Robusto springs surprise in The Ingham
Robusto (Churchill), a five-year-old bred by the Ingham family but sold off by them in September to savvy buyers Darby Racing, won the $2 million race named after his breeders at Randwick on Saturday, defying doubts about his ability to run out a mile.
The gelding’s victory in The Ingham (Gr 2, 1600m) continued a stunning day for Darby and their main trainer Bjorn Baker, and raised a fifth Australian stakes winner for his Coolmore shuttle sire Churchill (Galileo).
Bred by the Ingham Racing operation of Debbie Kepitis – daughter of the late Bob Ingham – Robusto had 29 starts in the family’s famed cerise colours for trainer Chris Waller. He recorded six wins and eight placings in that time, but proved frustrating at stakes level, with eight black type starts for a best return of a third in Newcastle’s Spring Stakes (Gr 3, 1600m) in November 2022.
He was ultimately offloaded on Inglis Digital just three months ago and acquired by Darby for $160,000. In five starts for his new connections, Robusto has now earned $1,215,250, after Saturday’s courageous victory in the race that was the Villiers Stakes before being named after the Inghams in 2022.
Robusto also capped another strong day for Darby, after they scored the quinella in the $500,000 Inglis Nursery as the Baker-trained Within The Law beat home Waterhouse and Bott’s Cobra Club (Cool Aza Beel).
Unwanted in betting at $26, Robusto was given a smooth ride from the advantageous gate four by Tim Clark, settling fourth and fifth on the fence before being produced at the 150 metres to burst to the front.
Though doubts persisted about his capacity to see out 1600 metres – having had three tries for a best of that Spring Stakes third – Robusto had enough in hand to hold out the fast-finishing Steparty (Artie Schiller) at $15, with Gary Portelli’s Encap (Capitalist) rounding out a hefty trifecta at $26.
The gelding is one of two current sons of Churchill named Robusto – a brand of cigar titled after Britain’s WWII leader – the other being an Irish-bred four-year-old who’s won five of 21 in England for trainer Eve Johnson Houghton.
And on Saturday he showed all the fighting qualities, and the refusal to surrender, one might associate with the legendary politician.
“He hasn’t had any luck and he finally drew a gate today [Saturday]. It paid dividends with a great ride by Tim,” Baker stable representative Luke Hilton said, adding Robusto had been unlucky in his previous start second in Rosehill’s Festival Stakes (Gr 3, 1500m).
“He was an outstanding run [in the Festival], three wide, no cover and had a poor gate. He really stuck on well.
“There were question marks with him at the mile but when he came up with gate four, we were confident that he was going well. He just had to run out a strong mile and Tim gave him an absolute peach of a ride.”
Hilton joked he might put Darby’s colours “on a few more” of the stable’s horses, given the syndicator’s recent run of success, which also includes Overpass’s (Vancouver) second Winterbottom Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) victory at Ascot on November 30.
“Scott Darby and his team, they’re freaks at buying yearlings, tried horses, it doesn’t matter,” he said. “They find the right horses and he’s done an amazing job this time.
Scott Darby and his team, they’re freaks at buying yearlings, tried horses, it doesn’t matter
“They just keep winning but they’ve done a great job.”
He added: “Bjorn’s not here but he’s done an outstanding job with this horse. He’s had four [previous] runs for us, all in [stakes] company, and he comes away with a two million dollar race today. It’s a super result for the team.”
Clark concurred some better barrier luck had helped Robusto, after he’d drawn gate ten in his prior three outings.
“He just hadn’t been able to draw a barrier until today. That was all important,” Clark said.
“He jumped great. I put him a bit closer than maybe expected, but he was happy being there. I wasn’t going to take that away from him. Obviously following the right horses, it was just a matter of being patient on him.
“I didn’t want to expose him too soon. But the leader I’mintowin and Gringotts just weren’t quite taking me far enough, the gap came and he dashed through really well and pinned his ears back late.
“He was going to have the right run to get it [1600m] today. Good draw, light weight, he was going to be tucked away, doing no work, so if he couldn’t get it today, he was never going to get it.
“He’s been racing really well without a great deal of luck but today he had the right barrier and made every use of it. He got the right run and executed really well. He gave me a great turn of foot when I asked him to go and he wanted it late. Being held up and getting that late split suited him and he really attacked the line.”
Robusto became the fifth stakes winner from 133 Australian runners for Coolmore’s Churchill, among 73 winners at 54.8 per cent.
With 30 stakes victors worldwide, the ten-year-old Churchill – who’s just completed his seventh Hunter Valley book at $19,800 (inc GST) – has been best represented in Australia by Mitch Freedman’s Attrition, one of his three Group 1 winners worldwide.
Robusto is the third and best of five named foals for She’s Clean (Redoute’s Choice), a triple stakes-winner up to Group 3 level bought by Ingham Racing for $300,000 at the Inglis Easter Yearling Sale of 2010.
The mare has a yearling filly by Maurice (Screen Hero) and a colt foal by Justify (Scat Daddy).
Gringotts (Per Incanto), the $4.40 favourite after a hat-trick of wins, faded from second in the run to finish 13th, with jockey Tommy Berry later reporting concerns that “there was something not right about him”.
