Aristia ready for the P B Lawrence after enjoying decent spell
Group 1-winning Lonhro mare set for final season of racing with Group 2 Caulfield test
Such is the importance of Aristia (Lonhro) to the success and subsequent growth of First Light Racing that the Group 1-winning mare has a farm set up by the Melbourne syndicator named in her honour.
And Tim Wilson, the principal of First Light Racing who races the Mathew Ellerton and Simon Zahra-trained VRC Oaks (Gr 1, 2500m) winner, hopes that the five-year-old can deliver more highlights on the racetrack before the valuable broodmare prospect is sold.
Aristia will run first-up in Saturday’s P B Lawrence Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m) at Caulfield after being given the tick of approval after her jump–out performance at Flemington yesterday in heat three over 800 metres.
She has not raced since finishing seventh in the Sunline Stakes (Gr 2, 1600m) at Moonee Valley on March 20 which brought an end to her three-start summer-autumn campaign.
“She ran second-up in the All-Star Mile in the autumn and things didn’t go her way that day and that was when Covid first broke out everywhere in Australia,” Wilson said yesterday.
“The team backed her up in six days and gave her a run at Moonee Valley with the fear that racing would be put on hold for a period of time. As a result, we ended up putting her in the paddock at the end of March, so she’s had a ten-week spell which she’s never had in her life.
“She’s always had that good horse’s problem whereby one carnival ends and the next one comes up so quickly that you are always racing against the clock, so for her to have ten weeks in the paddock is unheard of.
“Every sign so far is that she’s in for her best campaign probably since her three-year-old spring preparation (when she won the VRC Oaks). Her trial this morning was sensational. She was never off the bit and she’s gone across the line about half a length off Pretty Brazen and she had Hanseatic behind her and Jamie (Kah, jockey) was like a statue on her.”
While optimistic about the prospects of Aristia breaking her losing streak dating back to her 2018 VRC Oaks win, Wilson suggested that connections may look to avoid the top-line open company horses this campaign.
The Empire Rose Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m), a fillies and mares race she finished runner-up to Melody Belle (Commands) in last year, looms as a probable target.
“If she ran top three on Saturday you could put her down that old, traditional race path or, if she’s not quite up to it on Saturday, you can go to the Empire Rose,” Wilson said.
“There’s a 1400-metre race in two weeks and then we will use the Let’s Elope on September 12 as a mid-range target for her.
“The beauty of her now is that the sunset clause has kicked in for her on those set weights and penalties races. Last spring it was tough as everywhere we went with her she had 59 kilograms but now … she will be back to the minimum because she hasn’t won a stakes race for 18 months.”
The way Aristia, who was bred by Greg Perry under his Greenwich Stud banner, has returned after a lengthy spell has Wilson convinced that he and his fellow owners have made the right call to race on the daughter of Lonhro (Octagonal) for another season rather than selling her as a well-credentialled broodmare prospect.
“She didn’t win a race last season but she still won $250,000 in prize-money, so it’s a balancing act for the owners, but in my opinion selling her off the track at the end of her five-year-old season is the prime time to realise her residual value,” he said.
“You have probably got to treat these next 12 months like they are her last, and a lot of good mares have raced on into their six-year-old season, but she’s probably got to give us a compelling reason to do that because she might lose ten per cent of her value for racing on for another 12 months and that’s a significant figure.”
How Aristia performs on Saturday will also be a guide as to what difference First Light Racing’s investment earlier this year in a spelling property at Koo Wee Rup, south east of Melbourne, is making to its racing team.
Named after the syndicator’s Group 1 winner, Aristia Park is a purpose-built horse property with a capacity for 120 horses, sand training tracks, an equestrian area, tie-ups and round yards overseen by farm manager Marnie Holloway.
“It’s brand-new for us. We took ownership of it in March and it’s just such an asset. It’s probably not a coincidence but the first two horses that have raced off that farm who have spelled there were Squami and Rich Hips,” Wilson said.
“Squami won first-up and Rich Hips went to Sandown and won first-up and she’s in for a ‘career prep’ as well. Aristia will be the third horse to go to the races off the property. The first two have won and they have improved out of sight.”
Wilson praised Holloway for the way she has managed the horses since taking on the role, describing her as “a magician”.
He said: “We’ve had some fantastic partners along the way but our vision has always been for First Light to do everything end-to-end and it gives us a great opportunity now to get our clients involved in breeding if they want to go down that path.
“The horses are always in our care and we see it as a huge client entertainment facility in due course. It’s a beautiful property and I’d love to be doing yearling parades and having owners out there offering accommodation. They can come out and spend the night, then do the feed run in the morning and have a bit of fun.”
Wilson, in conjunction with agent Paul Willetts, meanwhile, came away with six new season two-year-olds at last week’s Magic Millions National Yearling Sale on the Gold Coast headed by a $100,000 Dundeel (High Chaparral) colt out of Group 1-winning mare Alverta (Flying Spur) and a $52,000 All Too Hard (Casino Prince) filly out of Group 3-winning, Group 1-placed Galapagos Girl (Dehere). The All Too Hard filly is a half-sister to last season’s Gerald Ryan-trained stakes winner Villami (Foxwedge).
“We had so many new owners come in this year with one, two and three degrees of separation from existing First Light owners or even just new people. We’ve still been able to have a good year despite Covid,” he said.
“We haven’t overbought and we were fortunate with … the Magic Millions sale being pushed all the way out to August, that really worked for us.
“That sale is normally in May/June and in May we are usually carrying a lot of stock but by the time we got to August our numbers were quite low and we were looking at September and October and thinking that we won’t have any stock to offer.
“We bought six up there and we could have easily grabbed a couple more.”