Miss Roseiano finishes on high for Gelagotis family
Miss Roseiano (Exceed And Excel), who was sold to Coolmore for $1.275 million through Inglis Digital this week, only had one official barrier trial in her career, on January 11 last year, 15 days before her Blue Diamond Preview (F) (Gr 3, 1000m) win, the only one of her 12-start career.
The Peter Gelagotis-trained filly won the 900-metre trial at Pakenham with one and a quarter lengths to spare of Waltz On By (I Am Invincible), this season’s Bendigo Guineas (Listed, 1400m) winner and another long neck back in fourth was Boogie Dancer (Sooboog), the Tranquil Star (Gr 2, 140m) winner, who also finished fourth, beaten two lengths, in last year’s Thousand Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m).
Any wonder Manny Gelagotis, the vocal half of the Moe brothers’ training operation, thought the world of Miss Roseiano before and after her three-start two-year-old campaign.
Manny even said Miss Roseiano could go with, and beat, The Everest (1200m) winner Giga Kick (Scissor Kick) on the training track early days but in nine starts as a three-year-old Miss Roseiano finished runner-up twice in benchmark company.
Any reason for her drop in form?
“Well, I think I’ve got a theory,” Manny told us.
“I’ve had two Exceed And Excels and they were both aeroplanes as two-year-olds and, unfortunately, that stallion has got a tendency of throwing horses like that.
“They are really smart, intelligent young horses, the majority of them, if they’re the right horses. In my personal experience, it’s just unfortunate that they didn’t go on. I had a horse called Chicago Bull, he ran third in the Maribyrnong Plate [in 2018].
“He was a different style of horse; Miss Roseiano is a much nicer type and a much better horse, there’s no doubt about that.
“It was a bit unfortunate, but she was obviously an excellent two-year-old. She wasn’t bad, but she just wasn’t at that level of expectation.
“The damage was done early, you can’t take the black type off them and she was well and truly a black type horse from day one, that’s for sure.”
Of course, Gelagotis is dealing with a small sample size of two and he has full admiration for Exceed And Excel, whose own son, Darley’s Bivouac, won the VRC Darley Sprint Classic (Gr 1, 1200m) at Flemington as a four-year-old and Vinery’s Exceedance won the Coolmore Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) at three.
But there is no doubting the precocity of the Exceed And Excel breed: 87 of the champion reverse shuttler’s 210 individual stakes winners so far achieving black type at two. Perhaps that’s why he is also a top broodmare sire, those physical and mental traits that make his stock so successful as juveniles are passed on through his mares, which number 85 stakes winners including 12 Group 1 winners including Alizee (Sepoy), Ten Sovereigns (No Nay Never), Astern (Medaglia d’Oro), Tuvalu (Kermadec) and Madame Pommery (No Nay Never), the latter pair scoring at the highest level this season.
“She was a very intelligent, smart filly and she had one trial going into that Blue Diamond debut victory, so I really felt, at the time, that she would be a really special filly on what she was showing us early doors,” Gelagotis said.
“Horse racing is full of ups and downs.”
For the passionate Gelagotis family, Miss Roseiano certainly finished on a high and, given her pedigree, she may well produce horses superior to herself.
***
The jungle drums must have been beating loudly for James Cummings to come out and publicly state that he isn’t quitting as Godolphin Australia’s head trainer any time soon.
Commenting on ill founded speculation, as Cummings did on SEN radio yesterday, was a stunning media strategy. It could have gone one of two ways, silencing the rumour-mongers is no doubt what the trainer is hoping it achieves, but it also puts it out to an audience where most would have been unaware there were murmurs and potentially feeds the disquiet.
Good on James, though, for tackling it head on and with a good sense of humour to boot, his rebuttal of the rumour – and there were no shortage of candidates said to be stepping up to replace him in the various versions being spread – revealing that he’s a listener of Sydney radio shock jock Ben Fordham in the mornings and that he’s a fan of ABC’s Media Watch host Paul Barry on Monday nights.
The Hawkesbury barrier trial session this week, where the likes of rising three-year-old colts Barber and Cylinder had late season hit-outs ahead of big spring campaigns, suggests Cummings and the Godolphin Blue have plenty to look forward to with the fourth generation trainer firmly in charge.
***
Owner Tim Lillie’s Dubenenko (Russian Revolution) may have been beaten in last Saturday’s Oaklands Plate (Listed, 1400m), but in doing so she may have proven herself to be a talented short course sprinter with a high-class turn of foot.
We spoke to businessman Lillie, who has extensive professional interests in the US, before the two-year-old filly’s stakes test at Morphettville and the Adelaide owner, who has shares in about 46 horses predominantly prepared by Dubenenko’s trainer Chris Bieg.
As that number of horses in training suggests, Lillie has been a big supporter of Australian yearling sales.
But next year he intends on broadening his racing portfolio, something he sees as an outlet away from running Verseng Group, which operates in the ground support equipment industry with contracts in the defence, mining, rail and other heavy industry sectors.
“To tell you the truth, I am going to go and buy [horses] overseas next year. I haven’t even told Chris that yet, but that’s my plan,” Lillie said.
“I am pretty keen to get a couple from Europe and a couple from the States I reckon. I think I’d bring them down, bring in some new pedigrees and some new blood into Australia.”
***
The below quote from Irish trainer Ted Walsh in the Racing Post struck a chord with me given the Australian government’s recent inquiry into gambling and the proposed reforms in the industry, which include banning gambling advertising and inducements.
“Racing is about gambling, they go hand in hand. Where does all this stop? Racing is about having a bet. All I know is that it’s going to be a disaster if it comes in.” – Ted Walsh has fears over how the proposed Gambling Regulation bill in Ireland could impact racing.