Black type for Finepoint

19 Oct 2022

Patience is paying off for David and Angela Paykel with their homebred mare Finepoint, who stepped up to stakes level on Saturday with a good third in the Group 3 Angst Stakes (1600m) at Randwick for Chris Waller Racing.

 

The lightly raced four-year-old mare has had just nine starts to date and never finished further back than fourth, with four metropolitan wins to her credit and a further four placings, plus $188,000 in the bank. Finepoint's first run this campaign resulted in a three-quarter length win over Sibaaq (GB), who subsequently ran second in Saturday's $1million Five Diamonds Prelude.

 

Finepoint hails from the final crop of star New Zealand sire Pins and is also the final foal of her wonderful dam Zarzuela. Saturday's stakes placing saw her become the third stakes horse produced by Zarzuela from seven live foals. She joins Serious Satire (Group 3 winner) and Star Tsar (Group 2 placed) as stakes horses for their dam, all three of whom were foaled at Willow Park.

 

The family is a source of pride for the Paykels, who purchased Finepoint's second dam Star Satire (Volksraad) for NZ$130,000 as a yearling in 1999 and she went on to be NZ Champion 3YO Filly Sprinter, with five wins including the Group 1 Otaki-Maori WFA Stakes. The Paykels bred three foals from Star Satire before selling her on, the third of those foals being Zarzuela, a dual Group 2 winner who also ran third in the Group 1 New Zealand Oaks, beaten just a short head by a half head.

 

Zarzuela retired to stud after just 10 starts, producing a Redoute's Choice colt in her first season that sold for $720,000 through Willow Park's Inglis Easter yearling draft. Serious Satire (More Than Ready) was foaled the following year, winning at Group 3 level for the Paykels before retiring to emulate her dam, with her first foal (Exceed and Excel colt) selling for $760,000 through Willow Park's Inglis Easter draft of 2020, when the sale was forced to be conducted online due to the emergence of Covid-19.

 

Zarzuela foaled Finepoint at Willow Park in 2018, before returning to New Zealand in foal to More Than Ready. Tragically, both mare and foal died during birth, prompting the Paykels to retain Finepoint as the final filly from their wonderful mare.

 

Expertly managed by Chris Waller, the mare has stepped up through the grades and looks to have a bright future ahead of her, franking the Paykel's faith in a superb family that continues t