Royal Meeting’s Hayasugi shoots for Diamond glory
Clinton McDonald believes his filly Hayasugi (Royal Meeting) is at least twice the price she should be as she attempts to give her unsung sire the perfect start to his stud career in Saturday’s Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m).
But given a trend of longer-priced winners of the race in recent years, for which certain theories abound, this could work right into her favour.
Hayasugi enters the initial two-year-old Group 1 of the season as the first filly since 2015 to win the Blue Diamond Preview (F) (Gr 3, 1000m) – Blue Diamond Prelude (F) (Gr 2, 1100m) double, which she accomplished when forced to race wide after drawing outside gates.
Her time in the Blue Diamond Prelude was within two-hundredths of second of that set by the high-profile Bodyguard (I Am Invincible) in the males’ equivalent, while she was superior to that $1.6 million colt with her last 600 metres (34.74 sec to 34.82), and final 200 metres (11.53 to 11.88).
Yet Hayasugi – bought as a weanling for just $47,500 – was quoted around the $17 mark last night for the $2 million Blue Diamond, far behind the $5 quote for Bodyguard, the second favourite to $4.50 chance Coleman (Pierata).
“She’s way over the odds. I reckon she’s a genuine $8 chance,” McDonald told ANZ Bloodstock News of Hayasugi, who’ll be ridden for the third straight time by Jamie Kah as she seeks her first Blue Diamond.
“I think what people are forgetting about this filly is she’s had two runs this time in, won both, and had to do it tough both runs.
“Perhaps people have thought those wins were workmanlike, rather than spectacular. But she’s had to make her own luck, get out there from the 600 and get wide, and then come into the race.
“She was exposed a long way from home, but her sectionals are there to be seen. She’s shown she’s tough, and resilient, and if she draws a gate she’s a massive chance.
“Hopefully she’ll draw well, won’t have to do it so tough, and I think the 1200 metres will be right up her alley. I don’t think she’ll be as far back as people think. She’s gone back in her past two runs because she had a wide alley. Hopefully, if she draws a gate, she can be up in the first half dozen.”
Hayasugi has already started things with a bang for her $11,000 (inc GST) Victoria-based sire Royal Meeting (Invincible Spirit), making his first winner (from six runners so far) a stakes-winner in the Blue Diamond Preview.
The eight-year-old has come to stud in Australia in unusual circumstances. Unbeaten in both starts at two – including Chantilly’s Criterium International (Gr 1, 1400m) – the Godolphin colt was sent south for the 2019 spring and was a well-backed $3.60 favourite first-up when third in Caulfield’s Moonga Stakes (Gr 3, 1400m).
He went to his main mission – Flemington’s Cantala Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) – as a $12 chance but ran a distant last, with rider Dwayne Dunn reporting a respiratory noise.
Royal Meeting had three more Group runs in Dubai on his way home – all unplaced – and was headed for retirement before being identified as a suitable Australian target by bloodstock agent Dermot Farrington and Aquis Farm’s then CEO Shane McGrath.
After he was secured for some $750,000, he began standing in Victoria for his group of around ten shareholders, who include Aquis, Seymour Bloodstock’s Mark Pilkington, McGrath and Dubai’s Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Maktoum.
Initially, Royal Meeting stood at Aquis Victoria, siring the first crop that now includes Hayasugi. When Aquis moved out to focus on its Queensland base and Leneva Park took over the lease on the property, Royal Meeting stayed put. (Aquis still retains the standing rights on the stallion, its director of sales Jonathan Davies said yesterday, adding no decision had yet been made as to where the stallion would stand this year).
In any event, part of Royal Meeting’s allure was that if he was not I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) he constituted a next-best-thing, being by the same sire.
“We weren’t going for a ‘son of’, we were getting a son of the direct source,” Pilkington said. “Invincible Spirit was doing amazing things everywhere, so that made sense. And there was a lot of speed and juvenile Group 1 winners in his maternal line as well.”
A large part of the attraction was the stallion himself.
“Royal Meeting came in late towards the start of the breeding season, and with little fanfare, but he was just this very handsome looking horse,” Pilkington said of the powerful bay.
“He had more the physique of a Guineas-style of horse than a short-coupled Breeders Plate horse, and we were all excited by what we saw. He was very fast but had scope.”
“Then he had 60 foals in his first crop, and on the back of them being quite handsome he got a bit of gravitas in the market from people saying ‘Who the hell’s Royal Meeting?’ And then some people sent some nicer mares. Tony Santic sent some, Ron Finemore sent some.
“He’s just evolved from there. Fortuitously, all the trainers who seem to have them are giving good reports. Without making any ridiculous statements, he’s had impressive trial winners in Queensland, WA, New South Wales.
“Off a small sample base, they look like they’ve got talent. So we’re optimistic. And now Hayasugi looks like a beauty.”
Royal Meeting – who coincidentally has stood at Leneva with the horse who won his Cantala Stakes, Fierce Impact (Deep Impact) – still yielded appropriated modest returns when his first stock went to last year’s yearling sales, with 25 sold at an average of $56,130.
That Hayasugi is not by a high-profile stallion, thus entering the juvenile landscape with low-to-no expectations, could be contributing to her long Blue Diamond odds. Pilkington feels her relatively low sale price – you could have bought 33 of her for one Bodyguard – could also be a factor.
“Sometimes the horses that aren’t in a big name stable, and aren’t an $800,000 I Am Invincible filly, or a $1.2 million Written Tycoon filly, or a $1 million Snitzel filly – I think that has a bit to do with the markets – all the press and all the rest of the carry-on,” Pilkington said.
Bred by veteran boutique breeder Mike O’Donnell of the lower Hunter Valley’s Fairhill Farm, and the fourth and latest named foal of the unraced and fertility-challenged China Road (Commands), Hayasugi does have some recent history running against her chances on Saturday.
Fillies dominated the race from 2012 to 2017, winning four of the six through Samaready (More Than Ready), Miracles Of Life (Not A Single Doubt), Earthquake (Exceed And Excel) and Catchy (Fastnet Rock).
That run has dried up in the six editions since, however, with Lyre (Lonhro) in 2019 the only female victor.
But what Hayasugi may have in her favour is the very price that would seem to dismiss her chances.
Starting with 2020, the past four runnings have been won by Tagaloa (Lord Kalanoa) at $26, Artorius (Flying Artie) at $13, Daumier (Epaulette) at $20, and Little Brose (Per Incanto), the relative “hot pot” of the list at $9.50.
As with everything, certain theories address this trend.
All four were colts, and by sires with no large profile in the Australian market. Pilkington believes that amid the modern landscape – when winning a juvenile Group 1 can immediately add $10 million or more to the stud value of a young colt – perhaps the first two-year-old major of the season has lately been won by the soundest, rather than the sexiest, individual.
“With the babies, the one that’s just the soundest can quite often beat the higher profile, shorter-priced ones,” he said. “They probably go a little bit under the radar, even in the trainer’s eye.
“Quite often the movie star colt might have some niggles and odds and sods. On balance, their connections have to think about running them or not. The commerce has changed that much that people are taking big educated punts that are going to have huge ramifications if they’re right.
“I’m sure there’s probably half a dozen in the race that maybe shouldn’t be there, but the upside is so compelling that everyone wants to have a try.”
McDonald said he would eschew the chance to gallop Hayasugi at Caulfield this morning, to stick with her normal preparation at Cranbourne.
“At Cranbourne, the facilities are magnificent. We’re not looking for perfect grass, we’ve got it here,” he said. “She doesn’t need to get on a float and go to Caulfield, and she’s very familiar with Caulfield anyway, having won there twice.”
“She’s in great order, just fantastic, and hasn’t missed a beat.”