11 Aussie Winners for Johannesburg

14th July 2007

Exciting young sire Johannesburg made it 11 individual Australian winners this season after the Leon Macdonald trained Lost Oscar (2g Johanesburg - Defiant, by Danehill) scored at Morphettville on Saturday.

Lining up for his third race start, Lost Oscar did the job in style, skipping clear to win the 1050 open event for juveniles by two lengths from Elusive One.

Bred by Toorak Park Stud, Lost Oscar was offered by Mill Park Stud as agent at the 2006 Magic Millions Yearling Sale in Adelaide, where he was secured by Leon Macdonald for $130,000.

Raced by prominent Sydney based owner Nick Moraitis, Lost Oscar is the first foal of the winning Danehill mare Defiant, a daughter of Group One winning sprinter Ruffles, from the family of Group Two winners Ateates and True Glo.

With just two weeks of the Australian racing season to run Johannesburg and Falvelon are tied on 11 individual winners each and are set for a titanic battle, with each and every runner by the pair sure to come under scrutiny.

A former world champion two year-old who won Group One events in four countries, Johannesburg was always tipped to throw early winners in Australia, but encouragingly in the Northern Hemisphere the majority of his stock have trained on to win at three and he is the second leading American second crop sire.

Johannesburg had a particularly strong year in the sale ring with 45 youngsters averaging $105,889 at the ‘Majors’, up slightly on his first crop average that was $93,304 achieved from the sale of 63 yearlings.

Johannesburg returns to Australia this spring at a fee of $33,000, having spent the Northern Hemisphere season at Ashford Stud where he stands at $US65,000.