By Peter Wharton
Retired Turners Marsh teacher and prominent owner Richard Hodgetts will break new ground at Carrick on Sunday, March 12 when he offers his first yearling at a Tasmanian yearling sale.
It is Lot 9, a bay filly from the first crop of former Victorian pin-up pacer Poster Boy out of the good Melton and Launceston winner Ebonyallstarzzz (by Four Starzzz Shark), dam of the Dandy Patch and Golden Slipper placegetter Pawnbroker’s Lad.
“I sold a Captaintreacherous filly from Ebonyallstarzzz in Melbourne two years ago, but this is my first foray into the Tasmanian yearling sales arena,” Hodgetts said.
The Poster Boy filly is being offered by Hodgetts and his brother-in-law, Michael Felmingham, and is being prepared by Melissa Maine, of Faithful Park stud, Latrobe.
She is one of only two youngsters sired by the Somebeachsomewhere horse in the sale.
Ebonyallstarzzz, the dam of the filly, belongs to one of the fast moving families in the Australian stud book. She’s a half-sister to the Breeders Crown 2YO Final runner-up and Breeders Crown 3YO Silver winner Brutally Handsome ($119,805), the Tasmanian Light Harness Cup and St Mary’s Cup winner Solid As A Rock ($221,098) and the Group 2 Melton winner Its Beaujolais ($190,330).
The filly’s first three dams were all top race mares in their own right – Ebonyallstarzzz, Life Inthefastlane, the winner of $264,566, and Indigenous, a Tasmanian Oaks winner.
Hodgetts has won more than 200 races in Tasmania and South Australia down through the years including the ‘King of the Claimers’ No Apachemee.