‘Our aim is to win a Group 1’

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Trainers Mick Price and Michael Kent Jr are confident First Settler (Written Tycoon) can stake his claim for a top place among the nation’s three-year-old colts when he makes an overdue return at Flemington on Saturday.

A winner of three from five including two up the Flemington straight, First Settler was on Friday a $10 chance for the HKJC World Pool Sprint Classic (Listed, 1100m), which has drawn a quality field of 18.

Betting is dominated at around $2.70 by exciting New Zealand-trained filly Alabama Lass (Alabama Express) – a $120,000 Inglis Premier purchase for trainer Ken Kelso and Dean Hawthorne Bloodstock – who in eight starts across the Tasman has had five wins and three seconds, two at Group 1 level.

Alabama Lass crossing the Tasman adds another star three-year-old filly to an Australian landscape rich with them.

Others include another daughter of Alabama Express in Group 1 scorer Treasurethe Moment – who’ll try for a seventh–straight success in Saturday’s Vinery Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) at Rosehill – the unbeaten Autumn Glow (The Autumn Sun), the five-from-seven Lady Shenandoah (Snitzel) and the triple-winning Aeliana (Castelvecchio).

Amongst Australian three-year-old colts, however, as studs scan the range of options for future stallion deals, the cupboard isn’t quite as full.

The two highest-rated such horses on Timeform are Switzerland (Snitzel), on 125, and Growing Empire (Zoustar) on 121.

Coolmore Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Switzerland hasn’t matched his spring deeds this autumn. The Coolmore-Waller colt resumed with a 2.77–length fourth as favourite in Flemington’s Lightning Stakes (Gr 1, 1000m) before a sixth in Randwick’s Canterbury Stakes (Gr 1, 1300m).

Yulong’s Growing Empire won four of his first five before a treble of Group 1 placings when second in the weight-for-age Manikato Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) and third in The Everest (Gr 1, 1200m), before his third in the three-year-old stallion-maker, the Coolmore.

This time in, Growing Empire has had three unplaced runs – seventh in the Lightning, fourth in the Newmarket Handicap (Gr 1, 1200m) and fifth in last Saturday’s The Galaxy (Gr 1, 1100m) at Rosehill.

That last race was won by Private Harry (Harry Angel), the boom colt unbeaten in five starts and with a Timeform rating of 119, who was yesterday secured for future stud duty by Yulong in a deal valuing him at more than $16 million.

Godolphin’s Broadsiding (Too Darn Hot) has a 120 rating and is leading the way for three-year-old colts over distance, with his three Group 1 wins coming over 1400 metres, 1600 metres and 2000 metres.

As for the more fashionable – from a breeding perspective – short-course colts, opportunities existed for stallion contenders to grab top billing. Price and Kent are hoping First Settler can make inroads to that end on Saturday.

“Overall, I think it’s a strong crop of three-year-olds,” Kent Jnr told ANZ Bloodstock News. “Private Harry is unbeaten in five starts, and Switzerland is very good.

“[But] we’re all hoping a few horses might become a bit dominant, but it seems they’re all taking their turn and winning nice races. There’s not one or a pair of dominant colts at present.

“At the moment, it looks like Private Harry is the one, in my opinion. And if he can go and win the TJ Smith, then he’s definitely the one.

“Of course, we hope First Settler might measure up to that level. He’s improving all the time, but he’s got to prove it yet. He’s a Group 2 winner, but we’re a long way from blazing them in an open Group 1 just yet.”

First Settler – who has topweight of 59 kilograms in Saturday’s set weights and penalties Classic – was a $750,000 Magic Millions Gold Coast purchase for Yulong and Price, from the draft of Gerry Harvey’s Baramul Stud.

Aside from Yulong, he’s raced by a group of other heavy hitters including Harvey, Rupert Legh, Noel Greenhalgh, food industry magnate Rick Smith, and G1G Colts & Breeding.

He debuted as a late two-year-old last June with a Caulfield victory over 1000 metres, before winning a 1000-metre Flemington two-year-old handicap. After a second to Yulong teammate Growing Empire in the Poseidon Stakes (Listed, 1100m), he won the Danehill Stakes (Gr 2, 1100m) over the same straight course before a campaign-ending ninth in the Coolmore.

First Settler had been due to reappear earlier in the autumn, with the Lightning and Newmarket possible targets, but his return was delayed after a tangle with a fence while spelling caused a hind–leg injury.

Kent said the colt was now back to his best, as shown by two recent Cranbourne barrier trial wins – the first over five-year-old Jimmysstar (Per Incanto), who’d won the Oakleigh Plate (Gr 1, 1100m) two weeks earlier.

“We couldn’t be happier with him. His trials have been very good, his trackwork’s been good, he’s perfectly sound and has a great temperament for a big colt. I think he’s ready to run right up to his best first-up,” Kent Jnr said.

“We were a bit held up at the start of the prep after that paddock accident,

but he’s had a normal prep since then. If anything, the time off has been good for him.

“He’s in beautiful order, he’s going as good as ever. We think he’s improved, and his trials would suggest that.”

First Settler will be ridden by Michael Dee and has barrier one – often-dreaded up the straight. He did, however, jump from the same gate when winning the Danehill, dropping back to last in a field of ten before swooping, up against the inside rail, to score by 0.1 lengths.

“Barrier one always makes us nervous down the straight, even though he did win the Danehill from barrier one,” Kent Jnr said.

“It’s a unique thing, the straight race. Especially in a big field, you need a bit of luck on the day to get in the right part of the race and have things go in your favour.

“If things do work out for him we feel he’ll run right up to his best. We’ve always spoken about him being effective up the straight.

“In the Danehill, Michael [Dee] dragged him back to find cover and he let down powerfully late, but he didn’t have to be ridden that way. Michael will have freedom to ride him as he finds him tomorrow.

“He’s generally a horse who balances up and works home, but he doesn’t have to get too far back.”

With his delayed campaign ruling him out of any possible tilt at next Saturday’s TJ Smith Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m), First Settler is being prepared for a likely start in the Arrowfield 3YO Sprint (Gr 2, 1200m) at Randwick a week later.

While only a Group 2, the $1 million race has become something of a de-facto Group 1 for three-year-olds in recent years, with recent winners including Joliestar (Zoustar), current Newgate stallion Wild Ruler (Snitzel), and subsequent Everest hero Classique Legend (Not A Single Doubt).

First Settler is currently on the fourth line of betting for the Arrowfield at $11, equal with Growing Empire and behind Autumn Glow ($1.90), the probably unlikely Private Harry ($4.50) and another exciting filly, the fellow Yulong-owned Clean Energy (Zoustar) at $8.

After that, the potential for First Settler to chase elite backing for a future stud career may lie in races such as the Doomben 10,000 (Gr 1, 1200m) and Kingsford-Smith Stakes (Gr 1, 1300m) in Brisbane, or Adelaide’s The Goodwood (Gr 1, 1200m).

“We’re taking it very much race by race with him,” Kent Jnr said. “He’s entered for the Arrowfield. It’s a nice option for him, particularly since he gets through soft ground.

“Whilst it’s only a Group 2, that race has got a fair bit of street cred, and is good for your potential stallion prospects.

“Our aim is to win a Group 1. Whether that means Queensland or Adelaide, time will tell.”

First, the Cranbourne-based Price-Kent Jnr team are hopeful of a forward showing on Saturday, in what Kent Jnr acknowledges is a field above its Listed status.

Alabama Lass (below) brings an impressive formline. She made her stakes breakthrough at start four in the Gold Trail (Gr 3, 1200m) at Hastings – with third place going to the outstanding Damask Rose (Savabeel), who has since landed the Karaka Millions 3YO (RL, 1600m) and the inaugural NZB Kiwi (Listed, 1500m).

Next up, Alabama Lass won the highly regarded Soliloquy Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m) at Ellerslie, before seconds in the New Zealand 1,000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) at Riccarton and – by 0.1 lengths against older horses – in Ellerslie’s Sistema Railway Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m), as $2.80 favourite, behind the highly rated four-year-old gelding Crocetti (Zacinto).

The filly returned to the winner’s list – by 5.3 lengths – in Ellerslie’s set-weights Kings Plate (Gr 3, 1200m) at her last start on March 8, this time beating Crocetti into second, albeit with a five-kilogram weight advantage.

Also in the market for Saturday’s Sprint Classic are two more Cranbourne-trained gallopers in the Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young-trained Daggers (I Am Invincible) at $7.50 and the Clinton McDonald-trained Vestas (Toronado) at $8.50.

The Group 3-placed Vestas is making his first appearance since running a 4.64–length seventh in the $3 million Sunshine Coast slot race The Sunlight 3YO Plate (1100m), won by Private Harry.

“It’s a deep race with a lot of chances,” Kent Jnr said of the HKJC World Pool Sprint Classic. “As we see so often, not always the best horse wins in an 18–horse field down the straight. You need the speed around you and things to go your way.

“We’re very wary of the Kiwi filly [Alabama Lass]. She’s brilliant. And we see Vestas walk past our barn every day, and he looks a very good horse with a big finish, who has good form around Private Harry. So it’s a tough assignment.”