Nishen Moodley and a couple of other connections lead in Fish Tales (Picture: Race Coast)
The distinctive colours of Tony Moodley were made famous in the first decade of the millennium by horses like Summer Cup winner Rudra and Champions Cup winner Equal Image and the red and yellow checks, emerald sleeves and cap silks might become a familiar sight next season through the James Crawford-trained Heavenly Blue colt Fish Tales.
The Ascot Stud-bred colt remained unbeaten when landing the Gr 2 World Pool Bet With Tote Umkhomazi Stakes over 1200m under a fine ride by Mickaelle Michel on Sunday at the World Pool Gold Cup meeting at Hollywoodbets Greyville .
He won in impressive style and the victory was all the more commendable in that he had to overcome a draw of 11 out of 13.
Fish Tales won by 2,30 length on debut over 1160m on June 7 and now that he has confirmed that promise he looks set to have a fine three-year-old season.
The colourful silks he carries are easy to follow and could put the partnership of Tony Moodley and his son Nishen back in the spotlight.
Nishen was at the course on Sunday and said, “Rudra and Equal Image were a long time ago, but I remember them well, although I did have more hair in those days! My Dad has been involved in horseracing for the longest of time. He has never left the sport. We did go a little bit quiet. I think horseracing is a wheel, you will be at the top one day and be at the bottom again. Now we are slowly rising to the top again.”
He said about the purchase of Fish Tales, “When we saw him at the August two-year-old Sale last year we absolutely fell in love with him. He is by Heavenly Blue, who I think is overlooked, he is such an underrated sire, and he is one of the better Heavenly Blues that we’ve seen. Myself and some friends decided to get involved and here we are today.”
The other owners in Fish Tales are Raphael Goolam and Selvan Naidoo. Fish Tales is in fact the first horse Raphael has ever owned.
Mickaelle Michel has been a revelation since arriving in South Africa last December and she played a big part in the win, giving the colt one of the best rides of the meeting.
She thus ended her extended tour on a high note as she departed for her home country of France the next day.
She took the athletic bay colt up to mid division from the wide draw and managed to slot him into a one wide position with cover before he had used up too much energy.
That expert manoeuvre was the key to victory.
After being switched out in the straight the colt continually found and hit the front at about the 150m mark before going on to win by 1,10 lengths.
James Crawford said they would have preferred him to have come into the race with one more run under the belt and he added, “He is still green and immature and once the penny drops we’ve got a lot more fun to have.”
Ashley Parker of Ascot Stud was alerted a number of years ago to Fish Tales’ dam, the five time-winning Var mare Caviar, being for sale and he snapped her up.
Caviar was trained by the late Colin Scott and her wins were over distances from 1000m to 1400m.
Fish Tales’ Australian-bred sire Heavenly Blue, who is by the iconic four-times Australian Champion Sire Snitzel, won the Gr 1 SA Classic over 1800m and he was third in the Gr 1 SA Derby.
On Sunday Fish Tales, who has plenty of substance, ran like a horse who would enjoy further.
He looks to be an exciting classic prospect.
He is a half-brother to the useful King Prawn, an Alan Greeff-trained three-year-old Master Of My Fate gelding, whose two wins include the Listed Champion Juvenile Cup over 1400m, although he has had a somewhat disappointing three-year-old season.
Fish Tales was bought for R375,000.
At this year’s National Yearling Sale his full-brother was bought for R200,000 by Jaap van de Vendel and will be trained by Alan Greeff.
Caviar is currently in foal to the Mauritzfontein-based sire Digital Age, a Gr 1-winning son of Invincible Spirit.
Caviar’s third dam is the Champion Broodmare Soho Secret, which means she is from the family of the good racehorse and influential matriarch Secret Pact.
Caviar has had six runners to date for four winners and Fish Tales is her second stakes winner.
Meanwhile, Mickaelle Michel will be back in South Africa in October.
Before departing the racecourse on Sunday she was presented with a framed enlargement of a Sporting Post front page headline commemorating the day she made history on Star Major in the Daily News 2000, becoming only the second woman in South African history to win a Gr 1 event.
Her 47 wins on this tour were achieved at a strike rate of 9.2% and included one Gr 1 and three Gr 2s.
