Holmes A Court lays down Slipper gauntlet
Holmes A Court will be given the chance to emulate his Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m)-winning sire Capitalist (Written Tycoon) in the Rosehill juvenile feature later this month after he gained a spot in the field with his victory in yesterday’s Black Opal Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) at Canberra.
The colt’s triumph underscored a brilliant stakes double in the capital for his trainers Peter and Paul Snowden, with the stable’s three-year-old gelding Xidaki’s(Zoustar) providing a precursor by winning the Canberra Guineas (Listed 1400m) 40 minutes earlier.
Making his third appearance, Holmes A Court kicked off his career in the Blue Diamond Preview (C&G) (Listed, 1000m) in January, where he was beaten three-quarters of a length by his stablemate High Octane (Deep Field). He followed up that performance by running third to another stable Slipper contender – Bodyguard (I Am Invincible) – in the Blue Diamond Prelude (C&G) (Gr 3, 1100m) last month.
Despite his maiden status, Paul Snowden said he did expect a bold showing from the colt yesterday, confidence which was buoyed further when he was drawn in barrier three.
“His form suggested he would run quite well today. We were afforded a good draw and the way the day was mapping played into our favour for a gun run,” said Snowden.
Given the perfect stalking ride by Tommy Berry, Holmes A Court overpowered Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott’s hot-favourite, Fully Lit (Hellbent), eventually beating that rival by one and a half lengths. Amazing Eagle – who, like the winner, is also by Capitalist – finished a further neck away in third.
“He put some serious pressure on the favourite [Fully Lit] early. Full credit to him, he battled out really early and I think he is a nice horse going forward,” Snowden said.
Berry was equally impressed with the colt’s performance.
“He has a great relaxed attitude and he executes himself very well in the run. He shows very good natural speed and I had to use him a little bit after that, but then he came back straight to me,” he said. “Gai’s horse [Fully Lit] got softened up a little bit, but I couldn’t go any slower going to the corner – he was a winner from a long way out.
Holmes A Court is the fifth winner of the feature for Peter Snowden, who trained the 2012 winner Epaulette (Commands) when head trainer at Godolphin, then in partnership with his son, Defcon (Choisir) (2016), Barbaric (I Am Invincible) (2020) and Kalashnikov (Capitalist) (2021).
However, after a few near misses, it was the first triumph in the race for Berry, who said the victory ‘meant a lot to him’.
“This is my second home, my wife is from here and I spent just as much time here growing up as I did at home,” said Berry. “I have ridden a few placings in it [the Black Opal] but never quite been able to crack it, so it’s great. To do it for the Snowdens and [Newgate’s] Henry [Field], who have been great supporters of mine, means a lot. I’m over the moon.”
Holmes A Court was bought for $850,000 by China Horse Club, Newgate, Go Bloodstock and Trilogy from Field’s operation’s draft at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale last year.
The juvenile is out of winning mare Menagerie (Zoustar), herself a half-sister to Group 1 winner Il Quello Veloce (Captain Rio) and stakes winner Donna Cattiva (Captain Rio). After missing in 2022 and 2023, Menagerie was once again covered by Capitalist last September.
Yesterday’s victory provided the Newgate Farm resident with his 19th individual stakes winner and also handed Zoustar (Northern Meteor) his first stakes winner as a broodmare sire.
In the previous event on the card, Xidaki, who was ridden by Kerrin McEvoy, followed up his recent maiden win by beating Port Lockroy (Better Than Ready) by a head, with Thunderlips (Zoustar) finishing another quarter of a length further back in third.
“He’s a nice horse and will relish going a little further as we think he’s looking for a mile,” said Paul Snowden. “There are bigger wins in store.”
Xidaki is the best of four winners from four foals to race out of the dual-winning mare Athanea (General Nediym). The mare has a yearling by Brutal (O’Reilly), named Homeic, a filly foal by Trapeze Artist (Snitzel) and was covered by Portland Sky (Deep Field) last October.