Kiwi-breds out to extend remarkable Queensland Derby run
Richard Edmunds - Raceform • May 30th, 2025 11:30 AM • 4 min read
The New Zealand-bred contingent has both quantity and quality on its side as it shoots for a fifth straight win in the Gr. 1 Queensland Derby at Eagle Farm on Saturday.
New Zealand-breds have won the Brisbane classic nine times since 2005, including all of the last four in a row – Kukeracha in 2021, Pinarello in 2022, Kovalica in 2023 and the 10-length stunner Warmonger last year.
Kiwi bloodlines make up half of the field for the A$1 million race this year, including $6.50 joint favourite King Of Thunder and other prominent contenders such as Belle Detelle ($8.50), Party Crasher ($10), Maison Louis ($13), Imperialist ($15) and Chase Your Dreams, Beau Dazzler and Deep Focus (all $21). (Click here for the full TAB Market for the Queensland Oaks)
The key lead-up race is the Gr. 3 Rough Habit Plate, which has been won by seven subsequent Derby winners – Tenor (1994), Dodge (1998), De Gaulle Lane (2001), Empires Choice (2007), Brambles (2012), Hawkspur (2013) and Dark Dream (2018).
Imperialist led all the way for a $60 upset in this year’s Rough Habit, with Deep Focus (second), King Of Thunder (third), Maison Louis (fourth) and Belle Detelle (six) all producing eye-catching finishes to be just behind him at the line.
Maison Louis races in the colours of highly successful Kiwi syndicators Go Racing, who bought him for $250,000 from the draft of breeders Pencarrow Stud in Book 1 of Karaka 2023.
He comes from the first crop of Super Seth, whose incredible rise this autumn has featured a Group One treble in March with Feroce (Australian Guineas), Linebacker (Randwick Guineas) and La Dorada (Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes). The dam of Maison Louis is the stakes-winning Makfi mare Cote D’Or, who comes from the family of Ethereal, Grand Echezeaux, Darci Brahma, Burgundy and many more.
Maison Louis has won three of his six starts and delighted his connections with his strong-finishing fourth in the Rough Habit last start. He ran his last 600 metres in 36.42 seconds, which was the second-fastest in the race after Belle Detelle (36.23).
“That run was full of merit,” Go Racing general manager Matt Allnutt told RaceForm. “Jamie Melham (jockey) got off him and said he would have taken all sorts of beating if the race was over 2400 metres.
“He steps up to that distance on Saturday and has drawn well in gate four. John O’Shea and Tom Charlton have been thrilled with his progress through the couple of weeks between races. He’s going from strength to strength and is going to love the distance on Saturday. I think he gives us a live chance in the Queensland Derby.”
Maison Louis is part of a two-pronged Kiwi-bred attack on the Queensland Derby for O’Shea and Charlton. The pair will also saddle the Tivaci gelding King Of Thunder, who ran third in the Gr. 2 Tulloch Stakes and fifth in the Gr. 1 Australian Derby before finding the line well for third in the Rough Habit.
“We were delighted with him the other day,” Charlton said. “He didn’t love that Heavy8 ground, which dulled his gears a little bit. He’s probably also looking for a bit more of a test, which he will get over 2400 metres in the Derby.”
Belle Detelle is a three-quarter-sister to the legendary Verry Elleegant and is part-owned by co-breeders Nick Bishara and Matt Duffie. The Zed filly won the Gr. 3 Adrian Knox Stakes at Randwick in April before finishing fifth in the Gr. 1 Australian Oaks and running the fastest closing sectionals in the race when sixth in the Rough Habit.
