Redwood Son to Debut for Bedggood Stable

It may come as a surprise to some, but the considerable influence of High Chaparral on stakes results in Australia and New Zealand is remarkable. That’s particularly so given that he’s a son of the great Sadler’s Wells whose own influence seems at odds with Australia’s traditional focus on precocity. His current arsenal of sire-sons and grandsons plying their trade on the Australian Black Type Premiership includes sons So You Think, Dundeel, Toronado, Redwood, Contributer, Tivaci, Wrote, Alpine Eagle, Free Eagle and Ace High. Amongst paternal grandsons are Bowness Stud's D’Argento and Arrowfield Stud's Castelvecchio, and young stallions Peltzer and Celestial Legend – the latter is on debut in 2025. Ergo, it’s worth paying attention to the sireline and related news whether one’s an owner, breeder or punter. According to racing.com, St Lawrence (NZ) is set to begin a new chapter under Gavin Bedggood, with the Cranbourne trainer eyeing a Flemington return on Saturday for his promising new stable acquisition. The Winter Championship Series Final looms as a likely target for the 7YO son of Redwood – he’s the sire of Group 1 winners Antino, Sharp ‘n’ Smart and Rock On Wood – who has banked just shy of A$1 million in prizemoney across eight wins from 23 starts. Previously trained by Ciaron Maher, St Lawrence was snapped up online for $85,000 by Lofty Group’s Paul Lofitis and transferred to Bedggood last month. “He was a good get,” Bedggood said. “He might run in The David Bourke (1600m) or we might wait for an Open 1400m the following Saturday. He’ll head towards the Winter Championship hopefully.” St Lawrence signalled he was ready to go with a sharp two-length trial win over 1300m at Seymour last Wednesday. The gelding was bred in New Zealand by Gerry Harvey’s Westbury Stud which stands Redwood, and is among five winners from seven runners out of unraced Encosta De Lago mare Bacio Del Vinto, also the dam of Group 3 winner Marroni. He began his career with Andrew Forsman, winning two trials at Cambridge before a wide-run debut win at Hastings. That performance prompted his private sale and transfer to Maher, under whom he made a strong start to his Australian campaign.