Savatoxl toast of the Territory as Flowers blossoms in Ramsden
Timely win for $8,000 Inglis Melbourne Gold graduate, who lands his first Group 1 success in The Goodwood
On a day when the speedsters were expected to dominate headlines with two Group 1 sprints and a plethora of short-course stakes contests right across the country, it was perhaps a stayer who instead stole the show as Realm Of Flowers (So You Think) took out the Andrew Ramsden Stakes (Listed, 2800m) at Flemington yesterday.
Still, the Group 1 victories to tough veteran Eduardo (Host) in the Doomben 10,000 (Gr 1, 1200m) and the unheralded former Territorian Savatoxl (Kuroshio) in The Goodwood (Gr 1, 1200m) were fantastic stories on their own.
In particular, the tale of Savatoxl – rising from an unplaced effort in an Alice Springs handicap this time last year to become the most successful Northern Territory sprinter since 2007 Oakleigh Plate (Gr 1, 1100m) winner Undue (Commands) – is the latest in a long line of rags-to-riches narratives that warms the cockles of even the most cold-blooded racing fan.
Purchased for just $8,000 by the Alice Springs Turf Club at the 2017 Inglis Melbourne Gold Yearling Sale, the Tony and Calvin McEvoy trainee became the auction’s third graduate to win at Group 1 level in as many months.
It could not have been a more perfect reminder of the value on offer at the Inglis Melbourne Gold Yearling Sale, with today marking the start of the two-day catalogue for 2021.
From Alice handicaps to Adelaide features for Savatoxl
Twelve months ago, the thought of Savatoxl (5 g Kuroshio – Li’l Miss Hayley by Savabeel) contesting a Group 1 would have seemed unlikely at best, if not outright absurd.
However, despite being sold by Stonehouse Thoroughbreds for just $8,000, farm principal Ryan Arnel always felt he was a high-quality yearling which fell through the net.
“Obviously, we’ve all seen the sales results,” said Arnel to ANZ Bloodstock News. “We took him to the Melbourne Premier Sale and, well, he was friendless there. He simply wasn’t a commercial proposition. You look at the mare pedigree, and aside from him there wasn’t an awful lot going on and Kuroshio wasn’t the most commercial sort of sire at the time. He was a hard sell, that’s for sure.
“We actually rated him quite highly. He was very well put together, very neat, had it all there. And then obviously after the Premier sale we took him to the Gold Sale where he was a hard sell and he was bought for the Alice Springs Turf Club, which is how he ended up in the Northern Territory.
“It was only a few months ago that I was trying to keep track of him, because we did really like him, and he was sort of running midfield in these Northern Territory handicaps, and we thought he must’ve done his time but, without realising, it was due to the fact he was too good for them and carrying 65 kilos up there, so the only natural progression for him was to come back down south and start running in better races because there just weren’t enough races of quality up there for him.”
Although Savatoxl had won nine of his first 15 starts, all but one had come on dirt at either his home track of Alice Springs or at the Northern Territory’s metropolitan course in Darwin. On top of that, the only run that he had on turf came in Brisbane, finishing last of 17 in the 2019 Fred Best Classic (Gr 3, 1400m) as the rank outsider.
In May last year, at what ended up being his last run for Alice Springs trainer Will Savage, Savatoxl finished fifth in the Pioneer Sprint (1200m), the town’s biggest sprint. It hardly foreshadowed that a Group 1 victory was in his future.
Nor did his four-run campaign for Darwin handler Gary Clarke, winning three straight in easy fashion up to 1600 metres before finding 2000 metres a bridge too far when sixth in the Darwin Cup (2000m).
Joining the Tony and Calvin McEvoy stable after that Darwin Cup run in August, Savatoxl made his South Australian debut with a third in the Balaklava Cup (Listed, 1600m). However, it has been at shorter trips that he has made his name, winning the Christmas Handicap (Listed, 1200m) in December and the DC McKay Stakes (Gr 3, 1100m) earlier this month.
Despite that last win, in which he dominated from the front to score by three lengths, the five-year-old was sent out as a $19 chance in a market dominated by homegrown Group 1 winners Gytrash (Lope De Vega) and Behemoth (All Too Hard), as well as last-start Robert Sangster Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Instant Celebrity (Not A Single Doubt).
“Tony McEvoy and his team have obviously done a brilliant job with him and kicked him on, and now we’ve got a Group 1 winner on our hands,” said Arnel.
“I was chatting to someone earlier, and I said it’s almost like a reverse shuttle. Usually, most horses that have a few more starts left in them, they head up to Darwin for their race series or something, but he’s done the opposite, it’s not the normal progression that’s for sure.”
Ridden expertly by Barend Vorster, Savatoxl deferred to stablemate Dollar For Dollar (High Chaparral) early in a move that even surprised their trainers. However, he quickly powered clear upon straightening and was strong through the line, recording a two-length victory over Instant Celebrity with a further long neck to Gytrash in third.
“It’s a bit surreal,” Tony McEvoy said. “The ownership group had enough faith in him to send him down after he’d won a Darwin Guineas and ran (sixth) in the Darwin Cup.
“He just didn’t run the mile in the Balaklava Cup so we went back sprinting and here we are.
“He didn’t have the pace today. He began beautifully and Barend showed all his experience to let the horse get into his rhythm and not to panic.’’
Arnel, who has built up his Stonehouse Thoroughbreds farm in Eddington from scratch over recent years, developing the operation as a mainstay consignor on the Victorian sales calendar, sold Group 1 winner Extra Brut (Domesday) as a weanling, as well as bred and raised Coolmore Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) runner up Swats That (Shamus Award) and Vinery Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) second Harmony Rose, who, like Savatoxl, is by a sire not deemed to be commercial in Glass Harmonium (Verglas).
The track results are just rewards for the small-scale breeder who has relied on research into pedigrees and genotype to produce matings that, although not necessarily commercially attractive, have produced outstanding results.
“I love my pedigrees and I thought it was a very good mating, which is why we sort of took the horse as well. We wanted to try and present those type of horses,” said Arnel. “The commercial market obviously doesn’t quite read it as we breeders do.
“In our short time we’ve got a handful of Group 1 horses running around,” continued Arnel. “We didn’t think Savatoxl would be the first (yearling Group 1 winner), but he’s come through.
“We’re in a luxury industry, surrounded by a lot of money. I’m a young person and I’ve bought the farm myself and everything we’ve put into it is our own money, and we can’t afford to buy these $200-300,000 mares, so we’ve got to look at another option, which is looking at value in pedigrees and genetics.
“We’re looking on those damsides and for those that aren’t necessarily those commercial matings, but those that are going to produce the best racehorses because, at the end of the day, your best marketing is your racetrack success.”
The hard-knocking gelding was bred by Carrington Park’s Sheryl and Mark Atkinson, a long-time client of Arnel’s who recently sold their thoroughbred assets, including Li’l Miss Hayley (Zabeel), the dam of Savatoxl, who is the fifth foal and the third of four winners from the mare, who has a yearling filly by Needs Further (Encosta De Lago) and was put back in foal to the stallion last year.
“I’m having a beer tonight with a mate that has the mare on his farm at Hollylodge, and he’s a small breeder just like me,” said Arnel.
“During the season we always go to each other’s farms and I saw her name on the board there and I said ‘mate, you want to be looking after that mare, I know there’s something good coming’. And still she’s quite an unknown mare but she’s delivering the goods.”
Realm lands Melbourne Cup berth
As Savatoxl provided the headline tale, it was perhaps Realm Of Flowers, a runaway winner of the Andrew Ramsden Stakes and the first guaranteed runner in this year’s $8 million Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m), that took the starring role with her headline performance.
The Anthony and Sam Freedman-trained Realm Of Flowers (4 m So You Think – Astral Flower by Kalanisi) had been building up something of a reputation as a mare of immense promise who was yet to deliver.
While she had won the South Australian Fillies’ Classic (Gr 3, 2500m) last year, she had not saluted the judge in nine starts since. Despite that, she had recorded a pleasing second in the Sandown Cup (Listed, 3200m), an electrifying second in the N E Manion Cup (Gr 3, 2400m) and a luckless fifth in the Sydney Cup (Gr 1, 3200m), all of which saw bookmakers originally put her up as favourite.
The money, though, came thick and fast for Miami Bound (Reliable Man), with the 2019 VRC Oaks (Gr 1, 2500m) winner backed from $6.50 into $3.10 favourite, eclipsing Realm Of Flowers – who drifted to $3.20 – at the head of the market.
With one swift sectional down the long Flemington straight, though, Realm Of Flowers cast aside any doubts. She loomed large on the outside under wraps from Mark Zahra, before striding away for a four and three-quarter length success.
The honest Grand Promenade (Champs Elysees) held down second, while a pair of Melbourne Cup contenders from last year – fifth-placed Persan (Pierro) and 14th Miami Bound (Reliable Man) – fought out third a further length and a half behind, with the latter just getting the nod.
“She’s a great mare to train,” Anthony Freedman said. “There are no hiccups with her. She’s very straightforward and she deserves a chance at the Melbourne Cup and I’d say, she can get a nice cheque.
“It’s a year to the day that she won the long fillies race in Adelaide. She’s come a long way, this mare. She didn’t impress us early but she’s incredibly tough, she’s very genuine and she loves these long trips.
“She’ll get a bit of weight relief. I think her rating will be a tick over 100 now so that won’t put her too far up the weights and the race you’d think will be a bit short on certainly the overseas horses.”
The likelihood of a low weight means that Zahra is unlikely to retain the mount unless Realm Of Flowers can boost her rating when she returns in the spring.
“I said to the owners that they’d have to win another three races to get a five-kilo penalty and then I’d be a chance,” Zahra said with a wry smile. “It is very exciting for all the owners with a ticket into the Melbourne Cup. She’d be a live chance. She’s a fantastic stayer and she gave me a beautiful ride today. I was the winner a long way out.
“I knew I had Grand Promenade and Persan covered. I was just worried if Miami Bound had followed me through. I looked at the big screen, took a few breaths and eased down.”
The Andrew Ramsden’s position as a ballot-exempt feature is in its third year, with the Freedman team now having won the coveted golden ticket twice. In 2019, Steel Prince (Nathaniel) scored in May and went on to finish ninth in November.
While the celebrations were certainly vocal on track yesterday, the elder Freedman was still rueing a missed opportunity in the Sydney Cup, when she was stuck in inferior ground on the inside.
“Knowing this mare, if she had got out wider she definitely would have been in that group that came down the centre,” he said.
“My initial thoughts were to send her to Queensland to spell her but the owners said, ‘why don’t you bring her home’ and I just fiddled around with her for a couple of weeks.
“About ten days ago, I was starting to get really happy with her. Her work on Tuesday was great. I just thought everything went to plan today she’d be hard to beat.
“She looked the winner a long way out. It’s a good feeling when you’re going that well knowing that they’re not going to find a lot at the end of that sort of trip.”
Now, Realm Of Flowers will line up on the first Tuesday in November as she attempts to atone for her sire’s gutsy third in the race in 2010. Before then, though, Queensland beckons – although she is unlikely to step out on raceday while she is up north.
“She’s like one of those long distance runners – she’s fit most of the time,” Freedman said. “The only thing I’m not going to do is spell her. Particularly in Victoria the weather is just so bad at this time of year. I’ll work it out this week but we’ll think of something for the next couple of months but she’ll start a proper prep in July.
“A mare like this, there is not a lot of her, so a spell wouldn’t do her any good. She’s better off staying warm and keeping her moving and keeping her ticking over.
“It’s pretty easy now with her. Whether you run in the Caulfield Cup it wouldn’t worry me. The whole thing will be aimed at the one race and how we get there is almost irrelevant.”
A $180,000 purchase by James Bester Bloodstock from the Arrowfield draft at the 2018 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale, Realm Of Flowers – bred by Des and Sharon Whybird’s Desharon Bloodstock and Russell Board and Narelle Ivers’Stableboard Bloodstock – took her earnings to $515,410 with yesterday’s win.
Realm Of Flowers is one of 33 stakes winners for So You Think (High Chaparral), while she is the third named foal and the third winner out of British mare Astral Flower (Kalanisi), herself a half-sister to Group 1 winner and Westbury Stud stallion Redwood (High Chaparral).
It is a Juddmonte family with Realm Of Flowers’ third dam Jolypha (Lyphard) a sister to the imperious Dancing Brave.
Astral Flower missed to So You Think in 2019, produced a Churchill (Galileo) filly in 2020 and was again served by Churchill in October.
Eduardo scores second Group 1 win
In Brisbane, the Joe Pride-trained Eduardo (7 g Host – Blushing by Fantastic Light) justified odds-on favouritism to claim the Doomben 10,000 (Gr 1, 1200m), his second top-level feature this preparation.
Sent out at $1.70 under one of the world’s premier front-running riders in Nash Rawiller, Eduardo was cuddled on the speed before demonstrating his trademark tenacity to defy a wall of chasers to score by a long neck.
Wild Planet (Animal Kingdom), who took out the Inglis Guineas (RL, 1400m) on this day two years ago, charged home to finish second with North Queensland star The Harrovian (Fastnet Rock) a further long head away in third.
Having won both The Galaxy (Gr 1, 1100m) and the Doomben 10,000 this preparation, Pride said that Eduardo would be spelled and would remain in Queensland during the winter before returning to Sydney.
Offers have already been tabled for the $15 million The Everest (1200m) and it seems only a matter of time before a slotholder snaps up the gelding, who will be an eight-year-old when the race is run in October.
“There was so much pressure this week. All my Group 1s have been at double figures. I think Eduardo was the shortest when he won the Galaxy at about $7,” Pride said.
“He is a great horse. He got the job done. We came here as a bit of an afterthought. It is a testament to the quality he has.
“You don’t often see a horse that has so much speed have so much fight. He is a bulldog, he just keeps fighting.
“He will have a little break in Queensland. He seems to like it up here. He will have a break before the spring and look forward to what he can do next time around.”