Queen and King dazzle and Bordeaux produces vintage win
Yesterday’s Rosehill meeting marked the start of the path to the Golden Slipper as two top candidates emerged
When history reflects on the two-year-old crop of the 2021-22 season, it is likely that January 29 will be remembered as the day in which its reputation began to flourish after the spectacular victories of Best Of Bordeaux (Snitzel) and Queen Of The Ball (I Am Invincible) in the Canonbury Stakes (Gr 3, 1100m) and Widden Stakes (Gr 3, 1100m) respectively yesterday.
Perhaps it is fitting that it came at what is traditionally seen as the start of the path to the Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m), with the yellow brick road beginning with yesterday’s Rosehill features and tracking all the way through until the March 19 feature.
Even if there were serious question marks about the state of the Rosehill track with an apparent bias for horses on the lead and on the rail, both two-year-old winners came right away for emphatic victories which have placed them up near the top of the betting for the Golden Slipper.
The Canonbury Stakes featured a five-horse field, filled with expensive yearlings and an outlier, $6,500 purchase Mellencamp (Impending) trained by BHP miner Allan Doyle. In this case, riches were more favoured than rags with $1.4 million colt Great Barrier Reef (I Am Invincible) a drifting odds-on elect.
However, it was the Kacy Fogden-trained Best Of Bordeaux (2 c Snitzel – Chateau Cheval by High Chaparral) who stole the show, displaying both speed and tractability as he raced clear for a four and three-quarter length triumph under Sam Clipperton.
Prepared out of Fogden’s Queensland base, Best Of Bordeaux raced clear for a four-length Sunshine Coast trial win earlier this month. However, he was overlooked by the market, although late support saw him start on the third line of betting at $6.50.
On a hot and humid Rosehill day, the colt was a muck lather behind the gates but put that nervous energy to good use as he sped clear of his rivals. And he kept running right through the line, coming well clear of Rakomelo (Lonhro) and Flashing Steel (Not A Single Doubt) and stopping the clock in 1:03.91 – the fastest Canonbury win in over a decade.
“That was a bit exciting,” said Fogden. “I was a little bit worried there for a little bit. I thought he might have been overracing but he kept true to the task and stuck on nicely.
“He travelled down to Gerald Ryan’s last week and he has just settled in so well. He is quite a gentleman really, I was really pleased with him today.”
Clipperton concurred: “He is a real gentlemen to ride, his first time at the races and he walked around like an old soldier. He’s got a good racing pattern, he jumped well. I was actually going to sit just off Jason Collett, they were going slow and they say let a fast horse be fast. Once I let him flow for a furlong, around the bend he actually came back under me, breathed well and got into a nice rhythm.”
Fogden confirmed that, all being equal, she would have her first Golden Slipper runner with Best Of Bordeaux and Clipperton believes that he can measure up as long as he continues to improve.
“He will only keep improving,” he said. “Like I said he’s got a good racing pattern, so he’d have to continue to improve to be a force to be reckoned with in the Slipper but there is no reason why he can’t. He’s kicked off his career in fine style.”
Best Of Bordeaux, a $425,000 purchase by Fogden from draft of her breeders Baramul Stud at last year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, is the second foal out of Chateau Cheval (More Than Ready), a half-sister to Group 1 winner and stallion Casino Prince (Flying Spur), Group 3 scorer Tagus (Encosta De Lago) and Listed-winning pair Lord Of The Land (Timber Country) and Metallurgical (Redoute’s Choice).
Chateau Cheval has missed the last two years and was served by Written Tycoon (Iglesia) in September.
In winning yesterday’s Group 3, Best Of Bordeaux provided Arrowfield Stud-based stallion Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) with his 117th individual stakes winner and the colt became the sire’s 44th stakes-winning juvenile.
Thirty-five minutes later, the fillies had their turn in the Widden Stakes and it was the Richard and Michael Freedman-prepared Queen Of The Ball (2 f I Am Invincible – Miss Debutante by Fastnet Rock), ridden somewhat appropriately by Rachel King, who upstaged both her rivals and the preceding colts and geldings as well.
In winning by three and three-quarter lengths over the fast-finishing Revolutionary Miss (Russian Revolution) and the honest Pantonario (Not A Single Doubt), Queen Of The Ball recorded a time of 1:03.53 which was almost four-tenths quicker than the males.
She has also emerged as the best chance for the Freedman brothers to score back-to-back victories in the Golden Slipper after Stay Inside (Extreme Choice) took the $3.5 million feature in 2021.
“She has done a great job,” said Michael Freedman, whose Randwick stable contains most of the team’s two-year-old prospects. “We were a little bit worried about the outside gate and having to use her too much but I just said to Rachel that if she began well, use the speed we know she’s got and whether that landed her outside the leader or in front, I left it up to her.
“There’s not much of her but she is as tough as old boots, she’s as big an eater as we’ve got in the stable and just loves her racing.
“Rachel galloped her for me during the week and came in quite confident she would at least run very well. She has obviously run right up to that today and hopefully if she can just improve a little bit off the back of that, she might be in the Slipper mix yet.”
King had her first Golden Slipper ride last year, partnering Anamoe (Street Boss) into second, and she believes the filly may have what it takes to progress to the pinnacle of two-year-old racing.
“She has a fantastic attitude, she is very fast out of the gates,” she said. “She’s so quick to come straight back underneath you, very professional and I got it easy in the middle sections and when she was able to give a good kick at the top of the straight, it was going to take a good one to run her down.
“She has done everything right so far and if she can just keep doing that, I don’t see any reason why she can’t keep stepping up. The team has done a fantastic job, just taking their time with her and it has definitely paid dividends.”
Given the presence of a Queen and a King, perhaps it is only fitting that the partnership was formed thanks to a knight, with Queen Of The Ball a homebred filly for Sir Owen Glenn’s Go Bloodstock.
Queen Of The Ball is the first foal out of Miss Debutante (Fastnet Rock), who won 2017 Denise’s Joy Stakes (Listed, 1100m) at Scone in Glenn’s yellow and white colours.
Her second foal, a Zoustar (Northern Meteor) filly, sold for $600,000 to Gai Waterhouse, Adrian Bott and Kestrel Thoroughbreds at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale earlier this month. She has a Written Tycoon filly foal at foot and she was covered by Flying Artie (Artie Schiller) in October.
The victory handed Yarraman Park’s I am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) with his 74th stakes winner, while the filly became the son of Invincible Spirit’s (Green Desert) 36th two-year-old stakes scorer.
Paul Moroney, who purchased Miss Debutante for $430,000 at the 2015 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale on behalf of Glenn, commented yesterday that he “always thought she could breed a Golden Slipper winner”.
That foresight may come to fruition, with Queen Of The Ball now on the fourth line of betting at $15 for the world’s richest two-year-old contest, along with Best Of Bordeaux and the unraced Metallicity (Zoustar).
The $4 favourite is unbeaten filly Coolangatta (Written Tycoon), who still remains the benchmark as far as juveniles go this season.
Newmarket clash for stakes winners
Yesterday’s three weight-for-age stakes winners at Rosehill, Moonee Valley and Morphettville are set for a mouthwatering clash in the Newmarket Handicap (Gr 1, 1200m) at Flemington after a raceday that signalled the beginning of the transition from summer to autumn.
At Rosehill, Overpass (3 c Vancouver – Walkway by Exceed And Excel) caused a minor upset by leading all of the way to hold off Group 1 winners Forbidden Love (All Too Hard) and Anamoe in the Expressway Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m).
The Bjorn Baker-trained colt, sporting the Darby Racing colours, had long showed promise including a pair of decent unplaced runs to end his spring when he finished fourth in the Roman Consul Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) and sixth in the Coolmore Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m).
Allowed to stride out by Tim Clark, Overpass was not for catching on a favourable Rosehill track, holding out Forbidden Love by a half-length with a further long neck back to hot favourite Anamoe closing late in third.
“It was a great ride by Tim,” Baker said. “I gave him a bit of an open canvas and he dominated and dictated. You only have to look at the Roman Consul and Coolmore to know he is a top, top class horse. He has never been the greatest track worker, it is hard to get a line on him from that point of view, but he’s a race day horse.
“I will nominate him for the Newmarket on Monday, we have some unfinished business there. We will give it a bit of thought, but there is plenty to think about. There is The Everest, Golden Eagle, there are so many options now.
“I only take them half a step at the time, I’m always wary. I said to my team if he runs well today and he happens to win, it gives us the key to anywhere we want to go. I don’t run them out of their grades but I thought enough of him and decided, bugger it, we will have a crack with this bloke and it’s paid off. He’s a superstar colt.”
Purchased by owners Darby Racing and Will Johnson Bloodstock for $75,000 at Round 2 of the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale in 2020, the three-year-old colt is one of four winners out of the dual-winning Exceed And Excel (Danehill) mare Walkway.
Further back the colt descends from the same family as multiple-Group 1-winning champion Northerly (Serheed).
In 2020 Walkway produced a colt by Menari (Snitzel), before foaling a colt by Capitalist (Written Tycoon) and she was covered in December by Shalaa (Invincible Spirit).
Overpass’ win also handed the Coolmore Stud-based sire Vancouver (Medaglia D’Oro) with his eighth stakes winner.
Meanwhile in the Australia Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m), unbeaten mare Marabi (5 m I Am Invincible – Nakaaya by Tiger Hill) extended her winning run to six with an emphatic victory at Moonee Valley.
Sent out as an odds-on favourite on the back of her first stakes win in the Christmas Stakes (Listed, 1200m) at Caulfield, the Ciaron Maher and David Eustace-trained five-year-old cornered around the tight track like a greyhound, demonstrating the benefit of two previous wins at the circuit.
On the swing into the straight, Marabi lengthened and quickly put the race beyond doubt, with rider Ben Allen able to coast home for a two and three-quarter length victory.
Placegetters Sinawann (Kingman) and Turaath (Oasis Dream) impressed in second and third, stamping themselves as autumn players, but it was all about the winner, who gained a ballot exemption for the Newmarket as a part of Racing Victoria’s new $1 million Summer Sprint Series.
Halvorsen (Magnus), winner of the Standish Handicap (Gr 3, 1200m), is the other to have earned ballot exemption for the $1.5 million feature.
If she does take her place in the Newmarket, she will face a new challenge in the form of the Flemington straight. First, however, she must make her maiden foray into top-flight company, which is likely to be in the Oakleigh Plate (Gr 1, 1100m) at Caulfield next month.
“You don’t think that you’re going to win races of this calibre by that far,” Eustace said. “She’s beaten a decent field albeit a lot of horses kicking off their campaigns. She couldn’t have been any more impressive.”
Allen added: “She keeps surprising us every time she steps out. She’s a good mare, she just keeps stepping up to the plate, and hopefully the Oakleigh Plate is next for her.
“Hopefully she creeps up in the points and I can ride her.”
The only time Allen was not aboard the mare was in the Christmas Stakes, when Jamie Kah took over because the rider was concerned he could not make the 54-kilogram weight comfortably.
Marabi is one of five winners out of the Group 2 winner Nakaaya (Tiger Hill) – who died in 2020 and her four other winners are headed by Aristia (Lonhro) – winner of the 2018 VRC Oaks (Gr 1, 2500m).
Across in South Australia, Kemalpasa (6 g Magnus – Yarra Bank by Bianconi) scored his second win in the Durbridge Stakes (Listed, 1100m) to ignite Newmarket Handicap dreams for trainers Richard and Chantelle Jolly.
Kemalpasa won the Durbridge in October, 2019 at the final time the race occupied its traditional October slot before Thoroughbred Racing SA (TRSA) made the decision to move it to late January.
Last year, Kemalpasa finished second to multiple Group 1 winner Behemoth (All Too Hard), but this year the tables were turned as Kemalpasa defeated Behemoth to record the sixth stakes win of his career.
Now, as a noted Flemington specialist with two wins and three placings at the track, the six-year-old is expected to be given his opportunity to take one of Australia’s most historic sprints.
“There’s never been a lot between them but today he had the run in front and that was obviously the difference,” Richard Jolly told Racing.com. “I said this morning that if he’s ever going to beat Behemoth today might be the time.
“We have the Oakleigh Plate and the Newmarket and he loves it down the straight so I suppose the Newmarket is the goal.”
Kemalpasa is the only winner out of Bianconi (Danzig) mare Yarra Bank and she is herself a half-sister to Honest Politician.
Entries for all three Flemington features – the Newmarket Handicap, the Australian Cup (Gr 1, 2000m) and the Australian Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) – close at midday ADST tomorrow, with the Newmarket expected to include some of the best sprinters in the land including Nature Strip (Nicconi), Gytrash (Lope De Vega) and Home Affairs (I Am Invincible).