Danehill sire Catbird specialised in short-course horses during a stud carer that was cruelly cut short after just seven years at Yarraman Stud.  Over in Perth, he’s better known for siring G1 WATC Derby stayers Cats Fun and Chartreux.

Catbird was a G1 winner of the Golden Slipper and he has sired 19 stakes winners to date.  Apart from the Perth connection, his only other Australian black-type winners beyond a mile have been Cateclipse (AJC Craven Plate) and The Tiger (Geelong 3YO Classic).

Cats Fun went to win the G2 Perth Cup over 3200m and Chartreux will be now be put aside for this year’s Caulfield and Melbourne Cups.

Chartreux (3g Catbird – French Resort by Bonhomie) came with a well-timed finish under Brad Rawiller to win yesterday’s $500,000 classic from leading locals Bridgestone, Brother Mak and God Has Spoken.

The Lindsay Park gelding was a $70,000 buy from Toreby Park at the 2008 Perth Magic Millions.  He is the last foal of G1 Adelaide Cup winner French Resort who died in May 2009.

Lindsay Park studmaster Sam Hayes was all smiles after the race.  “It’s a fantastic thrill to win a Group 1,” he said.  “He’s really improved this preparation and could develop into a Cups horse in the spring.”

Chartreux won at Kilmore and Flemington during his initial campaign last year and he warmed up for the Perth carnival with a win at Caulfield over 2000m and a second to the highly-rated Rundle in the Galilee Final at Flemington over 2500m.

The WATC Derby completed a busy week for Lindsay Park.  Before heading to Perth, Hayes announced Danehill line sire Wilander would join the historic stud’s roster this year.  

Wilander (Exceed And Excel) was trained by Lee Freedman and was a G3 winner of the Blue Diamond Prelude for Sheikh Mohammed.