Australian Bloodstock moves on ‘fast European stayer’ Rodrigo Diaz
Lovell confident David Simcock-trained stayer will pass stringent veterinary tests with Melbourne Cup the target
Jamie Lovett is confident that European stayer Rodrigo Diaz (Golden Horn) will pass Racing Victoria’s stringent veterinary checks to allow the lightly raced gelding to travel Australia and compete in this year’s Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m).
The Australian Bloodstock director yesterday confirmed he and business partner Luke Murrell had purchased a 50 per cent stake in the David Simcock-trained Rodrigo Diaz, a closing second in the Bahrain Turf Series Handicap (2m, 0.5f) at Newbury on July 17.
“He has still got a few boxes to tick. He hasn’t met the qualifying conditions as yet but certainly we have got a couple of races in the UK in the next few weeks where we are hoping to tick that box,” Lovett told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“Regardless, he will come here for the spring and there’s plenty of races here where we can meet the qualifying conditions and hopefully get him in on the limit weight, that would be ideal.”
Simcock, who has won four races from ten starts with the four-year-old (five-year-old by southern hemisphere time), will attempt to qualify Rodrigo Diaz for the Melbourne Cup either in the Geoffrey Freer Stakes (Gr 3, 1m 5f) at Newbury on Saturday or the Chester Stakes (Listed, 1m 6f 87y) on August 21 before the horse enters quarantine.
“As they call them in Europe, he is a fast stayer. He’s not a dour grinder. Those horses are all well and good only if they get a crazy speed,” he said.
“Jamie (Spencer) rides him cold a lot of the time but he is a horse who can run a sectional which would have him competitive in the (Australian) autumn as well as the spring.
“Our intention is to go back (to the northern hemisphere) with him but if he ever ended up here in Australia full time, he would be competitive in Tancreds and those mile and a half races because he’s quite a fast horse.”
Australian Bloodstock reached a deal with Rodrigo Diaz’s owner Quantum Leap Racing after the horse underwent a veterinary examination but he is yet to have the scintigraphy test which Racing Victoria has mandated for international horses entered for the Melbourne Cup.
“He has done 80 per cent of the vetting and we are more than comfortable to head that way (to Australia),” he said.
“My view on that is, if you have got a sound horse you proceed as planned. We have taken 65 streams on X-ray, we have vetted him as thoroughly as you possibly can and he’s certainly got no existing injuries.
“That holds no fears. I think he will be fine but obviously the way the rules are, he has got to have the scintigraphy done seven days prior to going into quarantine.
“From what I have seen with this horse, if they find a reason to fail him, then it will be an empty aircraft because our vet made the comment, and he is relatively lightly raced, that he has a very clean set of legs and all the things you want to see.”
If, as expected, he leaves Australia after the Melbourne Cup, the Turf Stayers Handicap (3000m) in Saudi Arabia or the Dubai Gold Cup (Gr 2, 3200m) on World Cup night are on the table for the gelding before returning to Simcock’s Newmarket stable in the UK.
“Two milers on the grass, they are a bit thin, so there could be an opportunity to go via Saudi Arabia or Dubai for the two-mile turf races. There’s a fair bit of money there and in US dollars, so we would be pretty keen to do that,” Lovett said.
“We’d give him a fairly light season where he would run at Royal Ascot in the perfect world and then come back for next year’s cup.
“He’s one of those two milers where they might only have five or six starts over a year, but running for good money in all of them.”
Quantum Leap Racing’s Eamonn O’Connor, in a statement, said he was delighted to have joined forces with Australian Bloodstock to race Rodrigo Diaz.
“Jamie Lovett and Luke Murrell clearly share our enthusiasm for the horse and having considerable experience in travelling European horses to Australia, including Protectionist to win the Cup in 2014, his team’s experience will be invaluable,” O’Connor said.
“This is especially so this year where many Europeans have decided that the hurdles in getting to the Cup are insurmountable.”
The acquisition of Rogrido Diaz may not be the last of Australian Bloodstock’s European purchases this year.
“We are hoping to nail another overnight. There are a couple there that we are keen on. It is just a matter of whether we can work out the vetting in the time frame (required),” Lovett said.
“Certainly, there’s a few there and there’s a few more that will come out, but they’re not for the feature races.”
Despite the new Racing Victoria protocols regarding international horses, implemented in the wake of a spate of fatalities in the Melbourne Cup, competition remains strong from buyers Down Under attempting to purchase talent.
Lovett said: “None of them look cheap, but I think like everywhere, albeit we are in a pandemic, the market is still very strong over there for the right horse.
“When you are chasing the right horse, everyone is on the same one.”