Scene stealer in Caulfield Cup

Viewed created history when he became the first horse since Rising Fast to claim the Caulfield Cup after winning the Melbourne Cup the previous year.

“We haven’t seen the best of him yet,” trainer Bart Cummings said at Flemington last November and that predication paid off on Saturday when Viewed rallied along the rails to defeat stablemate Roman Emperor.

Viewed also won the Brisbane Cup last year for deceased Sadler’s Wells sire Scenic.  The former Durham Lodge based stallion received another posthumous award last month when his international sprint star Scenic Blast was named 2008-09 Australian Horse of the Year.

Viewed (6h Scenic-Lovers Knot by Khozaam) is a fourth generation descendant of NZ bred mare Wuthering Heights whose pedigree has also been the platform for G1 winners the calibre of Battle Heights, Mapperley Heights and Sky Heights.

Viewed was bred by Ian Johnson who is based near Wisemans Ferry on the Hawkesbury River in NSW.  He sold the Cup winner as a weanling for $50,000 to Dato Tan Chin Nam.

Viewed’s dam Lovers Knot produced three NZ bred fillies before crossing the Tasman in 1998.  Love to Honor (Honor Grades) was the first and she won races at Canterbury and Doomben for Bart Cummings.  She was also stakes-placed in an AJC Keith MacKay Hcp (LR) at Randwick.

The other Kiwi fillies – Love Not (Honor Grades) and Decency (Defensive Play) – were both unraced.  The best of Love Not’s foals is Mr Bachelor (Our Maizcay), a winner of six races to date in Brisbane and Perth.

Decency was purchased for just $600 by Woodwinds Farm’s Rebecca Bates and she mated the mare with resident sire Tanabota (Redoute’s Choice) to produce a filly last year.

Lovers Knot didn’t have much luck in her first three years in Australia.  She missed to Langfuhr and Zeditave while her foal by Hennessy died.  The year before Viewed arrived, Lovers Knot foaled a More Than Ready colt Knot Now and he won a 2200m race at Warwick Farm in 2006.

Lovers Knot wasn’t covered after Viewed was foaled on 4 October 2003.  She then missed to Johannesburg and Zeditave before foaling a three-quarter sister to Viewed by Universal Prince filly in 2007.  She is now a 2yo filly and has been named Union Street.

Lovers Knot was given another year off before foaling a filly by Eliza Park filly God’s Own last month.