Mad Monday, a gelding bred in Victoria’s north-eastern region, defeated the best four-year-olds in commission in Western Australia in the Group 2 $100,000 Preux Chevalier Classic at Gloucester Park last Friday night.
The nuggety four-year-old was bred and raised by Wangaratta beef cattle farmers Bernie and Margaret Blackshaw and their son Paul in partnership with Alabar Bloodstock and was knocked down for $41,000 at the Nutrien Equine Melbourne Yearling Sale in 2023.
The Preux Chevalier triumph was his fourth success on end and he has now won nine races with five placings from 22 lifetime starts for $148,278 in stakes for champion Perth trainers Greg and Skye Bond.
“We were going to give away his dam Richly Deserved last year,” Paul Blackshaw said.
“We had plans to scale right back but when Mad Monday started winning races we thought that we would breed from her again. She’s now in foal to For A Reason.
“She’s got a bit of a second chance as a broodmare.”
Richly Deserved has since produced a yearling colt by The Storm Inside, who is due to be broken in.
“He’s a tough little fellow. He nearly died as a foal from a bad injection in a joint,” Paul stated.
The Mad Monday story actually began when Bernie and Margaret purchased the First Variety mare Blue Isle from NSW almost 50 years ago.
“There was a NSW Derby winner back in her pedigree, but it was one of those families that was largely on the decline,” Paul said.
However, a carefully planned breeding program by the Blackshaw’s has brought the family right back into the limelight.
Undoubtedly the best performer belonging to it was the 2016 Inter Dominion and A. G. Hunter Cup hero and 2017 Horse of the Year Smolda, the winner of nine Group One’s and $2.4 million in prizemoney.
The Tasmanian Derby winner Ginger Bliss, the Blossom Lady winner Under The Mattress, the Wangaratta Cup victor Tizzy Lizzie and the $100,000 earners Itzmineontheline and Saving Major Percy are among other winners brought out by the Blackshaw’s from this line.
“We struck it lucky. We’ve only got one racehorse at the moment in Tizzy Lizzie and she won at Wagga on Friday afternoon, so we owned a winner and bred a winner on the same day,” Paul said.
Isolation, an impressive winner at the Melton midweek meeting, was bred by respected Bendigo horseman Gary Donaldson from the top racemare Misty Miller.
Mount Barker Boy, a Ride High three-year-old colt bred and part-owned by Alabar Bloodstock, made it three for three at Geelong on Friday night.
The 2019 2YO Colt of the Year Be Happy Mach was represented by his second winner from his first commercial crop when the two-year-old Be Better scored at Coolamon on Sunday.
