“We were a little bit worried about it being a slowly run race, but with only nine runners you’re never really going to get too far off them,” Wellwood said.“A bit of pressure came on at the turn so she could come up behind them and, when she got a gap, she was electric.“She has been screaming out to go over 2000 metres her whole life but we’ve never been able to get her there. Now that we have, she was very good.“There may be one more race for her at Te Rapa after this (G2 Travis Stakes, 2000m) but she is probably destined for the broodmare paddock at the end of this preparation.”Apostrophe was bred by Greenwich Stud and sold through Cambridge Stud’s draft at New Zealand Bloodstock’s National Yearling Sale to James and Wellwood for $60,000.She is a daughter of the Cape Cross mare Cape South whose pedigree features our Highly Recommended mare Polygon, winner of the G2 Royal Stakes and the G3 Eulogy Stakes.The Bax family-bred Good Banter was a determined winner of the Adrian Knox, but trainer John O’Shea was luke-warm on a start in the G1 Australian Oaks.“My preference wouldn’t be to, I think she’s got a lot to offer going down the road,” he said.“If we just take our time we might end up in Queensland at a lesser level, albeit it a Group 1, up there.”Bred by the Bax family, Good Banter was a A$280,000 Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale buy for Astute Bloodstock and is out of a half-sister to the dual Group 1 winner Danzdanzdance.