Ever-modest Lees enjoying rich vein of form as he takes aim at a host of big races
Only James Cummings (by one) and Chris Waller (by a few more) bettered his New South Wales tally of 178 winners last season.
He trained four Group 1 winners in that racing year and this season sits second on the New South Wales trainers’ premiership. He has also snuck north to train five city winners in Brisbane which he sees as an integral part of his stable’s continued growth.
An ability to recognise a good horse when he sees one and the ability to properly manage them may well be a legacy of his late father Max who, of course, prepared such notables as Luskin Star, Snippets, Chloropyhll, Ruffles, Flitter and Coronation Day. But that’s just part of the story and he’s been doing things on his own for quite some time now.
Lees, in typically self effacing manner, says the stable’s success has “just developed over time” rather than been the result of some concerted strategy to take on the “big boys”.
Like Darren Weir, he’s proven that you don’t have to be capital city based to compete in the metropolitan arena. He cites the spaciousness of his Newcastle base in the aptly named Broadmeadow, the development of Ellalong Farm in the lower Hunter Valley and a wide array of loyal owners as assets to his operation.
“We’re fortunate here (in Broadmeadow) to have plenty of room and plenty of stabling. It’s a good environment for the horses and the development of the Ellalong farm gives us an edge in managing horses who are spelling, in pre-training or simply freshening up one who’s in full work,” Lees said.
“Our owner base is also important. I’d really describe it as a big mix from locals to studs to major syndicators like Australian Bloodstock and Prime Thoroughbreds. Most have been long-standing clients and I feel like we’ve been very well supported over the years.”
That support has grown to include multiple offerings from – among others – key players Gooree Stud, Orbis Bloodstock, China Horse Club and Alan Bell, who has one of the stable’s current flag-bearers and Golden Rose aspirant Graff.
Graff, an intact son of Star Witness, was beaten for the first time in last Saturday’s Run to the Rose when second to Lean Mean Machine but thwarted by gate 13 on a track which was, until later in the day, favouring horses inside.
“You couldn’t have been more pleased with a horse in defeat than I was with him last weekend. There’s no reason why we’d change tack with him,” Lees said.
Lees is likely to have established performers Prized Icon and Sense Of Occasion contest the hometown Group 3 Cameron Handicap this Friday while the unbeaten filly Sweet Melody heads to Flemington to most likely contest the Listed Cap D’Antibes Stakes and The Everest “possible” Le Romain will take on Winx in the Group 1 Colgate Optic White Stakes (you know, the George Main) at Randwick.
“We’ll run Le Romain against the mare (Winx) and take our medicine. He’s come up very well and it’s the logical step with him now,” he said. Le Romain did run second to Winx in the 2017 George Ryder Stakes, albeit beaten 7.3 lengths.
Le Romain’s first-up win under 61 kilograms at The Everest course and distance, and his head second to highly fancied Everest runner Trapeze Artist in course record time in April’s All Aged Stakes, would make him anything but a fanciful contender for the $13 million race.
“Getting a slot is not foremost in our minds with him. If he’s wanted, running at a mile this week wouldn’t be an issue as we’d have a month to freshen him up. It’s funny in a way that you’d think by any criteria or any measure he’d make the cut for any other race in the country,” Lees said.
Gooree’s Smart Melody heads to Melbourne in company with the Orbis Bloodstock and Dorrington Farm owned Reginae, a winner of two of her three starts, who’s pencilled in to contest the Listed Jim Moloney Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield on Saturday week.
“She’s above average,” Lees said of Reginae, “and on a Thousand Guineas path but obviously we’ll see how she copes next week. Sweet Melody’s unbeaten. They’ve all been on soft ground and I’m not sure about the depth of the first two races she won in June.
“But she’s come back in very good order and couldn’t have been more impressive when she returned to beat older horses at Wyong and that’s definitely not an easy thing for a three-year-old filly to do in the first month of the season,” he said.
Miss Fabulass, another of Lees’ promising fillies co-raced by another prominent client in Strawberry Hill Stud, stays in Sydney to contest Saturday’s Group 2 Tea Rose Stakes (1400m).
Lees is looking for a change of luck with Prized Icon in the Cameron Handicap (fields and barriers declared today). “He’s drawn wide and run well both runs this time in. He looks well placed in Friday’s race especially if he just finds some luck in running for a change.
“Sense Of Occasion returns after a slight tendon issue. We just had to stop with him in the autumn. He’s had a long time off and will probably take a run or two but looks well and we’re hopeful he’ll still be performing when he gets his preferred soft ground,” Lees said.
Lees also has nominations for Saturday’s Doomben meeting in Queensland where he has access to Mel Eggleston’s private training property on the Gold Coast. “We have a good relationship there with Mel. We can send horses up and back. From our Newcastle base, it’s a manageable eight or nine hours float trip to the Gold Coast.
“We plan to do this more often. They’re racing for good money there on Saturday’s, $70,000, and generally of course the races are not as strong as in Sydney. It’s a service to owners to attempt to capture some decent prize money,” he said.