Home Affairs marches into history books with brave Lightning triumph
Ultra-talented performer Home Affairs (I Am Invincible) snapped a 17–year drought for three-year-old colts in yesterday’s Black Caviar Lightning Stakes (Gr 1, 1000m), with the Chris Waller-trained entire defying the odds stacked against him to etch his name into the history books with a brave victory in the Flemington Group 1.
The drama started the moment the gates opened, with Home Affairs’ stablemate, multiple Group 1 winner and yesterday’s $2.20 favourite, Nature Strip (Nicconi) missing the start, getting badly checked and finding himself at the back of the pack in the early stages. Taking full advantage of Nature Strip’s early misfortune, James McDonald – who had sided with Home Affairs over his star stablemate – placed the Coolmore-raced son of I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) prominently in the early part of the contest.
Entering the final 300 metres, Nature Strip had made back some of the deficit, appearing menacingly on the flanks of Home Affairs and looking well-placed to inject his usual electric turn of foot and seal a victory over his stablemate. But when he was challenged, Home Affairs battled on gallantly, finding another level under pressure to deny Nature Strip a second consecutive win in the race by a nose. Group 1 winner Eduardo (Host) finished another length and a half away in third.
Waller said it was a gamble bringing Home Affairs to Melbourne to tackle the best sprinters in Australia first-up, but was over the moon to see him produce such a high-class performance.
“He raced against the young horses and dominated last preparation and now he’s come back and beaten the best at weight-for-age,” Waller said. “So, it’s pretty exciting going forward.”
Waller said it would be up to the handicapper whether Home Affairs runs in the Newmarket Handicap (Gr 1, 1200m) at Flemington on March 12, while Nature Strip is expected to return to Sydney to further his campaign.
“They’ll be both going home for an ice tub and beach tomorrow and reassess on Monday,” Waller said.
“We might need a rematch. Whether it comes in the Newmarket, I don’t know, but he’ll (Nature Strip) get his chance to beat Home Affairs in the TJ Smith in Sydney.”
McDonald’s decision to partner Home Affairs rather than Nature Strip, who he steered to victory in The Everest (1200m) in October, was vindicated yesterday and he was effusive in his praise for the colt.
“He is just such a star colt,” the winning jockey said. “I knew that he would be in for the fight, even though the first half didn’t go to plan, but that is just how good he is. I’m glad I had a jump-out on him ten days ago. I got a nice feel of him.
“He didn’t do too much that day, but I knew that he was just ticking along beautifully.
“Trained by Chris, who would have had both horses peaking on the day and there was a hair in it. So Nature Strip is the world’s best sprinter at this stage and this fella is banging down the door.”
The weight-for-age Group 1 has not been a happy hunting ground for three-year-old colts and you have to go back to 2005, with Fastnet Rock (Danehill) – who was also raced by Coolmore – the last three-year-old entire to land the famous sprint. Meanwhile, Choisir (Danehill Dancer) landed the race as a three-year-old in 2003 and he also stood at Coolmore’s Jerry Plains property throughout his stud career.
Following Fastnet Rock’s neck success over Alinghi (Encosta De Lago) in 2005, 35 three-year-olds have tried and failed at weight-for-age level in the Lightning, including the likes of Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice), Starspangledbanner (Choisir) and Brazen Beau (I Am Invincible), while last year’s contest saw three-year-old fillies September Run (Exceed And Excel) and Swats That (Shamus Award) fill the placings.
In the years following his victory in the Group 1, Fastnet Rock has become a household name, siring high-class horses in both hemispheres and Coolmore’s racing manager Rob Archibald is hoping Home Affairs, with this recent victory, has laid a similar foundation for his stud career as his future barnmate and the late Coolmore stallion Choisir.
“He is such an exciting prospect for this market. He has got everything they want – he’s got speed, pedigree and looks and is an extremely valuable stallion prospect,” Archibald told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“Fastnet Rock and Choisir have both had very successful stallion careers having won this race and it bodes very well for Home Affairs, that’s for sure.
A winner of the Silver Slipper (Gr 2, 1100m) 12 months ago, Home Affairs’ first foray into weight-for-age was in last year’s Everest, beaten five lengths that day by Nature Strip – who had the services of McDonald in the saddle. However, the colt bounced back two weeks’ later when back against his own age group to win the Coolmore Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m), a victory that secured his spot on the prestigious Coolmore roster.
Archibald said the owners were aware of the huge task facing the colt yesterday and were hoping to see him produce a good run ahead of bigger targets this preparation, which include a trip to Royal Ascot in June.
“All we really wanted to see was that he had returned in good form and to see him pick up where he left off in the Coolmore,” he said. “He couldn’t have been any better today. A trip overseas is on the cards, obviously he has to get through his next runs here, but definitely a trip to Ascot is still on the table.
“It really is a huge reward for the group of people the Magnier family and Chris put together in this colt and he’s really achieved what they set out to achieve, I think it may have even exceeded what they set out to achieve. You want to have stallions and you want the best horses at stud, but this horse is now a two-time Group 1 winner and Group 1 winner at weight-for-age, beating the best sprinters arguably in the world.”
Archibald was quick to heap praise on Waller and McDonald, applauding them for the efforts with the three-year-old.
“The way Chris has handled him has been amazing, he and James have been masters at getting him to relax and it is all credit to those two. He is such an exciting prospect to have for the ownership group going forward,” he said.
“He is so mature. A lot of those fast horses get worked up in the prelims and he just wastes no energy at all and saves it for the race. For a young horse he is really professional in the way he executes his races and that coupled with his high-cruising speed and will to win make him such a wonderful and exciting colt.”
Home Affairs (3 c ex I Am Invincible – Miss Interiors by Flying Spur) is out of three-time winning Flying Spur (Danehill) mare Miss Interiors, who was purchased by Damon Gabbedy’s Belmont Bloodstock on behalf of the Cornish family’s Torryburn Stud for $625,000 from the Newgate Farm draft at the 2017 Inglis Chairman’s Breeding Prospects Sale. She was carrying Home Affairs’ Group 1-placed half-brother Aysar (Deep Field) in utero at the time.
Miss Interiors herself is a daughter of Ballet D’Amour (Stravinsky), making her a half-sister to dual Group 1 winner and now Newgate Stud-based first-season sire Russian Revolution (Snitzel) and Group 3 scorer Turbo Miss (Sebring).
The colt’s unraced Capitalist (Written Tycoon) half-brother – now named Wilbury – was purchased by James Harron Bloodstock for $1.05 million at last year’s Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale and he finished ninth on debut in the Maribyrnong Plate (Gr 3, 1000m) in November.
Home Affairs’ Dundeel (High Chaparral) half-brother will be offered by Torryburn Stud as Lot 291 at this year’s edition of the Easter sale. Last year Miss Interiors produced a filly by Dundeel and she was once again covered by I Am Invincible last October.
The colt is one of ten elite–level winners and 75 stakes winners for Yarraman Park-based sire I Am Invincible and he stood last season at a fee of $220,000 (inc GST).
Best Of Bordeaux produces vintage win in Silver Slipper
Best Of Bordeaux (Snitzel) proved his debut win in last month’s Canonbury Stakes (Gr 3, 1100m) was no flash in the pan, following up that success with a triumph in a high-class renewal of the Silver Slipper Stakes (Gr 2, 1100m) at Rosehill yesterday to further enhance his Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) credentials.
Trained by Kacy Fogden and ridden by Sam Clipperton, the colt scooted away in the straight and just found enough in the final strides to keep fast-finishing debutant Magic (Snitzel) at bay, eventually beating him by half a length. Cythera (I Am Invincible) was a further length and a quarter away in third.
The Group 2 has been a handy pointer to the Golden Slipper, with four horses capturing the double in the past decade, and Best Of Bordeaux is now third favourite for next month’s lucrative feature, firming from $15 into $11 following yesterday’s performance.
Meanwhile, the Team Hawkes-trained Magic – who was purchased for a sale-topping $2.5 million at last year’s Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale – has been introduced at $13 for the race, with the unbeaten Coolangatta (Written Tycoon) still heading the market at $4.
However, despite the high-class performance, Fogden is not getting ahead of herself.
“I’m trying to be realistic and not get above myself,” Fogden said. “It’s obviously pretty exciting but it’s just racing at the end of the day.
“He has obviously got quite a lot of ability and he has slightly defied the odds there.
“He is just very free-running, so although he was three-deep and out wide (early), the key there, and Sam knows that, is just to let him run along.”
Fogden didn’t originally plan to give Best Of Bordeaux another start before the $5 million race on March 19, but says she will reassess depending on how the horse pulls-up.
“I had in my head that we perhaps wouldn’t and we would back off and maybe trial if we needed to. He’s not an overly big horse, he is very clean-winded,” Fogden said.
“But tradition would probably tell us another run wouldn’t go astray. We will just see how he pulls-up and lets the horse tell us.”
Clipperton was upbeat following the colt’s performance and regards him as a genuine Slipper contender.
“He was getting a bit tired late, which he was entitled to, but that just proves his Canonbury win was no fluke and he felt even better today,” Clipperton said.
“He’s a live Slipper chance now.”
Best Of Bordeaux (2 c Snitzel – Chateau Cheval by High Chaparral), a $425,000 purchase by Fogden from the draft of her breeders, Baramul Stud, at last year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, is the second foal out of Chateau Cheval (High Chaparral), a half-sister to Group 1 winner and stallion Casino Prince (Flying Spur), Group 3 scorer Tagus (Encosta De Lago) and Listed-winning pair Lord Of The Land (Timber Country) and Metallurgical (Redoute’s Choice).
Chateau Cheval has missed the last two years and was served by Written Tycoon (Iglesia) in September.
Earlier in the afternoon at Flemington, the Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr-trained I’mlovin’ya (Capitalist) entered Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) calculations when she landed yesterday’s Talindert Stakes (Listed, 1100m).
Having finished sixth on debut in the Blue Diamond Preview (F) (Gr 3, 1000m) last month, the daughter of Capitalist (Written Tycoon) made amends for that performance when she posted an impressive three–quarters of a length win over the $5.50 favourite Waltz On By (I Am Invincible), with Lambda (Snitzel) a further length and a half away in third.
Co-trainers Price and Kent Jnr will now assess the filly before the acceptance deadline on Tuesday for next Saturday’s Caulfield Group 1.
“That was great,” Price said. “We raced the mother (Loveyamadly), who still holds the 1100-metre track record, so that family has bloomed and she becomes a nice stakes winner by Capitalist.
“She’s a baby still but the question will be asked whether to accept next week for the Blue Diamond, but I don’t know that one (answer) yet.
“The debut run was, ‘miss the start, had no joy and get off their backs and run home late’, so I tried to nurse her along.
“I do think that she’s a horse that will keep improving maturity-wise.”
Bred by United Syndications, I’mlovin’ya (2 f Capitalist – Loveyamadly by Bel Esprit) is out of Listed winner Loveyamadly (Bel Esprit) and is therefore a half-sister to 2020 McNeil Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) scorer Immortal Love (Snitzel) as well as two other winners.
Loveyamadly herself is a daughter of high-class producer Beauty World (Danehill Dancer) and she is also the dam of Group 3-winning trio Lite’n In My Veins (Henrythenavigator), Written Beauty (Written Tycoon) and Hi World (High Chaparral) as well as Ducimus (Snitzel), who landed the 2017 edition of the Talindert.
A Rubick (Encosta De Lago) half-brother to I’mlovin’ya was bought by Ripley Thoroughbreds for $10,000 at the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale earlier this month. Last year, Loveyamadly produced a filly by Coolmore Stud’s So You Think (High Chaparral) and she was covered by his barnamate King’s Legacy (Redoute’s Choice) last October.
In winning the Listed contest, I’mlovin’ya provided her Newgate Farm-based sire Capitalist with his seventh individual stakes winner and second out of a daughter of Bel Esprit (Royal Academy), with fellow Listed winner Tycoon Humma also bred on this cross.