Owner-breeders Julie and John MaclachlanA thoroughbred family four generations in the making produced a brilliant black-type victory at Te Rapa on Saturday with I’munstoppable.
The three-year-old daughter of Charm Spirit lived up to her name with a dominant front-running performance in the Gr. 3 Inglis Sales Cambridge Breeders’ Stakes. She sped straight to the lead under jockey Sam Spratt and never gave her rivals a look in, kicking clear in the straight and winning by three and a half lengths.
The $100,000 feature was the third win of an eight-start career for I’munstoppable, who is trained by Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott for owner-breeders John and Julie Maclachlan.
“That was very pleasurable and a performance that lived up to her name,” said John Maclachlan, who worked as an equine veterinarian in the South Auckland region for many years.
“She was actually named by my three-year-old granddaughter in London, who’s absolutely addicted to this horse. She loves her and watches every training video.
“If Lance and Andrew continue to be happy with her, it sounds like we might have another go in the fillies and mares’ race that’s coming up at Rotorua in a couple of weeks’ time (the Gr. 3 Rotorua Stakes on May 11), so that’s another exciting prospect to look forward to. After that, we’ll give her a really good break.”
I’munstoppable has become a new star performer for a family that goes back to the mid-1980s for the Maclachlans and their Masterpiece Enterprises banner, which they share with Julie’s brother Richard Riddell and friend Kent Robertson.
They bred and raced the filly’s two-race-winning dam Sisterella, along with granddam Arabian Nights, who herself won four races and placed in the Gr. 2 Awapuni Gold Cup and Listed Manawatu Breeders’ Stakes.
Third dam Miz Denier was another highly successful homebred, winning four times between 1993 and 1997, while the unraced fourth dam Winara was the one that started it all almost a decade before that.
“It’s a very special family to us and one that we’ve built up over four generations,” Maclachlan said. “Four mares back in the pedigree, I bought this mare Winara, by Taipan. She was owned by a guy down in Eketahuna, and I went down there one day to have a look at her and ended up buying her. She had a deformed leg and was never going to race, but I really liked her pedigree.
“It’s a family that’s treated us very well over the years since then. A lot of winners have come from it – not all that many at black-type level, but they’ve won a lot of races between them.”
Winara was the dam of six winners from eight foals to race including the Melbourne Group Three placegetter Aforesaid. Miz Denier followed suit with two winners of her own, while Arabian Nights has produced seven winners from eight runners.
I’munstoppable has kicked off the latest generation of that lineage, being the first foal out of the Rip Van Winkle mare Sisterella.
She was followed the next spring by her two-year-old half-brother Lachie, who made his debut at Te Rapa on Saturday for Byerley Park trainers Peter and Dawn Williams. The Belardo gelding finished a highly creditable fourth behind classy fillies Thooza and Sister Cynane, and his post-race coughing prompted an endoscopic examination that revealed dirt in his trachea.
“We were very proud of the way he ran on Saturday,” Maclachlan said. “Hopefully we’ll have a bit more to look forward to with him.
“The next foal the mare had was a Proisir filly, who unfortunately broke a leg while she was being weaned. It’s fair to say that wasn’t one of the best days I’ve had, but it’s the way things go with horses sometimes. The mare’s in foal now to U S Navy Flag and looking very healthy, so long may that continue.
“I haven’t decided yet what I’ll do with Sisterella next season. She has a booking for Profondo, but after a result like Saturday you do sometimes get a little bit more excited. I might consider switching her to Paddington. I was in the Northern Hemisphere during the last New Zealand winter and actually saw Paddington race, and he was a hugely impressive racehorse.”
This special family makes up the entirety of the Maclachlans’ current broodmare band.
“I’ve currently got three half-sisters in the paddock, including the dam of I’munstoppable, along with their mother Arabian Nights.
“Arabia is a three-quarter-sister to the filly that won on Saturday. She won a couple of races herself, and she’s in foal to Armory.
“Then we’ve got a four-year-old called Juju Pop – another one that’s been named by our family. She won her second start for Lance and Andrew, then picked up a bit of an injury. It’s possible that we’ll put her back into work and see how she goes.”
