Stay Focused (AUS)
Stay Focused (AUS)
2 c Cosmic Force – Coral Reef by Galileo
O: Bennett Racing Pty Ltd (Mgr. N P Bennett), M V Broadhead, R A Caldwell, D Phillips, M Buckley, Cockram Racing 6 (Mgr. W H Cockram), K P Chai, Miss S Hoadley, Mrs K Treadwell, BR Coral Reef (Mgr. N P Bennett) & Mrs D Broadhead
B: Kingstar Farm
T: Phillip Stokes
S: Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale V: Sledmere Stud P: Bennett Racing, $250,000
W: Rex Gorell Geelong Diamond Handicap, 1100m, January 6, Geelong
Stay Focused (Cosmic Force) lived up to the hype placed on him when he produced an impressive victory in last Saturday’s inaugural $150,000 Geelong Diamond (1100m), guaranteeing the colt a start in next month’s Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m).
The Phillip Stokes-trained two-year-old, who won a Cranbourne barrier trial in December, showed an impressive turn of foot to beat Trunk (Snitzel) by two lengths with Markdel (Snitzel) finishing a further two and three-quarter lengths away in third.
Syndicator Nathan Bennett, who lives near Geelong, made a flying visit to his home track to watch the victory before returning to the Gold Coast for the Magic Millions sale.
“From the day we bought him we loved him – he was the highest-priced Cosmic Force colt for the season – and we’ve gone hard on him,” Bennett said.
“We’ve actually put a few mares to Cosmic Force because we love this horse so much and the way he did that was exciting.”
Bennett Racing paid $250,000 for Stay Focused when offered through the Sledmere Stud draft at last year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale. He’d been sold through the same Gold Coast ring as a weanling for $190,000 when bought by Mel O’Gorman’s Blade Racing.
Bred by Kingstar Farm, Stay Focused is the latest of seven winners out of Coral Reef (Galileo), who is already the dam of the stakes-placed pair Miss Moana (Uncle Mo) and Hollywood Mo (Uncle Mo) as well as the Bennett-raced seven-time winner Apache Star (Star Witness) and Beauty Rising (Deep Field).
In landing Saturday’s race, Stay Focused became the second winner for Newgate Farm’s first-season sire Cosmic Force (Deep Field), who stood for a fee of $11,000 (inc GST) in 2023, and the farm’s principal Henry Field believes he could be an exceptional colt.
“His turn of foot was nothing short of awesome and I think he beat a very good horse in Trunk in second, so I think the race is going to stack up as a very hot form race,” Field told ANZ Bloodstock News on Saturday.
Kingstar Farm’s Matthew Sandblom has a yearling brother to Stay Focused who is set to be offered at the HTBA Yearling Sale at Inglis’ Riverside Stables in April.