Glimpse of first season sires’ stock on show in Sydney and Melbourne
Juveniles to step out in barrier trials and jump outs as build up to October races continues
They don’t pay you for winning barrier trials, but a lot can hinge on the early season results for the heavily invested studmasters who have two-year-olds by their unproven young stallions hitting the track as the latest breeding year reaches its peak.
In Sydney this morning, two juvenile barrier trials will be conducted at Randwick, a precursor to the official two-year-old heats scheduled for the Kensington track in 13 days’ time, and the progeny of a number of first season sires such as Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt), Shalaa (Invincible Spirit), Maurice (Screen Hero), and Divine Prophet (Choisir) will step out in public for the first time.
Winning Rupert (Written Tycoon) and Flying Artie (Artie Schiller) are also represented.
In Melbourne on Thursday, a number of juveniles by first season sires, including Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Capitalist (Written Tycoon), Woodside Park’s shuttler Cable Bay (Invincible Spirit) and Eureka Stud’s Defcon (Choisir) will be represented in the jump outs scheduled at Sandown.
Arrowfield’s Paul Messara, who plays on both sides of the fence as a studmaster and trainer, will be represented by a Shalaa colt he prepares Silver City who is in heat 11 over 740 metres.
“The Shalaa I obviously train, so I know a little bit about him. He’s pretty straightforward but I’m not sure he’ll show his best tomorrow,” Messara said yesterday.
“I think he’ll improve a lot for the outing because he’s a very relaxed horse, so he hasn’t really switched on yet but hopefully that will be activated tomorrow.”
Messara’s prediction that Shalaa could challenge for champion two-year-old sire by the end of the season may prove accurate with four two-year-olds by the sire also slated to jump out at Sandown, including an unnamed Ciaron Maher and David Eustace-trained half-sister to David Payne’s VRC Oaks (Gr 1, 2500m) bound Montefilia (Kermadec) with stablemate Seasmit by the sire entered for heat seven.
Fellow Caulfield trainer John Moloney will unveil Shalaa filly Shalam and John Sadler will let Cheerful Legend off the leash in heat six.
“We’ve been getting very good feedback and we’d expect them to be early, good and two-year-olds given he was the champion two-year-old in Europe and won a couple of high-class Group 1s at two,” he said.
“Shalaa has crossed beautifully with our stock out here in Australia, our local breeds with a bit of precocity about them, and with his speed over the top I can imagine plenty of them being around.
“I know Kris Lees, who I spoke to the other day, he told me his best two-year-old was a Shalaa and that was encouraging, so around the traps once again there’s plenty of talk which is encouraging.”
Fellow Arrowfield shuttler Maurice, dubbed The Beast from the East, has Maurice’s Medad trained by Bjorn Baker in heat 11 at Randwick, while filly, I Love Lucy (Lee Curtis), is accepted for heat ten.
“We didn’t dream that he would have horses at the trials this early. We thought he’d be a post-Christmas type of a stallion, just given his profile and the types of horses that he’s thrown but obviously they’re showing a lot of ability and speed,” Messara said.
“I know Trent Busuttin has had a few Maurices who have had unofficial trials down at Cranbourne and he had a couple who cleared out and won trials by a big space, so I know he is very keen on them.
“The talk around town is very positive.”
Eureka Stud’s Black Opal Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) winner Defcon (Choisir) will also be represented at the Sandown jump outs with the Maher and Eustace-trained Defcon One, an $85,000 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale graduate, entered in heat eight.
A colt by Woodside Park Stud shuttler Cable Bay (Invincible Spirit) named Telegraph, who was a $160,000 Magic Millions purchase by co-trainer Mick Price and agent Dermot Farrington, is in heat eight.
Woodside Park Stud chief executive James Price said two-year-olds who were capable of trialling and racing at this time of year were indicative of mature and professional horses.
“I think it’s all part of when these buyers go to the yearling sales, it’s not all just about the pedigree and physique, it’s the horse’s temperament and if they can cope with a yearling sale it generally translates to coping with stable life which is so important, particularly for these early two-year-old trials,” Price said.
“Even to get to this point with trials and a race, you have got to have a pretty mature physical and probably even more important is a pretty mature mind, so it’s very important, especially when we’re only in early September.”
The flow-on effect from an eye-catching trialler for studmasters standing the traditionally tricky fourth-season stallions can also help in attracting breeders this year.
“You only need one good trial performer and word starts to get around,” Price said.
“Trainers start to talk to each other and talk to their owners. It’s amazing how the phone rings, so we are a fairly fashion-driven industry, so if you’ve got the fashion and if that’s a two-year-old trial winner or race winner at this time of year it will most certainly help bookings.”
Edward Cummings will start Three Wise Men, a son of Divine Prophet (Choisir), in heat 11 at Randwick today and Aquis Farm’s chief executive Tony “Tubba” Williams believes the signs are positive for the Caulfield Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) winner.
There is a chance, Williams says, that more Divine Prophets could be exposed in the coming weeks after hearing encouraging reports from trainers such as Will Clarken in Adelaide, Warrnambool-based Dan Bowman and Stuart Kendrick in Queensland.
“Two-year-old racing has changed dramatically in Australia from when I first started 45 years ago,” Williams said.
“There are not as many early races as there used to be and there’s not as many young horses being pushed to get there early. We have evolved into getting closer to Christmas when the two-year-old races really crank up.
“Obviously, Divine Prophet is a horse I can see having a lot more coming through at the end of the year in November and December, but it is good to see he has one in this early trial and there are others out there who will trial early, so that’s all promising.”
Progeny of Newgate stallions step out
Newgate Farm has made its mark – and quickly – in the stallion ranks by acquiring the likes of 2016 Slipper winner Capitalist, Blue Diamond (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Extreme Choice, Coolmore winner Flying Artie and the former Bjorn Baker-trained sprinter Winning Rupert to go to stud in 2017.
Extreme Choice, who also won the 2016 A J Moir Stakes (Gr 1, 1000m), sired a trial winner in New Zealand last week and has Chameleon Choice, a Kingstar Farm-bred colt trained by Matthew Smith, and the Sledmere Stud-sold, Lee Curtis-trained filly Avaricious in trials in Sydney today.
The Lloyd Kennewell-trained Abseiler will also compete in heat seven at Sandown later in the week.
“Extreme Choice has got a very small crop of 40-odd, so to have a trial winner already and two trialling on Tuesday is very encouraging,” Newgate Farm principal Henry Field said.
“Winning Rupert has got a sharp colt called Keith who Bjorn Baker is trialling and we’ve got a horse called Schwarzenegger by Flying Artie with Ciaron Maher who we couldn’t sell as a yearling who is trialling on Tuesday as well.
“It’s great when young stallions have that quantity of triallers at the first trials, it is only a small part of the equation but it is definitely a great indication that they are straight-forward and sound racehorses and are able to get there early.”
But Field, regardless of the trial results, will not be jumping to conclusions.
“At the end of the day, the winning post is everything, but it is such an exciting time for all the studmasters when these stallions have their first runners and first triallers,” he said.
“It’s an exciting time and it’s a little bit like waiting for Christmas morning to see what’s inside the box.”
Winning Rupert also has two juveniles jumping out at Sandown, the Mick Price and Mick Kent Jr-trained colt Media Empire, and an unnamed filly trained by Maher and Eustace out of Funlove (Shovhog).
The Maher and Eustace team also have an unnamed Capitalist filly out of Miss Tomb Raider (Snitzel) down to jump out, while Kennewell has a colt by the stallion out of Listed winner Golconda (Snitzel) having a hit out. The Sadler-trained Capital Legend (Capitalist) will also be tested on Thursday.
Flying Artie also has two colts jumping out, with an unnamed son of Canary (Hard Spun) (Maher-Eustace) and the Kennewell-trained half-brother to dual Group 2 winner Pure Elation (I Am Invincible) entered for heats.