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Clarken Racing | Clarken Racing News 53084 Lucky Breeder Rides Emotional Rollercoaster

Lucky breeder rides emotional rollercoaster

Lucky breeder rides emotional rollercoaster

Although Brenton Parker has experienced all of the highs and lows of thoroughbred breeding over the last three decades, not many of the horses he’s bred have taken him through the full spectrum of emotions quite like Extremely Lucky.

Along with his wife Liz, the SA-based breeder has dabbled with a small broodmare band since the early 1990s, with three-time Group 1 winner Happy Trails the best horse he’s bred and, incidentally, the cheapest horse he’s ever sold at $11,000.

Around the same time he purchased Happy Trails’ dam Madame Flurry, Parker also bought Eastern Charm, who is the grand dam of Extremely Lucky.

The son of Extreme Choice won Saturday’s Listed Lightning Stakes at Morphettville to stamp himself as one of the most exciting young sprinters in the land, with trainer Will Clarken now eyeing next month's Group 1 Moir Stakes (1000m).

Extremely Lucky's journey to the racetrack has already been filled with obstacles and unlikely twists, as Parker explained in this week's Thoroughbred News on Racing.com.

“We bred her (Tamarind Lane), she’s by Stratum out of a mare called Eastern Charm who was the first mare we ever bought – we bought her in foal the same year we bought Madame Flurry (dam of Happy Trails),” Parker said.

“Tamarind Lane was a nice enough filly but wouldn’t have bought much at the sales so we decided to race her with David Jolly but she never got to the track.

“We sent her to Extreme Choice because we generally always like to go to a first season stallion with at least one of our mares every year and he was the one that was nominated by my breeding guru.

“She was covered by Extreme Choice in early September and within a week we’d got a call to say that if she wasn’t positive, we’d better find another stallion because he wasn’t firing on all cylinders.

“Fortunately she was in foal and he turned out to be a nice foal and he got accepted into the Gold Coast Sale (Magic Millions GC Yearling Sale) in 2020 but he had a bit of a throat issue and probably woulsnt have passed the post-sale scope.

“The throat didn’t really get better so my wife and I decided to race him and when he won his first start at Murray Bridge, the phone started ringing.”

WATCH: Brenton Parker chats to James Tzaferis in the Thoroughbred News.

Despite not being able to sell Extremely Lucky as a yearling, Parker was happy to cash in for an undisclosed six figure sum when the offers flooded in after the gelding's eye-catching debut win for local trainer Sam Burford at Murray Bridge.

And while he's no longer an owner of the four-year-old, the horse's success on the racetrack could yet deliver Parker another windfall. 

The Adelaide-based breeder will offer a half-brother to Extremely Lucky by All Too Hard during the 2023 yearling sale season, while he also races half-sister Magical Ride (ex Kermadec) with Ryan Balfour and has retained half-sister Rua Raposa (ex Foxwedge) to breed with.

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