Nature Strip fires warning Everest shot in flying Concorde success
A week after Masked Crusader (Toronado) stamped himself as a serious Everest (1200m) contender via Melbourne another confirmed starter, Nature Strip (Nicconi), made a stunning statement with a soft first-up victory in the Concorde Stakes (Gr 3, 1000m).
The manner of the Randwick performance, in which he had two and a half lengths up his sleeve over Wild Ruler (Snitzel), another horse touted for a slot in the $15 million race, left jockey James McDonald to declare Nature Strip “the best he’s ever felt first-up”.
A scary thought for a gelding, aged seven, who ran fourth in the 2019 Everest and seventh last year.
McDonald pushed up from barrier one in the Concorde on Nature Strip to hold out Wild Ruler and Adelong (Medaglia d’Oro) who was caught three wide.
He quickened up at the 300-metre mark as Wild Ruler fought on well with Trekking (Street Cry) making ground to finish third, a half-length behind the runner-up.
McDonald, who rode three winners on the ten-race Randwick card, believes Nature Strip has returned in the form which saw him win the T J Smith Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) in April, a race in which Masked Crusader finished second.
“I think the writing was on the wall with his last T J win when they (rivals) decided to take him on and that backfired for them,” McDonald said.
“He was able to take a sit and show that lethal turn of foot that he has got but sustained speed. I couldn’t go slow enough at the furlong. He was just coasting through his gears.
“He is so balanced and in a really really good frame of mind. You can see it walking around the parade ring, around at the start and walking about after a race. He’s in a good frame of mind.”
Bookmakers immediately reacted to Nature Strip’s win, firming him into outright $4.50 favourite for the October 16 Everest ahead of Masked Crusader ($5), who produced a blistering finish to win The Heath 1100 (Gr 3, 1100m) at Caulfield on August 28.
Trainer Chris Waller referenced, by the horse’s elite standards, Nature Strip’s below par three-start spring campaign but he is confident that won’t occur this year.
“Last year we made excuses for him. The fact was he was getting taken on by horses that were giving themselves no chance, but he didn’t have a plan B,” Waller said.
“He couldn’t relax. If a horse takes us on now, we can take a sit quite comfortably and I think that is the difference between now and then.
“Yes he’s had allergies and lots of other things that I dare not say he won’t get again this spring, but we’ll be keeping a watchful eye on everything (by) making sure there is not too much pollen in the stable.”
Sam Clipperton, who rode the Peter and Paul Snowden-trained Wild Ruler, said the four-year-old put in a “super effort” on his seasonal return.
“Going into a high pressure race like that off of one trial, he’s fought off Trekking for second and was strong through the line,” he said.
“(He) will take a stack of improvement and in for a good prep.”
Champion sprinter Nature Strip, who had four trainers in Victoria before joining Waller upon the disqualification of Darren Weir in early 2019, has won 17 of his 31 starts with five seconds and $8.11 million in prize-money.
He is one of three winners out of Group 3 winner Strikeline (Desert Sun) who has also produced Listed winner The Barrister (Star Witness).
Strikeline is in foal to Shamus Award (Snitzel) on a December 13 covering date while Nature Strip’s year-younger unraced sister Miss Strikepower is in foal to Trapeze Artist (Snitzel).
His sire Nicconi has been relocated from Widden’s Hunter Valley farm to its new Victorian operation where he stands for a fee of $27,500 (inc GST).
Brown lights Everest fire with Inferno
Cliff Brown took the opportunity to immediately put The Inferno (Holy Roman Emperor) into the mix for an Everest slot after his star Singapore sprinter, one of the reasons the Victorian ended his extended training stint in Asia, provided him with his first Melbourne victory since 2007.
The Inferno, a winner of eight of his nine starts in Singapore, bounced back from his first Australian start in the Regal Roller (Listed, 1200m) to run down Oakleigh Plate (Gr 1, 1100m) winner Portland Sky (Deep Field) to win the McEwen Stakes (Gr 2, 1000m) by a length at Moonee Valley yesterday.
Another Group 1 winner, September Run (Exceed And Excel), ran on to finish third.
“I said to a few close mates, I’ve got a great mate in Singapore, Denis, that I think he’s the best horse that I’ve ever had and to come back and do this is great,” Brown said.
“I think he could be an Everest horse. The beauty of him is he likes firm, he likes soft. I think he could be that sort of smokey for that race.”
Brown blames himself for five-year-old The Inferno’s underwhelming Regal Roller run when sixth but a recent jump out in which he beat Portland Sky left the trainer confident he had The Inferno back on track.
Damian Lane was in the saddle to guide The Inferno to victory and help Brown reestablish himself in Victoria from his new Mornington base.
“I really mucked that first start up, I really did,” Brown said.
“I had him too big. I had to go away and look at all my notes and what I’d done and everything like that and there was plenty of improvement, plenty of things I had to change.
“I just hadn’t done enough work with him, and I then had to get him to settle back in his training, learn to chase again and work through the line.”
The Inferno has earned $1.14 million for his owner Glenn Whittenbury’s Barree Pastoral, a significant return on the NZ$140,000 he cost at the 2018 New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka Yearling Sale by Brown.
He is one of two multiple winners out of Spina Rosa (Redoute’s Choice), a placed mare who was bought by New Zealand agent Bruce Perry and Jamieson Park for $75,000 at the 2017 Magic Millions National Sale.
At the same auction, fellow Kiwi agent Paul Willetts bought The Inferno as a yearling for just $10,000 before reoffering him at Karaka early the following year.
Spina Rosa, who is a half-sister to the stakes-placed two-year-old Samski (Exceed And Excel), has a two-year-old filly by Ocean Park (Thorn Park) and is in foal to Pierro (Lonhro).
Jamaea lives up to ‘special’ tag with Furious performance
Headwater (Exceed And Excel) filly Jamaea could be pitted against the colts and geldings rather than keeping to the relative safe haven of her own sex after her trainer yesterday put the Golden Rose Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) squarely on the agenda.
One of the fillies caught up in the severe interference in the Silver Shadow Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) a fortnight earlier, which saw Xtremetime (Extreme Choice) euthanised, Jamaea relished clear running in the Furious Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) to win her second race at Group level, prompting Luke Price to suggest a tilt at the Group 1 race later this month.
In another tight finish, as was the case in the Silver Shadow, which could suggest there is little between the Sydney three-year-old fillies, Jamaea ($21) settled back in the 13-horse field before sweeping down the outside to score by a short half head.
Robodira (Husson) ($51) was runner-up with Mallory (Not A Single Doubt) another three quarters of a length away in third, ahead of her Gerald Ryan and Sterling Alexious-trained stablemate Enterprise Pomme (Spill The Beans) who was in fourth.
Luke Price, who trains the filly in partnership with his father Robert, has not been surprised about Jamaea measuring up to Sydney’s fillies this spring and believes she has improved since her juvenile season which saw her good enough to win the Percy Sykes Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m)
“I reckon she has improved a bit. Just her racing manner and everything like that,” Price said.
“We thought she be an on-speed type of filly early days, but she switches off ridden quieter. She’ll run a strong 1400 metres out.
“I’ll speak to the owners over the next couple of days, but we’ve won two Group 2s now, so I’d be tempted to take on the boys and go around in the Golden Rose.
“She has some sass about her, she is such a nice filly that she deserves a chance.”
Price was forced to make a jockey change on Jamaea after Tommy Berry was suspended for his ride on the filly in the Silver Shadow Stakes but he had no qualms about having he and his father’s apprentice Brock Ryan on board yesterday.
“The owners stuck solid to him when the real good jockeys were available,” Price said of Ryan.
“We made our mind up a long way that Brock was going to ride her. In November last year when we first gave her a jump out, Brock said just going to the gates on her, and he’d given her a gallop a couple of days earlier, that he thought she was special and she has lived up to it every time we’ve stepped her out to the races.”
Jockey Nash Rawiller, who rode fifth placed Four Moves Ahead (Snitzel), is confident the filly was entitled to be favourite for the Flight Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m), the fourth and final leg of the Darley Princess Series, at Randwick on October 2.
“I had to go right back from the awkward draw,but she hit the line terrific. She is the one to beat in the Flight Stakes,” Rawiller said.
De An Andretti (I Am Invincible), the younger sister to Group 2 winner Libertini, was the medium of a stunning betting plunge to start $4.20 favourite.
However, the money was proven to be misplaced after finishing 12th. Jockey Andrew Adkins said: “(She was) disappointing. She had a lovely run, but she never travelled to the extent I would have liked. It is only her second start in a race.”
Tim Clark reported that his mount, Silver Shadow Stakes winner Swift Witness (Star Witness), who finished sixth, was looking for 1400 metres. The Tea Rose Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m) will be run on Saturday week at Randwick.
Jamaea, from the second crop of Vinery Stud sire Headwater, is a daughter of Tasmanian Group 3 winner Isibaeva (Johannesburg) and a granddaughter of another Apple Isle stakes winner in Dragila (Encosta De Lago).
The Prices purchased Jamaea for $130,000 from the 2020 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale from the draft of Cressfield Stud. She has a two-year-old half-brother by All Too Hard (Casino Prince) named Mondo, who is owned by Blueblood Thoroughbreds and is being trained by Mick Price and Mick Kent Jr, and also another All Too Hard yearling colt.
Isibaeva died in September last year, soon after her final foal was born.
Headwater, whose fee has been set at $16,500 (inc GST) this year, is also the sire of Group 3-winning sprinter Wisdom Of Water and Listed winners Mileva and Starlight.
Zoustar filly Zouzarella new Thousand Guineas favourite after Atlantic Jewel win
The Anthony and Sam Freedman stable was, as predicted by many pundits, expected to win the Atlantic Jewel Stakes (Listed, 1200m) but what unfolded at Moonee Valley was not the script the majority had in front of them.
The powerful Melbourne father-and-son training team were double handed in the three-year-old fillies’ race and it was Argentia, a beautifully bred daughter of Frankel (Galileo), who was the well-backed $2.90 favourite as the market overlooked her stablemate Zouzarella (Zoustar) ($13).
Both fillies had scored impressive debut wins, Argentia at Flemington in June and Zouzarella at Moonee Valley on August 21, and it appeared as though that the recent racing and experience on the tight-turning velodrome-like circuit was a key factor in the latter’s upset victory.
Zouzarella, ridden by an in-form Brett Prebble, covered ground but had full momentum topping the home bend and pulled away to a two-length win over Larkspur Run (Shamardal) and Literary Magnate (Written Tycoon) who was another three quarters of a length away in third.
Argentia, who did not appear comfortable on the Soft 6 track conditions, was caught up behind runners and did not gain clear running in the straight. She finished eighth, three and three quarter lengths behind her stablemate.
“The query today was she looking for 1400 (metres)?” Sam Freedman said.
“She’s handled the ground at home and in her trials, she’s handled it really well, so we knew she would handle the soft today.
“She didn’t have a lot of luck in running but she is that sort of big-framed filly who probably enjoys a bit room.”
Zouzarella is now $7 favourite for the Thousand Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m), ahead of Argentia at $8, and Freedman confirmed that was the target for the Atlantic Jewel winner.
The Listed Jim Moloney Stakes (1400m) at Sandown on September 25 was Zouzarella’s probable next start while Argentia will also likely remain on a Thousand Guineas path.
“She’s really put her hand up today,” Prebble said.
“What you’re seeing is what I felt a very long time ago. When it comes to fruition it’s a nice feeling.
“The Freedmans have had champions win derbies and then win three Lightnings in a row, so I’m not telling the Freedmans where to run a horse, but wherever she goes I just hope I’ve got a seat on her.”
On Argentia, Freedman said: “She was never comfortable from the start. Now we know for sure about wet tracks. We had to find out at some stage.”
The Listed win of Zouzarella is a reward for Cambridge Stud’s Brendan and Jo Lindsay who have made a massive investment in the Australasian racing and breeding industry.
The three-year-old filly, by Widden Stud’s Zoustar (Northern Meteor), is one of two winners for Zazparella (Al Maher) who is a sister to the stakes-placed Almachino and a half-sister to Let’s Get Nauti Gal (Harbour Watch) who was also stakes-placed.
With Cambridge Stud chief executive Henry Plumptre casting his eye over the yearlings, Zouzarella was purchased for $250,000 from the Glastonbury Farms draft at the Magic Millions Yearling Sale.
Zazparella, who was bought by Victorian breeder Dale Corrigan for $45,000 at the 2016 Magic Millions National Sale, has a yearling filly by So You Think (High Chaparral) and she is in foal to Highland Reel (Galileo).