Pencarrow Stud’s proud history of breeding and raising Group One winners gained a new chapter on Saturday when Feroce (NZ) (Super Seth) triumphed in the prestigious A$1m Group One Howden Australian Guineas (1600m) at Flemington.

Feroce is a graduate of the 2023 Ready to Run Sale at Karaka, where he was offered by Kilgravin Lodge. He was bought for $160,000 by McKeever Bloodstock Ltd and Sutton Racing. Feroce has now had nine starts for three wins, three placings and A$1.3m in stakes.

Trainer Dominic Sutton is in the first year of his training career, having saddled his first winner just last April. Feroce has become an outstanding early flagbearer.

Sutton thought his shot at an early Group One victory had passed him by when Feroce ran second in the Caulfield Guineas (1600m) in October, beaten by a short head. But less than five months later, he lined up in the prestigious autumn classic at Flemington and went one better.

Jockey Billy Egan had Feroce handily placed in fifth before creeping forward in the slipstream of the New Zealand-trained Savaglee (NZ) (Savabeel) as that colt moved forward to tackle the leader in the straight.

It developed into a two-horse war to the finish, with Feroce gradually getting the better of Savaglee and winning by three-quarters of a length.

“I can't even think of a word to say right now,” Sutton said. “Crazy. I've got so many people to thank, especially my fiancée, Raquel. I couldn't do it without her. Her dad's flown over from the UK. Simon (Chappell), our biggest owner, our biggest supporter, is over as well. He literally flew in this morning.

“And look, we can't do it without the horse, and he's just an absolute warrior. We thought we had him right for the day. I can’t quite believe this, to be honest.

“It took a long time to get over the Caulfield Guineas, I'm not going to lie. A lot of people were congratulating us, but I still felt pretty bitter about it all, thinking that we could have won on that day. And we all know how hard it is to win these races and to have a horse good enough and present him in the right order on the day.

“So you sometimes think, 'Am I going to be waiting for a long time now until the next one comes along?' But this horse has just been super. He's just improved, improved, improved. He was probably the third ever horse we've bought out of the sales, and I've got to thank Johnny McKeever. He's been instrumental in helping us select these horses, so I've got a lot to thank him for as well.

“I was just hoping he'd really knuckle down and go past that leader. He's had a tendency of just getting his head up a little bit, but once Billy changed the stick through and gave him a couple more reminders, he really let down and flew.”

The Pencarrow-bred Feroce became the first Group One winner for Waikato Stud stallion Super Seth, who was New Zealand’s leading first-season sire in 2023-24 and heads the second-season standings in 2024-25. Super Seth has sired 25 winners, six of them at stakes level. His headline act on home soil this season is two-year-old filly La Dorada (NZ), who has won the $1m TAB Karaka Millions 2YO (1200m) and the Group Two Matamata Breeders’ Stakes (1200m).

The dam of Feroce is Corinthia (NZ) (O’Reilly), an unraced half-sister to the Group One Rosehill Guineas (2000m) winner De Beers (NZ) (Quest For Fame). Another half-sister, Lycia (NZ) (Montjeu), is the dam of Island Life (NZ) (Vadamos), who has carried the Pencarrow colours into placings in this season’s Group Two Sir Patrick Hogan Stakes (2000m) and Group Three Wellington Stakes (1600m).

Corinthia is the dam of three foals to race, all of them winners. Feroce is the second of her foals to win at stakes level, joining the Listed Karaka Classic (1600m) winner and multiple Group Two placegetter Siracusa (NZ) (Sebring).

Since Feroce was foaled in 2021, Corinthia has produced a colt by U S Navy Flag and a filly by Almanzor. Pencarrow offered the U S Navy Flag colt during Book 1 of Karaka 2024, where he was bought for $215,000 by Prima Park.