Musket winner defies drift at Pinjarra

Tuesday, 4 February 2014 - South Dakota impressed jockey Ryan Hill with a first-up win in the Chicken Treat Maiden (1200m) at Pinjarra on Sunday. And he was amazed to learn the Musket gelding drifted to start at $17 on debut.

“I couldn’t believe it when we came back to scale and heard he scored at those odds,” Hill said. “I’ve been working him at home and at the beach and he ran really well in a trial behind one of Jimmy Taylor’s at Belmont last month.”

South Dakota (3g Musket - Swiss Lake by Scenic) sat on the pace and sprinted through a gap at the furlong to win by a neck. “He’s going to be much better next season but it’s always nice to see them show some dash early on,” Hill added. “He lugged out in the straight but hit the line hard.”

The Vern Brockman trained gelding is bred to stay. His dam was successful up to 2275m at Cheltenham and second dam Ascona (Grosvenor) won the G3 Auraria Stakes (1800m) at Victoria Park.

Musket has sired 7 winners from his first book conceived at Darley’s Twin Hills Stud in NSW. They have saluted as far afield as Randwick, Doomben, Launceston and Western Australia.

Yarradale Stud owner Ron Sayers and Geisel Park’s Eddie Rigg bought Musket from Sheikh Mohammed in 2010 and his first Sunspeed-bred two year-olds are beginning surface in Perth. Only two have appeared to date and both youngsters - Ready To Fire and Musketalife – have been placed at Ascot.

Musket (Redoute’s Choice) is a three-quarter brother to Makybe Diva and won the G2 Shannon Stakes at Rosehill. He has five lots catalogued for the Perth Magic Millions and the first to parade under the Geisel Park banner is the colt from NZ bred mare Queen Dido (Lot 145). The dam is a half-sister to G1 Stradbroke Hcp winner Mr Baritone.