Arrowfield’s Dundeel holds Derby Ace
Arrowfield stallion Dundeel (High Chaparral) already looks to hold a strong hand for the first staying Classic of the season – the VRC Derby (Gr 1, 2500m) – after his sons ran the quinella in Saturday’s traditional early lead-up at Flemington.
The Nick Ryan-trained Red Aces (Dundeel) and Danny O’Brien’s Politely Dun (Dundeel) fought out the finish of the juvenile distance test, the Byerley Handicap (1800m), with the former prevailing by 0.75 lengths to secure exemption from the VRC Derby ballot.
With Red Aces’s price tumbling, both sit at $15 for the $2 million Derby at headquarters on November 2, putting them on the third line of betting in pre-nominations markets which is currently headed by Godolphin’s dual Group 1 winner Broadsiding (Too Darn Hot). John O’Shea and Tom Charlton’s two-time winner Linebacker – by a son of Dundeel in Super Seth – is at $11.
Bought by Ryan for $380,000 at last year’s Inglis Premier Yearling Sale, the Musk Creek Farm-bred Red Aces is a half-brother to Declarationofheart (Declaration Of War), winner of the 2019 edition of the SAJC Chairman’s Stakes (Gr 3, 2032m), who was also runner-up in the MVRC Alister Clark Stakes (Gr 2, 2040m).
Red Aces debuted with a third in a 1300-metre Seymour maiden on July 2, before stepping up stylishly with Saturday’s rails-hugging victory, from midfield in running, under Jamie Mott. The colt was relatively solid in betting, starting at $6.50, while Politely Dun firmed late to $2.80 favouritism.
“He’s pretty special,” Ryan said of Red Aces. “He’s got the pedigree, hence why we bought him. I think now we’ve got the pleasure of just focusing on that one race [the Derby]. He’s in at the minute, so we can just do what we want until that grand final.
“We’ve got 15 weeks. I’ve already sort of thought about it. We’ll put him away, but not for too long.”
Ryan initially intended to stick with a country maiden for Red Aces’s second run, but such was his improvement after his debut the trainer opted instead for the major rise in class and distance.
“We were originally going to go to a mile maiden on Monday at Seymour, but he’d come on so much from his first run,” the trainer said.
“We always thought we had a Derby colt. My step-father, JJ Gordon purchased him as a staying type. He’s taken a little while, but the penny’s really dropped.
“That’s a big jump, from 1300 metres to 1800 metres at just his second start. I liked the way he knuckled down, his breeding kicked in over the last furlong, and we’ve got a nice staying colt on our hands.”
Dundeel, currently one off his personal best finishing place on the general sires table in seventh position, has two Derby heroes among his eight Group 1 victors, with Dunkel taking last year’s South Australian Derby (Gr 1, 2500m), and the exported Atyaab having been his first top-tier victor, in South Africa’s Kenilworth Cape Derby (Gr 1, 2000m) in 2019.
While Red Aces firmed in Derby betting, it was an easing in price from $11 for Politely Dun, a $150,000 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale buy for O’Brien from the draft of his co-breeders Arrowfield Stud draft. The gelding is out of the Myer Classic (Gr 1, 1600m) winner Politeness (Street Sense).
Politely Dun had followed a debut third in a 1600 metres Bendigo maiden by working home well for fifth in Flemington’s Gibson Carmichael Stakes (Listed, 1600m), before being outpointed by Red Aces on Saturday.
The Leon and Troy Corstens-trained Stay Silent (Deep Field) took third, 1.05 lengths off the winner, carrying topweight under the handicap conditions of 59 kilograms, compared with Red Aces’s 57.5 kilograms. Ryan’s second runner Suntora (Toronado) plugged away for fourth.
Red Aces is the fourth winner from five runners for the winning mare Cardiac (Encosta De Lago), a three-quarter sister to Listed winner De Little Engine (Encosta De Lago) and a half-sister to VRC Oaks victor Arapaho Miss (Danehill Dancer), dam of another VRC Oaks winner in Miami Bound (Reliable Man).
Red Aces is the final foal of Cardiac, who died in October, 2022.
He’s the sixth Australian two-year-old winner of the season for Dundeel, who’ll stand for $88,000 (inc GST) at Arrowfield in his 11th stud season.