First trial success for Sword Of State

Sword Of State’s burgeoning stallion career took another significant step at the Te Rapa trials.

Our resident son of Snitzel was represented by his first winner when the homebred and raced State Of Valour coasted to victory in his two-year-old heat over 730 metres.

Prepared for us by Chad Ormsby, the youngster was quickly into stride to sit on the pace and lengthened stride in the run home under a minimum of urging by Tayla Mitchell to score by three and a-half lengths.

“I was very impressed by what he did with the little practice that he’s had,” his trainer said.

“He came to us to be broken in and we identified him as quite an early type, we got him going and everything from that time on has been really natural.

“I’ve been impressed by the stallion and have got a couple by him in the stable and this one is the more forward of the two.”

State Of Valour failed to meet his $60,000 reserve when offered at New Zealand Bloodstock’s National Yearling Sale and is a son of the French-bred Lope De Vega mare Illadore, whose family boasts an abundance of international stakes winners.

“I’ll talk to the team and think we can go to the races with him now, he’s a half-brother to Sister Ping who we had later in her career, and she was very fast over a shorter distance and I think he’s in a similar mould,” Ormsby said.

Sword Of State won four times as a juvenile, with his career highlight a victory in the G1 Sistema Stakes to claim champion two-year-old honours.

He trained on the following season to claim two Group 3 prizes, including a defeat of ten-time top-flight winner Imperatriz in the Almanzor Trophy.

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