Article courtesy of TDN Australia & NZ by Bren O’Brien
Written Tycoon has continued on his record-breaking path through the 2020/21 season, with a smart debut by the Team Hawkes-trained Atlantic Seas giving him his 184th Australian winner for the season.
The stallion, who will stand at Yulong Stud in Victoria this season, now has the equal second-highest number of individual Australian winners ever for a stallion, level with what I Am Invincible achieved in 2018/19 but 11 adrift of what the Yarraman Park stallion has achieved so far this season (195).
He also remains firmly on track for this first Champion Sire title, with just short of $15.9 million in progeny earnings, $740,000 clear of second-placed Not A Single Doubt with just over a month of 2020/21 remaining
Hong Kong-based owners Orbis Bloodstock have had success with Written Tycoon before, notably with Group 3-winning filly Written Beauty, and have another quality filly in Atlantic Seas, who showed plenty of character to win the Iron Jack Australian Lagers Fillies and Mares’ Mdn at Pakenham on Monday.
The 3-year-old started an odds-on favourite in the race off the strength of recent jump-outs but looked in trouble in the straight when the Lindsay Park-trained Testa Rock (Fastnet Rock) got past her.
However, jockey Fred Kersley asked Atlantic Seas for another effort and she rallied strongly to edge out Testa Rock by 0.2l, with another 3l back to third-placed Isolating (Danesis {Ire}).
The performance was backed up by a quick time of 1:10.84, just 0.6 of a second outside the 1200 metre track record, which is held by Alfa Oro (NZ) (Bachelor Duke {USA}).
Kersley was pleased with the response Atlantic Seas gave him when she was put under pressure in the straight.
“To her credit, she is a better horse having something to run down. The whole way down the straight, she was just idling. She was green as grass and has plenty of improvement in her,” he said.
“The Hawkes team have obviously done the right thing by her, by giving her all the time she needs and it’s really going to pay off for them. When she was headed by Hayes’ runner, I pulled the whip through the left and I was confident I was going to get there on her as she was just getting warm late.”
Atlantic Seas was a $140,000 purchase by Orbis Bloodstock from the Woodside Park draft at the 2019 Inglis Classic Sale.
She is out of stakes-winning High Chaparral (Ire) mare Palomita (Ger), who is a half-sister to Pakal (Ger) (Lord Of England {Ger}), who was the champion colt of Switzerland and then came to Australia to win the 2013 Listed Cranbourne Cup.
She became the third winner by Written Tycoon out of a High Chaparral mare.
