Lofty ambitions for Gothic Stakes winner
Emerging trainer Alex Rae secured his first stakes success when his talented colt Lofty Arch (Snitzel) stamped his class in the Gothic Stakes (Listed, 1200m) at Caulfield.
Lofty Arch followed last year’s winner Arkansaw Kid (Harry Angel) onto the Gothic Stakes honour roll when he held on from the fast-finishing filly Lovelycut (Ilovethiscity), who registered an all-important stakes placing for another young trainer in Reece Goodwin.
Victory marked a significant milestone in the burgeoning career of Rae, the Cranbourne-based horseman who had saddled up only 11 stakes runners prior to Saturday.
Rae, who took out his training licence at the tender age of 20, remained level-headed when pressed on the colt’s next steps in the immediate aftermath of the $175,000 race; but bookmakers reacted quickly by cutting Lofty Arch’s odds for the Coolmore Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) into $26 from an opening quote of $101.
“He’s shown us a lot since his juvenile days,” said Rae.
“He’s been thrown into the deep end today and he acquitted himself very well. The owners have been pretty aggressive in the way they’ve wanted to place him, and I’m fully on board with that. He’s a top quality colt, and he’s going to be an even better horse in the autumn.
“I put the blinkers on him the other day in the Danehill, just to try to pinch a half length. It probably didn’t work out, but hindsight is always 20-20. After taking them off today and with the tough run under his belt, I thought he’d be pretty hard to beat.
“I’m not sure what we’ll do with him next, we’ll just continue to put the horse first. Obviously there’s the Coolmore in a fortnight, but we don’t want to go there just to make up the numbers in a race like that. But he’s an exciting colt, so we’ll just monitor him for the next 48 hours and do what’s best by him.”
Remarkably, having plundered the $100,000 Inglis Xtra Bonus when he won on debut at Cranbourne, the speedy son of Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) has now banked $233,875 from just three career starts for his connections.
The ownership group, which includes Southside Racing’s chief executive Neil Bainbridge and other members of his family, was put together by Melbourne property developer Paul Lofitis who outlaid $200,000 for Lot 372 from the Twin Hills Stud draft at the 2023 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.
Lofitis first shot to prominence through the deeds of Lofty Strike (Snitzel), who recently joined Swettenham Stud’s stallion roster after winning two black type races – and more than $1 million in prize-money – during his racing career for Julius Sandhu.
There seems little doubt that Lofty Arch’s future also lies in the breeding barn, but for now Lofitis is determined to enjoy the ride and is daring to dream of a first Group 1 in his navy blue and white spade colours.
As for the Gothic Stakes runner-up Lovelycut, Goodwin is keen to plot a path towards the Thousand Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) at Caulfield in mid-November.
The filly’s day didn’t get off to the best of starts when she became fractious in the float on the journey to Caulfield, but after being passed fit to race she put in a sterling effort under Beau Mertens to go down by half-a-length.
Goodwin has earned a reputation for reversing the fortunes of tried horses, but the former jockey proved he also has an astute eye for a yearling having paid just $50,000 for Lot 460 at the 2023 Inglis Premier Sale.
“That was exactly what we wanted to see from her,” he said.
“We instructed Beau to ride her nice and quiet, and it was great to see her hit the line really strongly. She only had the one jumpout leading into her first-up run, so there’s plenty of improvement to come with her. If anything she’s probably surprised me with that performance, we came from last to finish second and were making up ground with every stride, so it was a super effort.
“The ultimate aim is the Thousand Guineas, we haven’t quite worked out how we get there but she’ll most likely be running at Flemington during Melbourne Cup week. If we wanted to aim high there’s the Vanity Stakes (1400m) at Group 2 level, or if we wanted to lower our sights a little there’s the Amanda Elliott (Listed, 1400m). Provided she is competitive and finds the line well again, we’ll definitely be heading to the Thousand Guineas after that.”