Given that his father Neville bred and raced the late Australian champion Northerly, there was only one group 1 Ben Duncan wanted to win when he decided to follow in his old man's footsteps.
The Dec. 7 Northerly Stakes (G1) at Ascot Racecourse therefore shapes as a potentially momentous occasion for Duncan and his wife Jo, who combine their part-time breeding interests at Forest View Farm in Western Australia with their full-time business of running Australia's largest equine fence supply company.
But any fencing inquiries will be put on hold Saturday afternoon when the Duncan family sit down on the farm to watch Forest View graduate Super Smink line up in the 1,800-meter (about 1 1/8 miles) feature race at Ascot, where she bids to build on an electric effort on her first outing in group 1 company two weeks earlier.
Having drawn barrier 15 in the 1,600-meter Railway Stakes (G1), rider Chris Parnham had no option but to take Super Smink back and ride the mare for luck, launching from last place at the 400-meter mark to finish just three-quarters of a length behind the winner Port Lockroy was nothing short of audacious.
"I was there for the entire Northerly journey, so the race named after him is the one I'd love to win," said Duncan, who cites Northerly's defeat of Sunline in the 2001 Feehan Stakes (G2) as his personal highlight from the career of the "Fighting Tiger."
"I've got some amazing memories of Northerly, so to have bred a runner competing in this race 20 years after he retired is pretty special. It's going to be a very exciting moment for all the family on Saturday, it would mean a lot to us all. Super Smink ran so well in her first group 1 in the Railway, so hopefully she can do us proud again and we'll certainly be keeping everything crossed."
Given her closing sectionals that day, the extra 200 meters of Saturday's AU$1.5 million contest should hold no fears for Super Smink according to her trainer Dan Morton, who first shot to prominence through the exploits of globetrotting sprinting sensation Scenic Blast.
Super Smink, who blazed a trail through her juvenile season with three stakes wins and two minor placings from five starts, should also get a much kinder run in transit from barrier 6 as she seeks to take Morton's tally of elite-level victories to eight.
"She'd drawn out wide in three of her last four races, including barrier 15 in the Railway, so we've been hanging out for a good gate for her," Morton told ANZ Bloodstock News.
"The Northerly has been her target race this prep, so we've been slowly getting her out in distance. After the way she finished off in the Railway, you would think that the 1,800-meter trip won't be a concern."
Morton paid AU$45,000 at the 2022 Magic Millions Perth Yearling Sale for Super Smink, whose dam Sminky Shorts was—like Northerly—born on the fertile pastures of Oakland Park Stud, the farm operated by Neville Duncan for the past three decades.
