‘Everyone keeps underestimating him’
Golden Eagle the target for Encap after gelding downs his more fancied rivals in Theo Marks Stakes
Gary Portelli is confident the often underestimated Encap (Capitalist) is in “a really good spot” to keep silencing his doubters en route to his spring grand final in the $10m Golden Eagle (1500m) at Rosehill.
Portelli’s $200,000 yearling purchase, from the Newhaven Park draft at Inglis Easter 2022, scored a scintillating 0.2 length win in Saturday’s Theo Marks Stakes (Gr 2, 1300m) to show he was back to the form which earned him the Ming Dynasty Quality (Gr 3, 1400m) at the same meeting a year earlier.
Those two races remain the gelding’s only two victories from 14 starts – perhaps part of the reason he’s flown under the radar amongst debate about the cream of the nation’s four-year-olds.
Despite Saturday’s swooping win over a well supported entire by fellow son of a Newgate Farm stallion, the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained favourite Bases Loaded (Deep Field), bookmakers remained largely unmoved apropos the Golden Eagle.
Encap on Sunday ranked only ninth in betting at $18 for the lucrative set-weights four-year-old contest on November 2, behind several more touted rivals. They include Japanese mare Ascoli Piceno (Daiwa Major), the $4 favourite, Joliestar (Zoustar) at $7, Tom Kitten (Harry Angel) at $11, and Celestial Legend (Dundeel), who’s at $4.50 despite a disappointing first-up eighth in the Theo Marks.
Despite the market assessment, Portelli feels substantial improvement is still to come after Saturday’s second-up run from Encap, who’ll likely have his next start in the $1.5m Alan Brown Stakes (1400m) at Rosehill on October 12.
“I think he’s still got a long way to go in terms of fitness,” the Warwick Farm-based trainer told ANZ Bloodstock News. “He still pulled up big over the loins after the race and he had a substantial blow. So I reckon he was still only about 75 or 80 per cent on Saturday, so I think the run will bring us pretty close to where we need to be.”
While conceding he’s only won two races, Portelli feels the racing community’s regard for Encap would be vastly different had he enjoyed more luck in his major autumn assignment, when fifth in the Randwick Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m), behind Celestial Legend.
Easing back from gate ten under Jason Collett, Encap was second-last of the 11 runners approaching the turn, and was then blocked for clear running for the entirety of the straight, coming in untouched 1.1 lengths off the winner.
“Everyone keeps underestimating him,” Portelli said. “He was at $17 for the Theo Marks on Thursday. He did end up starting $7 on the day, so the punters found him. Maybe it was because he was well handicapped on 54 kilos, drawn well, the track was playing for horses in a sweet spot, and there was always going to be pace on for him to come late.
“But he is that type of horse who doesn’t glow. They don’t look for him; they don’t talk about him.
“I still believe he should’ve won the Randwick Guineas. If he got across heels and got clear, he’d have opened up and won the race, and everyone would be talking about him now in a different way.
“He’d have probably been favourite for the Theo Marks if he’d won the Guineas, but he’s a horse they don’t want to talk about until perhaps on raceday.”
Encap had also failed to impress many onlookers, including his trainer somewhat, with his first-up seventh in Joliestar’s Show County Quality (Group 3, 1200m), albeit over a slightly unsuitably short distance.
“I was a little concerned, I’ve got to say,” Portelli said. “We make excuses on raceday sometimes when horses don’t fire. My excuse on the day was he went back to the inside, was on the worst going, and that meant he couldn’t find the line.
“Even though you make excuses and you hope it’s true, you don’t know until you race again.
“But after that, I tried replicating what had worked before in his trackwork. I find if I work him solidly seven days out from his race, with no more fast work after that, when he races again that’s when he produces his best runs.
“So he had a good, searching gallop last Saturday over 1000 metres, then we kept him pretty fresh going into the race.
“As he gets older, it’s taking a little longer to reach his peak. He’s still not right in his skin now – his coat’s still woolly. But I was thinking that he’s a 1500 or 1600–metre horse, but he can run 1300 metres out easily, so I’ve got to keep him fresh, and have him a bit soft, to have that explosiveness at 1300.
“Comparing him to other horses in the yard, I thought he didn’t look screwed down, but I knew he was fit enough to run out 1300 metres solidly. So it all worked out beautifully.”
It’s easy to see why the yearling Encap appealed to Portelli – the two-time Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) winner with She Will Reign (Manhattan Rain) and Fireburn (Rebel Dane). Not only is he by one Slipper winner in Capitalist, his Group 3 and dual Listed winning dam Enquare (Stratum) is by another one.
“He was a nice shaped horse. He wasn’t overly big, and I knew he wouldn’t grow that big. But he was very powerful,” Portelli said.
“He didn’t have the greatest of walks, but some sprinters are like that, a bit tight when they walk, but he had a good page. He was by a Slipper winner, out of a mare by a Slipper winner, and there were three or four Slipper–winning stallions on his page. It was a great, old fashioned Australian pedigree.
“And as for Capitalist, he gets a lot of horses to the track. As an owner, that’s ticking the first box you need ticked. And they’re just good, honest horses with a great temperament. I’ve had a few now, and they’re just lovely horses to deal with.”
Portelli believes Encap is most likely best suited at around 1600 metres, but has a suspicion the gelding could prove this assessment wrong, too, opening up possibilities for longer races in future.
“At this point, I’m thinking a mile, but I’m dirty I didn’t start him in the Spring Champion Stakes last year,” he said. “The way he hit the line over the mile in the Randwick Guineas, you’d think he should get 2000 metres.”
Collett’s ride on Encap in the Theo Marks, contrasting that in the Randwick Guineas, also delighted the chestnut’s trainer.
The 33-year-old rider has been in career-best form this season with 21 wins at 18.6 per cent. Four of them have been in black–type races, including the Toy Show Quality (Gr 3, 1100m) victory of the Portelli-trained Kimochi (Brave Smash).
“He’s riding with a confidence we’ve never seen from him before,” Portelli said. “He used to maybe let them get back and try to make ground, but now he’s putting them into the race. When jockeys are confident, they’ll make moves, put them into the race, not just follow horses and hope God jumps in and helps them out.
“It’s a great combination – a horse in good order and a jockey who can let the horse do what he can do.
“It’s like James McDonald. Yes, he gets on the best horses, but he also makes sure they’re in the best position to win. I reckon Jason is your next go-to after J Mac now.”
Les Bridge said he was satisfied with Celestial Legend’s first-up run, after the dual 1600-metre Group 1 winner made little ground from tenth in being beaten 2.5 lengths under topweight in the quality handicap conditions of 59 kilograms, 2.5 kilograms more than he’d carried in any of his previous eight starts.
“His run was OK. The 1300 metres was just a bit short for him is all,” the trainer said of the grey stallion, who is being set for the Golden Eagle as his main spring target.
“He’s pulled up well. He’s all good.”
Meanwhile, Waterhouse said she wasn’t overly disappointed with the run of $50 million colt Storm Boy (Justify) in being beaten 0.8 lengths in third place in the Run To The Rose (Gr 2, 1200m) as $1.90 favourite.
Second-last out of the gates, Storm Boy was hustled to the lead by Adam Hyeronimus, but the early work told as he faded at the finish.
“He just had to do a fair bit of work in the run,” the trainer told ANZ Bloodstock News, adding Storm Boy had “pulled up well”.
Waterhouse reiterated Storm Boy was still on target for the Golden Rose (Gr 1, 1400m) on September 28, with Hyeronimus booked for the ride, and that the 1400 metres would be “no worries at all” for the colt.