Million-dollar Godfather dominant in Phelan Ready
The juvenile scene took further shape at Eagle Farm yesterday, as the James Harron Bloodstock-owned colt Godfather (2 c I Am Invincible – Meliora by Ad Valorem) made the perfect start to his career when producing a dominant performance to win the Phelan Ready Stakes (Listed, 1000m).
A $1.1 million Magic Millions buy from the Yarraman Park draft earlier this year, the son of I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) went someway to repaying his lofty price tag in sauntering to a two-and-a-quarter-length win on debut as the strongly backed $1.45 favourite.
“We left it until Thursday morning to see how he worked before deciding whether to come,” said Paul Snowden, who trains in partnership with his father, Peter.
“We were definitely going to bring one up for the race, but the way he went about his business, we were quietly confident he would get the job done.
“He showed his immaturity when rolling about under pressure and will come on a hell of a lot.”
Godfather led from start to finish under Ryan Moloney, to defeat Encryption (Lonhro) colt Crifrado, who narrowly beat Capital Chase (Capitalist) into second.
The colt, a brother to Group 3 winner and Swettenham Stud stallion I Am Immortal, was part of Peter and Paul Snowden’s cohort at the early official trial two-year-old trial session at Randwick on September 19, where he finished second to fellow James Harron-owned colt Mach Ten (Exceed And Excel), and returned last month to run third in a Canterbury trial.
The $87,000 pocketed by Godfather for yesterday’s victory sees the colt all but secure his spot in next month’s Magic Millions 2YO Classic (RL, 1200m) and while Snowden suggested that would be his ultimate target, the training partnership may run Godfather again prior to the $2 million race.
“He is a lovely horse who put his hand up early, and hopefully, he can continue that way,” Snowden said.
“Once we get him home, we will assess where he is at, from the trip up here and back. We have some time up our sleeves if we want to give him another run.”
With victory, Godfather became the 87th individual stakes winner, and 42nd juvenile stakes winner, for Yarraman Park’s champion sire I Am Invincible.
He is the fifth foal and fourth winner out of Group 2 scorer Meliora (Ad Valorem), herself a half-sister to dual Listed winner Whypeeo (I Am Invincible). In addition to I Am Immortal and Godfather, she has produced two-time Japanese winner Top Star Sun (I Am Invincible).
Meliora has a yearling filly by I Am Invincible and in October produced another filly by the leading sire.
Boom filly holds on in Calaway Gal
The winning post arrived in the nick time for Matthew Dale’s juvenile filly Malaboom (2 f Spirit Of Boom – Malasun by Red Ransom), who fended off a last-gasp lunge from Empress Of Wonder (Choisir) to win yesterday’s Calaway Gal Stakes (Listed, 1000m) at Eagle Farm.
The speedy Malaboom held a three-length lead midway down the home straight, with the Annabel Neasham-trained Empress Of Wonder spotting the filly more than five lengths away with a mere 250 metres to run. However, that gap narrowed to a short neck by the line, as the Tony Fung Investments silks went down to another close photo finish in a juvenile feature yesterday, with Facile having just ten minutes prior run second in the Inglis Nursery.
Exceed And Excel (Danehill) filly Excel D’Or, also trained by Neasham, finished a long neck further back in third.
Malaboom, who improved from a sixth-placed finish in the Ballarat Magic Millions 2YO Classic (1000m) last month, was an $80,000 Magic Millions buy from the Eureka Stud draft for Kurrinda Bloodstock, whose Sean Driver was trackside to witness the win.
“I love Spirit Of Boom, he’s probably not an underrated stallion now,” Driver said.
“I’m so happy … Matthew’s done a wonderful job with the filly. I’m thrilled.”
Malaboom is a half-sister to the stakes-placed Hard To Say (Exceed And Excel) being out of Blue Diamond Preview (f) (Listed, 1000m) winner Malasun (Red Ransom), herself a half-sister to Group 2 winner Stokehouse (Anabaa).
Malasun was a $170,000 buy in foal to Exceed And Excel for Harry McAlpine Bloodstock from the 2019 Inglis Great Southern Sale. She is yet to produce another foal since Malaboom.
Victory for Malaboom earned Eureka Stud stallion Spirit Of Boom (Sequalo), a 19th individual stakes winner, 11 of which have earned their black–type wins at two.