Australia lost the last remaining link with Bletchingly when his G1 Golden Slipper winning son Canny Lad died at Darley earlier this month.

Another Bletchingly sire – Chariot – bobbed up with a winner when his final foal Cheekychariot scored second-up in the Thank You Catering Staff Maiden (1200m) at Casino on Tuesday.

Cheekychariot (3c Chariot – Passion Miss by Semipalatinsk) is trained by Jason Cumming and the local colt broke a long run of outs for his sire.  The last winner by Chariot was So Long at the Sunshine Coast in November 2008.

Chariot and his younger brother Mercury were Bletchingly homebreds for Sir Tristran Antico.  Their dam Gelsomino (Zamazaan) won the 1982 Flight Stakes when it was a Group 2.

Mercury won the 1989 Todman Slipper Stakes and covered three books in New Zealand before his death in 1994.

Chariot was trained by Sterling Smith and won first-up at Canterbury in June 1988.  He was retired after just two starts to Ian Crompton’s Brymaroo Farm at Bowenville in Queensland.

In his latter years, Chariot covered a handful of mares owned by Greenmount based breeder Belinda Burchell-Butcher before his death, aged 25, on Australia Day 2010.

– Karl Patterson