Monovale Farm have found plenty of excitement watching homebred gelding Rise At Dawn (NZ) (Almanzor) succeed across the Tasman, particularly with the next of his dam’s progeny about to hit the track in the farm’s colours.
Bred by Monovale principals Joe and Max Smithies, Rise At Dawn was sold to Lindsay Park Bloodstock for $90,000 at the 2022 Inglis Premier Yearling Sale in Melbourne, and has continued to flourish in the care of trainers Ben, Will and JD Hayes.
After winning on debut, Rise At Dawn has established an enviable record with seven wins from just 12 appearances, with his most recent success, a third on the bounce, coming in the Listed Heatherlie Stakes (1700m) at Caulfield on Saturday.
The stakes victory came in the hands of expat-Kiwi hoop Michael Dee, with the gelding boosting his career earnings over A$492,000.
“We were super pleased, we thought a lot of him as a yearling and he was bought by good judges so it’s so nice to see them go on and be rewarded,” Max Smithies said.
“He always looked like that distance range would be his best and he’s putting together a great form line.”
By Almanzor, Rise At Dawn was the ninth foal out of Kay’s Awake, a Towkay mare who was a four-time Group One placegetter behind the likes of Seachange and Darci Brahma.
Kay’s Awake earned a deserved stakes success in the Listed Newmarket Handicap (1200m) in 2006, and retired with over $345,000 in career earnings to her credit, before joining the broodmare band at Monovale where she produced 12 foals before passing in April this year.
Alongside Rise At Dawn, the mare produced a further three race winners and the lightly-tried Kay’s Ruebe, who finished third in the Gr.3 Taranaki 2YO Classic (1200m) behind Captured By Love at her second start for John Wheeler.
The mare’s remaining progeny include a two-year-old gelding by Proisir and a yearling colt by Tarzino, who will follow differing paths in the coming months.
“She (Kay’s Awake) was awesome, great to have around and super tough, as those great mares are,” Smithies said.
“Fortunately for us, we still have few of her stock. We have a belting, almost black Proisir gelding who is a two-year-old, he has been broken in and will be racing fairly soon.
“We have a yearling colt by Tarzino as well, so we’re very pleased to still have a few of her progeny coming through.
“The yearling is sales-bound, but we’d like to trial up the Proisir ourselves and see how he goes, that’s the plan at this stage.”
