All eyes on the Atkins as Zoustar aims for landmark win
Antony Thompson mightn’t know where to look when he views the JJ Atkins (Gr 1, 1600m) through jet-lagged eyes in the early hours of Saturday, UK time, with Widden Stud holding a powerful hand in the last two-year-old Group 1 of the Australian season.
The farm’s flagbearer Zoustar (Northern Meteor) might have set a record for first-season sire earnings way back in 2018 but he will still be chasing his first juvenile elite-level winner when three of his progeny line up in the 1600-metre event at Eagle Farm: each-way hopes Brereton and Twin Stars, and $41 shot Ringmaster.
Widden bred Brereton, and is also the breeder of Chris Waller’s $17 hope Basquiat (Snitzel), after buying Bonny O’Reilly (O’Reilly) for $1.2 million in foal with the colt. Basquiat, the $1.9 million 2021 Magic Millions sale-topper, now has a full sibling on the way.
And Gold Standard (Sebring) – the newly-acquired stallion for Widden’s Victorian operation – has a strong chance of having his first stakes winner become a Group 1 victor, with BRC Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m) winner Sheeza Belter among the top chances today.
Betting firms last night had the Team Snowden-trained filly around the $5 mark, with the pair who fought out last Saturday’s The Phoenix (Listed, 1500m) – Political Debate (So You Think) and Sharp ’N’ Smart (Redwood) at $5 and $4 favourite respectively.
Both those colts also could bring their sires a maiden two-year-old Group 1 winner. First place prize-money of $600,000 for Political Debate would also likely propel So You Think (High Chaparral) past I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) on the Australian general sires table with less than two months left of the season – with the Coolmore stallion just $458,000 behind Yarraman’s titan last night as both vie for a first overall title.
And victory for Sharp ’N’ Smart would bring veteran breeder Gerry Harvey a third Group 1 in little more than three months, having waited nearly two and a half years after Miami Bound’s (Reliable Man) VRC Oaks (Gr 1, 2500m) triumph for Mascarpone (Shooting To Win) to claim Otaki’s WFA Classic (Gr 1, 1600m) in February, before Jungle Magnate’s (Tarzino) South Australian Derby (Gr 1, 2500m) in March.
The chances of a sire scoring a maiden two-year-old Group 1 win in the time-honoured JJ Atkins – held under various names since 1893 – are high. With the field standing at 17 starters last night, only six were by sires with previous top-tier juvenile success, in Snitzel (Basquiat and Brosnan), Dundeel (Owen County), Written Tycoon (Tyresa), Not A Single Doubt (West Of Africa) and Lonhro (Fearless Knight).
Widden’s formidable presence is not only the cause of much anticipation at the farm, but also a major reason for Thompson to battle fatigue to tune in from Britain just after 6.00am local time. The stud’s boss arrived in London 24 hours earlier, part of a large Australian contingent heading to Royal Ascot for the Nature Strip (Nicconi), Home Affairs (I Am Invincible), Artorious (Flying Artie) sprint mission.
“We’ll have a late night tonight watching the Aussie races from home,” Thompson told ANZ Bloodstock News. “There’s a good bit of interest in the Atkins for us, for sure.
“I guess Sheeza Belter would probably be the big result for us, having acquired a new stallion in Gold Standard and now having the opportunity to have a Group 1 winner from his first crop; that would really move the needle a bit.
“With her moving up to the mile for the first time, it’s always a bit of an unknown, but you’d think Gold Standard should get a horse who runs a mile. He only had a short racing career but it looked like it wouldn’t have been an issue for him, and certainly for his sire Sebring it was never a problem.”
Gold Standard won the Stan Fox Stakes (Gr 2, 1500m) at Rosehill before an injury-enforced retirement following his down the field effort in the Caulfield Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m). The late Sebring’s (More Than Ready) only defeat in six starts came narrowly in the Champagne Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) when attempting the Two-Year-Old Triple Crown, while at stud he has strong winners-to-runner ratios at up to 2400 metres and beyond.
The Atkins could yet rekindle memories for Thompson and Widden of its astounding trifecta from the 2018 running of the Coolmore Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) at Flemington, when Sunlight beat home Zousain and Lean Mean Machine. All were offspring of Zoustar, who Thompson will visit this week in his shuttling duties at Gloucestershire’s Tweenhills Stud, which celebrated his first northern hemisphere-bred winner this week in two-year-old filly Just Janet (Coral Sea).
Yet despite smashing the Australian first season sires earnings record in 2018 when Sunlight’s Magic Millions 2YO Classic (RL,1200m) victory and Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) third helped him to $3,209,000 – a figure pipped by Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt) last season – Zoustar is yet to record a juvenile Group 1 winner.
The Peter Moody-trained Rosemont Stud/Victorian Alliance colt Brereton was last night rated Zoustar’s best chance today, at around the $11 mark, though he will need luck jumping under Jamie Kah from gate 15.
A $1 million Magic Millions purchase, Brereton won the Maribyrnong Plate (Gr 3, 1000m) on Melbourne Cup Day, and warmed up for the Atkins with a fast-finishing third in Sheeza Belter’s BRC Sires’ Produce on May 28.
The Tony and Calvin McEvoy-trained Twin Stars, a $225,000 Gold Coast yearling, was last night around the $15 mark after the colt’s sixth in the Eagle Farm contest, which followed his victory in the Group 3 South Australian equivalent over 1400 metres on May 14.
“Zoustar has had 12 two-year-old winners this season, plenty of nice stakes winners, and it’d be great to get a Group 1 on the back of his first winner in Europe this week,” Thompson said of the rising 12-year-old, who’s sired nine stakes winners from 207 two-year-old runners.
“Things are going well for him in Britain. He’s a terrific stallion. He’s been right in the mix with two-year-olds, having had a Magic Millions winner and plenty of other two-year-old stakes winners, so the Group 1 is not a huge issue, but it would be great for him to land that as well.”
Zoustar has just had his third straight service fee rise for the coming southern season – to $198,000. Thompson had previously told ANZ that should Sheeza Belter win today, Widden would consider another rise for Gold Standard, who’s gone from $5,500 at the now-defunct Spendthrift Australia to $8,800 for his first spring at Widden Victoria. Her co-trainer Peter Snowden spoke optimistically of that prospect last night.
“I’m really happy with her. She’s in good order. She’s had two weeks since her last run and I’ve given her plenty of time to show me a reason not to run, but everything’s been positive the whole two weeks. She’s been perfect,” said Snowden, who added a dash of concern over the filly’s rise to 1600 metres.
“It’s just an extra furlong but for some it feels like an extra mile. But she is very tough, very genuine, she’ll relax very well, and if she does that she’s gonna give herself a good chance to run it out.”
While Sharp ’N’ Smart and Political Debate face a quick back-up after running last week, Snowden expressed some trepidation that Sheeza Belter had been in work “a very long time” since debuting in Perth on New Year’s Day and transferring to Sydney in February.
“Those two colts are backing up after a week, but my filly’s only had a week off when she came over from Perth. Still, the two weeks off have helped her get over that run,” he said of Sheeza Belter, who’ll jump from gate nine under her fellow West Australian William Pike.
Octogenarian Harvey, meanwhile, is hoping Redwood – who stands at his Westbury Stud in New Zealand for $8,000 – will be the surprise stallion to emerge with a juvenile Group 1 winner via Sharp ’N’ Smart, who’ll jump from barrier six under Hugh Bowman, while Political Debate has gate eight and James McDonald.
Redwood, rising 16, is yet to even have a starter in a two-year-old Group race, and Sharp ’N’ Smart is his only two-year-old Listed winner.
“I think he’s a very good chance. Everyone’s been talking about Political Debate, but Sharp ’N’ Smart would have beaten him last week in another bound, and the extra 100 metres this week will suit him,” said Harvey, who liked the sound of being told he was “on fire” as a breeder this autumn.
“I like to think I am, from time to time, and then you go dead for a while. In this game you sit around and take a lot of knocks, and every now and again you get a bit of glory. You’ve got to sit there and wait your turn.”