McDonald gets feel for Snitzel colt in late-season Randwick barrier trial
The new owners of talented rising three-year-old Best Of Bordeaux (Snitzel), potentially the best colt of his generation, got to see a glimpse of their high-profile purchase, with a low-key barrier trial in Sydney yesterday.
With James McDonald in the saddle for the first time, and wearing Coolmore’s synonymous blue silks, noted on-pacer Best Of Bordeaux settled off the pace in a three-wide position in the 1080-metre Randwick Polytrack barrier trial yesterday.
He ran on without being asked for an effort from McDonald to finish fourth, one and a quarter lengths behind the John Sargent-trained stakes-performed juvenile filly Miss Faberge (Russian Revolution), Best Of Bordeaux’s first public appearance since his Sydney autumn campaign.
Coolmore came knocking after the Kacy Fogden-trained colt – a winner of the Canonbury Stakes (Gr 3, 1100m) and Silver Slipper Stakes (Gr 2, 1100m) – defeated all but star filly Fireburn (Rebel Dane) in the Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) in March, enough to convince the international outfit that the horse could be good enough to one day join its illustrious stallion roster.
Coolmore Australia’s recently appointed racing manager Charlie Spicer-Jenkins said that the post-trial feedback about Best Of Bordeaux from McDonald, who also rode the stud’s recently retired dual Group 1-winning sprinter Home Affairs (I Am Invincible) in seven of his ten starts, had been positive.
“The plan today was to jump him out nice and quietly, settle him into a nice early rhythm and he did that nicely and James said he was very responsive,” Spicer-Jenkins told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“He’s got a lovely athletic action and I would say he’ll be quite versatile on a range of different track conditions just looking at him. He is also looking really healthy. His coat’s come on nicely, he’s looking very fit, so Kacy’s doing everything right.
“The plan was really to just let James have a feel for him and get James’ opinion of him and familiarise himself with the horse.”
The Rosebud (Listed, 1100m) on August 13 at Rosehill, the scene of his Canonbury and Silver Slipper successes, had been suggested as a possible starting point for Best Of Bordeaux’s three-year-old campaign, but Spicer-Jenkins said he was yet to have the colt’s programme confirmed by Fogden.
“The way he’s looking, being so fit, he might not need any more trials. He had a very good two-year-old campaign, which attracted a new group of owners, and I would be encouraged that he’s on track for the spring.
“James said that he felt very nice and he felt like he was ready to go whenever. He was waiting for the signal (to go faster).”
After inspecting Best Of Bordeaux at Newington Farm in the Gold Coast hinterland, in the week after his Slipper performance, Coolmore rallied clients and fellow breeders Graham and Linda Huddy of Peachester Lodge, Torryburn Stud, Dr Denis and Claire O’Brien, Ricky Surace’s B2B Thoroughbreds, Julia Ritchie’s Bangaloe Stud and Sir Owen Glenn’s Go Bloodstock to join them in buying into the Gold Coast-based, Fogden-trained two-year-old.
Geoff Wilson’s GW Holdings, Bruce Neill’s Cressfield, Widden Stud and Qatar Bloodstock also purchased a stake in the son of Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice), as did Bowness Stud’s John North.
Breeder Gerry Harvey retained his interest in the colt, while the Fung Family Racing syndicate and Fogden’s group downsized their shares to bring in the Coolmore-led group into Best Of Bordeaux, who this spring could contest the Golden Rose Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) and the Coolmore Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m), the latter won by Home Affairs in 2021.
North revealed yesterday that he had taken an interest in Best Of Bordeaux and Newhaven Park’s two-time Group 1 winner Mo’unga (Savabeel), who is slated to retire to the Kellys’ stud in 2023.
“He was the leading two-year-old colt this season, running second to Fireburn in the Slipper, so he’s gone close to being the champion two-year-old,” southern NSW-based breeder North said.
“He’s got a nice pedigree and the opportunity came up to invest in him, so I thought, ‘oh well, I’ll take a stake and see how it goes’.
“I have done a little bit of it in the past with Newgate (buying into colts) but I haven’t really kicked a goal with it (yet).
“We’ve got the opportunity to be involved in the racing group of Best Of Bordeaux and who knows where it’ll go. We might finish up at Royal Ascot next year, if he does what Home Affairs did [as a three-year-old].”
Mo’unga, who is trained by Annabel Neasham at Warwick Farm, was scratched from yesterday’s Randwick barrier trial session after the heats were transferred from the turf to the Polytrack surface due to the wet weather. He is accepted for a 900-metre barrier trial on the turf at Rosehill on Friday.
Ultra Racing’s Sean Buckley also bought a significant share in Mo’unga when he was put up to tender by Tony Fung Investments, earlier this year.
North believes Mo’unga, who is being readied to defend his Winx Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) crown upon resumption next month, has the right credentials to become a successful Australian stallion.
“I think there’s a growing market for the good milers, that’s where the big money is in racing at the moment, apart from the Everest and the Slipper, of course, but there’s only one each of those,” he said.
“The focus that has been on all the sprint horses and early goers over recent times and we haven’t been all that competitive in our main classic races, so I think there’s a good market for those sort of horses who can win an Epsom, a Doncaster, a Guineas, those sorts of races,” he said.
“Mo’unga is the best son of Savabeel, and Savabeel’s getting on in age now and I think this bloke could be the heir apparent if he’s given the right opportunities here in Australia.
“The Kellys are great marketers and great promoters and they’ll do a great job with him.”