Orion The Hunter
TRAINER: Shane Nichols
RACE: Quayclean Handicap (1200m)
The regally bred Orion The Hunter (Deep Field) will take a step up to metro company today when he lines up in the $150,000 Quayclean Handicap (1200m) at Caulfield.
Having been beaten a total of eight lengths when ninth on his debut at Pakenham in March, the juvenile colt proved a completely different prospect last time out on June 22, making all to beat La Petite Angele (Harry Angel) by a length and a quarter in a 1013-metre maiden plate at Sale, despite the Heavy 9 surface that day.
“I think he is better in time and better on top of the ground,” his trainer Shane Nichols told Racing.com post-race. “[I Am A Star] has a big pedigree, it’s the first foal and he’s a good type.”
An $800,000 buy for Nichols from the Newgate draft at last year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, Orion The Hunter is the first foal out of the I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) mare I Am a Star.
Nichols trained I Am A Star to nine Group-race victories, headlined by her victory in the 2016 edition of the Myer Classic (Gr 1, 1600m) and she finished her career with a prize-money haul of over $1.5 million.
I Am A Star had a filly by Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt) last spring and is back in foal to the Newgate Farm-based sire again. Her yearling colt by Fastnet Rock (Danehill) made $400,000 when he was purchased by Gai Waterhouse, Adrian Bott and Kestrel Thoroughbreds at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale earlier this year.