Hawaii Five Oh

HAWAII FIVE OH FIRST SEASON STALLION

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awaii Five Oh is an interesting addition to the Australian sire’s ranks this year.

He may not be the best performed and does not have the profile of some of the freshman crop, but he certainly has some attractions. They start with his racing ownership and he was raced by Gerry Harvey, John Singleton and radio broadcaster, Ray Hadley so this alone should ensure that some reasonable mares have a date with the stallion. Priced at $16500 and standing alongside the quality roster at Vinery Stud in NSW, Hawaii Five Oh should be on the radar for the right breeders.

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n the track Hawaii Five Oh started his career for trainer Michael Freedman with two educational Randwick trials in the Autumn of his 2yo season. He retuned to the track with improved form in two trials, and first start was to come on 28 August 2022 winning a 3yo maiden over 1200m at Wyong. The immature colt gave punters who took the $1.50 odds a few scares before coming away in the final stages to win by almost a half-length. Next up it was the Listed Heritage Stakes over 1100m at Randwick. Hawaii Five Oh settled at the rear of the six-horse field but

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finished on strongly to be less than three lengths behind the impressive Economics.

He then went to the 1400m Tapp Craig at Randwick, but was never comfortable in the heavy conditions, being pulled up to finish an astonishing official margin of 144.49 lengths from the winner, Opal Ridge who had run second in the Heritage Stakes. The colt had a trial eleven days later, winning over 1200m to make sure that there were no physical issues as he went to the spelling paddock.

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awaii Five Oh returned on 4 February in an open class one at Newcastle over 1300m, carrying 61.5kg. Despite starting the $2 favourite, he ran a narrow second behind the promising staying son of Dundeel in Major Beel who was to win the AJC Derby later that Autumn. Hawaii Five Oh was then transferred to the Waterhouse/Bott stable and had his next start over 1400m on the Kensington in a BM72 for the 3yo’s. He ran second behind Watch The Clock who was shortly after sold to Hong Kong. Hawaii Five Oh then went to Hawkesbury to win the Group 3 Hawkesbury Guineas over 1400m. Starting at $4.40, the colt cruised home to dominate by over three lengths having hit the front around the 200m mark.

Connections then took the colt to Brisbane for the Winter carnival and his first start in Brisbane saw him win the Group 3 Fred Best Classic over 1400m at Eagle Farm. Hawaii Five Oh won by 0.75 lengths from Yellow Brick earning a rating of 86. Next up it was an ambitious tilt at the Group 1 Stradbroke over the same course and distance, and Hawaii Five Oh earned a 101 rating by finishing third behind the star gallopers Think About It and Rothfire, having settled just behind the leaders.

After a let up, he returned to Sydney and ran sixth behind Private Eye and Overpass in the Group 2 The Shorts over 1100m at Randwick in September. He then ran a slashing second behind Think About It over 1200m at Randwick in the Premiere Stakes failing to catch the winner by only a head having come from last on the turn.

The 4yo stallion then had his richest collect by running sixth in the Everest, again coming from towards the rear to be only 2.3 lengths from Think About It and Wish I Win in the feature event. The quality of his performance saw his rating increase to 110 establishing him among the best of our local gallopers. His last run for the Spring was a fifth behind Japanese visitor Obamburumai in the Golden Eagle, rating 111 when beaten just over a length and a half with Pericles and Golden Mile filling the placings. Hawaii Five Oh returned in the Autumn of 2024 but had only one start when he was eased down in the Star Kingdom Stakes, and he was retired to stud. In total, he won three of his 13 starts, and over $2.1 million in prizemoney.

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awaii Five Oh is a son of I Am Invincible, who has had ten sons at stud prior to this season. Of these, only five have progeny that are older than 2yo’s, and all five have sired at least one stakes winner. Notably, Brazen Beau has a son at stud in Tassort who has also produced a stakes winner from his first crop. While I Am Invincible needs little introduction to Australian breeders, it is worth noting that he is a locally bred son of the stallion, Invincible Spirit out of the Canny Lad mare, Cannarelle. When we talk of racing performances of stallions, again it is significant to note that I Am Invincible was only able to win to Group 3 level. He did run second to Takeover Target in the 2009 Goodwood Handicap in Adelaide and in all retired with five wins from 13 starts and just over $270,000 in prizemoney. Perhaps it is notable that the sons of I Am Invincible who have produced stakes winners to date have all had limited race starts but then again, perhaps that is simply a trend in the modern thoroughbred. Invincible Spirit interestingly is a son of Green Desert who in turn is by Danzig. What we find is that the majority of sons of I Am Invincible who are at stud are from mares who also trace to a Danzig sire line. This includes the likes of Brazen Beau, Overshare and Hellbent who have produced stakes winners.

It is only Kobayashi who is out of a Hussonet mare, hence a Mr Prospector sire line, that has produced a stakes winner and does not have a damsire from a Danzig male line. Kobayashi has had his major successes in Queensland, a state that did not have the same level of success with Danehill line stallions as other areas of Australia.

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his makes the dam of Hawaii Five Oh critical when we look at his potential future success. We see that his dam is Aloha by Encosta De Lago who sees his sire line trace to Fairy King by Northern Dancer. Encosta De Lago had good success with Danzig line stallions, and Danehill in particular, and it is important that even at this stage we note that the second dam of Hawaii Five Oh is Tennessee Midnight,

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a daughter of arguably the most successful son of Danzig in Danehill. But before we get to those areas of the pedigree, it would be a disservice to not look more closely at Aloha who was a winner of eight races including the Group 1 Coolmore Classic. At her next start, to underline her quality, she ran fourth in the George Ryder beaten only 0.6 lengths by the very talented Rangirangdoo. Aloha was able to win the Listed Lord Stakes at Caulfield over 1700m. Aloha has proved a valuable broodmare and she has produced Libertini also by I Am Invincible, who was a filly who won five of her sixteen starts and almost $2 million in prizemoney. Sadly, she met with a premature death on the track and represents a great loss to the industry.

On the track she won four stakes races in the Woodlands Stakes at Scone at Listed level, and the Furious Stakes, Silver Shadow Stakes and Premiere Stakes all at Group 2 level. She was also third in three Group 1 races, behind Funstar and Probabeel in the Coolmore Stud Stakes, behind Bivouac and Nature Strip in the VRC Stakes, and behind Masked Crusader and Portland Sky in the William Reid. Aloha also produced a colt called Hualalai by Street Cry who won two of seven starts and went to stud In 2018 but has suffered from both low mare numbers and ordinary fertility.

To date he has had only fourteen runners for five winners including Vexatious Dancer who has won three races in South Australia.

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ennessee Midnight, the stallion’s second dam, is a daughter of Danehill and a winner of the Listed Toyota Victoria Stakes now the Ottawa Stakes which was its original name and is one of the earliest 2yo races of the season in Melbourne. The filly’s race dates back to the 1930’s and interestingly was won by the great Tranquil Star. Tennessee Midnight was to have only three race starts with her other results being a fourth in the Blue Diamond Prelude and a sixth in the Blue Diamond.

While Aloha was Tennessee Midnight’s only stakes winner, she was to produce another seven winners including Altivo who won six races in South Australia and Steel, a three-time winner in NZ. Tennessee Midnight was a daughter of Tennessee Morn by the wonderful stallion in Bletchingly. She was another quality 2yo winning the Listed Maribyrnong Trial for the fillies at her first start. After placings in the Debutante Stakes and Seaview Stakes, she then won the Group 2 Maribyrnong Plate beating Racer’s Edge. Tennessee Morn was to later win the Blue Diamond Prelude but injury saw her miss the Blue Diamond and Golden Slipper. She proved to be a prolific breeding producing sixteen named foals of which ten were to win races with her best likely to have been Malaguerra by Magnus who won twelve races including the Group 1 VRC Darley Classic and BTC Cup.

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he female line of Hawaii Five Oh sees his fourth dam, Tennessee Vain by Whiskey Road also being a stakes winner. She won four stakes races in the STC Magic Night Stakes, STC Storm Queen Stakes, VRC Kewney Stakes and VRC The Vanity. She was to produce two other stakes winners apart from Tennessee Morn

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Rainbird wins the Cup

in Tennessee Magic who won the VATC Bounding Away Quality and VRC Neat ‘n Trim Uniforms Stakes, and Tennessee Mist who also won the Bounding Away Quality. The female line is indeed quite remarkable in that it traces to one of the original Colonial mares of the local Stud Book in Maid Of The Lake. It is a female line that sparks additional interest as it includes the remarkable mare, Rainbird by The Buzzard who won five stakes races with her most memorable being her victory in the 1945 Melbourne Cup.

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ith such a prestigious family, there have been many aspiring stallions to have gone to stud. One of the most recent from the direct family has been Cool Aza Beel, the top-quality NZ 2yo by Savabeel who went to stud in 2021. Sejardan is another stallion who only went to stud last season from the family. Sooboog hails from the same female line and went to stud in 2017 and has produced two stakes winners in Boogie Dancer and Boognish.

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evorant, a son of Lunchtime is another stallion that traces to Rainbird and he was at stud in the 1980’s and produced regular good quality runners. He was only to produce two stakes winners with his best being Targlish who won the Group 1 Galaxy in 1989. His son, Rode Rouge was at stud in Queensland with limited success. Two other stallions who trace to the family are Been There and Vain Rancher who were both regular sources of winners during the 1990’s. More recently, the very good NZ based stallion Tivaci is making a name for himself at stud, and he too sees Rainbird in his female line. Tivaci by High Chaparral was bred by Bart Cummings and won four stakes races including the Group 1 All-Aged Stakes. He has sired four stakes winners to date including the winner of the 2021 Group 1 Flight

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Stakes in Never Been Kissed. The standout sire from the family though is the famed NZ stallion in Centaine. He was a son of Century and had won three stakes races in the Group 3 VATC Autumn Stakes, and the Listed VATC Barton Handicap and MVRC The Herald Vase at distances from 1000m to 1600m. At stud he produced some 58 stakes winners including multiple Group 1 winners like Kinjite, Slight Chance and Foxwood. Centaine went on to become an outstanding broodmare sire producing the likes of VRC Derby winner Amalfi, Toorak Handicap winner, Alamosa, Caulfield Guineas winner, Econsul, Goodwood winner, Glamour Puss, Ascot Vale Stakes winner, Faster Pussycat and NZ based stallion Mongolian Khan who won the 2015 NZ Derby, ATC Derby and Caulfield Cup. Centaine is readily found in a range of pedigrees including the star NZ stallion, Proisir, interestingly a son of Choisir by Danehill tracing to a Biscay mare, and this could be important for the future of Hawaii Five Oh.

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his leads us on to the stud future of Hawaii Five Oh. We note that much of the family’s success has come in New Zealand which is something that must be considered. Given that NZ bred mares are readily available in Australia, this is certainly a strategy that might prove successful. With the family of Hawaii Five Oh having good stayers throughout history, it may just be possible that some of his progeny could extend over distance if bred to some of the true NZ staying lines. Mares that carry Zabeel would be high on the list as we see that his pedigree introduces a male line of Sir Ivor to balance the female line of that stallion found in the pedigree of Green Desert. We also see the presence of Nureyev in the pedigree of Zabeel and he is the three-quarter brother of Fairy King, the sire of Encosta De Lago, the damsire of Hawaii Five Oh. This could easily extend to descendants of Zabeel such as Octagonal, Lonhro and Pierro, and we only have to look at the likes of Levendi by Pierro who won the 2018 Australian Derby to see that the presence of both Centaine and Pierro in a pedigree can have success. We must also acknowledge that finding Centaine in a pedigree offers a chance of reinforcing this remarkable female line. In fact, if we were to look at the pedigree of both Proisir and Hawaii Five Oh, we would see many similarities and indeed if we were to look at the successful progeny of Proisir they too could give us a clue as to what mares might achieve the best results with Hawaii Five Oh.

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he best daughter of Proisir to date has been Legarto who won six stakes races including the 2023 Australian Guineas. Her pedigree is an almost total outcross although interestingly she is out of a mare by Towkay who was a son of Last Tycoon.

Levante by Proisir won eight stakes races in NZ and is out of a daughter of the

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Mill Reef stallion Doyoun. Again, there is relatively little inbreeding apart from the presence of the three-quarter brothers Nureyev and Fairy King. Prowess has won six stakes races including the Group 1 ATC Vinery Stud Stakes and she is out of a mare by Don Eduardo, a son of Zabeel who is closely related to Octagonal. We also see the presence of Nureyev and Fairy King as well as multiple lines of Biscay with relatively little inbreeding in the first six generations. Yonce is a daughter of Proisir who won the MRC Carlyon Cup this year and went through the Inglis Broodmare Sale recently. She is out of a mare by Zabeel with her second dam being by Danehill.

Surely there may be clues among those successful racehorses that could give a clue to future matings for Hawaii Five Oh.

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he future of Hawaii Five Oh will no doubt lie in local mares, although there is a likelihood that strong Northern Hemisphere lines that represent largely outcross pedigrees may have success. The local mares, especially those in the Hunter tend to be dominated by Danehill line mares that will need to be considered carefully with the stallion. We have seen that sons of I Am Invincible have had success with multiple lines of Danzig, so introducing lines of Danehill should not be detrimental in a lot of cases. Of course, this needs to be done with some caution. Many of the successful sons of I Am Invincible have had success with heavily inbred pedigrees.

The family of Hawaii Five Oh would suggest that heavy inbreeding may not be the best strategy so extreme caution should be taken when introducing multiple lines of Danzig in particular.

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ith the stallion standing at Vinery, there will obviously be a chance to have mares by their resident sires visit Hawaii Five Oh. Casino Prince has been a long-time success and there should be a number of his daughters that would suit the newcomer. It is noted that he is by Flying Spur who was closely related to Encosta De Lago. All Too Hard, the son of Casino Prince offers a different prospect and I suggest that the additional line of Green Desert that he brings in should be tried with caution. There would need to be some enticing other factors before this is likely to achieve much success. Star Turn is another of the Vinery stallions who may have suitable daughters. Interestingly his sire line traces to Nureyev who we have already suggested may prove successful. Exceedance is another of the local stallions with some attraction. He is by a son of Danehill in Exceed And Excel and is out of a Thorn Park mare who is another stallion who traces to Nureyev. Thorn Park also sees a daughter of Bletchingly in his pedigree, and this presence could be important as not only do we see Hawaii Five Oh trace to a daughter of Bletchingly, but we also see that stallion appear in his pedigree through a son in Canny Lad.

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n terms of history, Hawaii Five Oh holds a prominent place in the Australian thoroughbred. While his racing performance may not place him among the highest profile of new stallions in 2024, there is much to like about his pedigree and heritage. Breeders, and especially those who are prepared to carefully plan their matings, should achieve good success. No doubt it will be difficult for the stallion to compete in terms of sheer numbers and economics of other Freshman sires this season, we expect him to get his share of winners on the track given reasonable opportunity.

By Ross Prowd PROGOLD THOROUGHBREDS

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as published in Turf Monthly August 2024

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