Talented colt charges straight into Slipper contention
On the anniversary of his sire’s greatest triumph in the 2018 Blue Diamond Stakes, Straight Charge (Written By) earned the stallion’s highest stud honour to date and pushed himself higher up the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott juvenile pecking order with an authoritative win in yesterday’s Silver Slipper Stakes (Gr 2, 1100m) at Rosehill.
While Magic Millions 2YO Classic (RL, 1200m) winner Storm Boy (Justify) heads up Tulloch Lodge’s two-year-old barn and dominates the market for the Golden Slipper Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m), Straight Charge went some way to settling one score yesterday.
The event looked a two-horse battle between $270,000 yearling Straight Charge and stablemate Espionage (Zoustar), James Harron’s $1 million colt who beat Straight Charge into second in this crop’s unveiling in last October’s Breeders’ Plate (Gr 3, 1000m).
With Straight Charge having subsequently won a Randwick 1100-metre set weights event on December 23 by three and a quarter lengths, he was sent out a firm $2.45 favourite yesterday while Espionage, having his second start, was $2.80.
And the race fulfilled that ranking, with Straight Charge scooting to the lead under Tim Clark at the 800-metre mark ahead of Espionage, and safely holding Nash Rawiller’s mount in the straight to win by a little over a length.
The race provided Widden’s Written By (Written Tycoon) with a third stakes-winner – from 63 runners for 27 winners overall – and his first Group 2 success. That bettered the Group 3 victory of The Novelist, coincidentally a half-brother to one of Waterhouse-Bott’s other current two-year-old stars Fully Lit (Hellbent).
Bookmakers responded by shortening Straight Charge to an $11 third-favourite for the Golden Slipper at Rosehill on March 23, behind the long-term favourite Storm Boy, who also shortened slightly yesterday to $2.80, and Coolmore’s colt, the Chris Waller-trained Switzerland (Snitzel) at $6.
But bookies weren’t unduly deterred by Espionage’s fighting defeat. He was last night one of four Tulloch Lodge youngsters comprising the fourth line of Slipper betting at $13, along with Fully Lit, Shangri La Express (Alabama Express), and the lone filly Lady Of Camelot (Written Tycoon), who lost no admirers with her second in yesterday’s Blue Diamond Stakes at Caulfield.
Co-trainer Adrian Bott said yesterday’s victory – which followed a resounding Warwick Farm barrier trial win over 816 metres – had atoned in part for Straight Charge having to be scratched from the Magic Millions 2YO Classic (RL, 1200m) due to an elevated temperature a few days out.
“Excellent. He is a very talented colt,” Bott said post-race. “I was heartbroken we didn’t get to see him go up to the Magic Millions, he’s such a great talent. But he’s back here today to showcase it and it was a very impressive win.
“He has been a natural two-year-old all the way through, from the minute we did anything with him he has shown that natural brilliance. That great early speed and good, sustained speed.
“He has been very impressive today and that’s what we have seen all the way through. He took the running up early and it was very difficult because he had a good colt [Espionage] chasing him. I think he enjoyed the conditions and there is still a bit of improvement to come.”
Bott said Espionage being first-up since the Breeders’ Plate “may have been the difference”, as well as yesterday’s Soft6 track.
“That extra grounding and the campaign that Straight Charge had in between, that may have been the difference,” Bott said.
“I do think the ground was also slightly against Espionage. He’s got a lot of natural brilliance and he may not have been able to pick his feet up initially at the top of the straight. Back on top of the ground I think we’ll see further improvement.”
Bott said Straight Charge and Espionage would likely clash again in the Todman Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) at Randwick on March 9 in what will be their last run before the Slipper.
An impressed Clark said Straight Charge would draw improvement from the run.
“I felt that if anything, today was where he was going to be, probably, most vulnerable,” Clark said.
“But he’s just got an abundance of speed. But he came back to me nicely when I asked him and sort of rested around the bend. I was confident that he’d get through the ground from what he’d shown at home. We came here thinking that that’s the sort of performance we want to see from him. It was excellent to get the result.”
Clark said Gai Waterhouse had convinced him to stick to Straight Charge, with the jockey having also won on five more of the stable’s phenomenal 13 individual two-year-old winners this season.
“It’s a good position to be in. I don’t take that lightly being one of their riders for Gai and Adrian,” he said. “But I really just lean on them mainly, and Gai was pretty adamant I stick with this bloke pre-Christmas and again leading into this prep. I try and lean on them a lot and they’ve been right most of the time.”
Despite finishing second, Rawiller was impressed with Espionage’s effort.
“He’s a beautiful horse. I felt that he probably wasn’t as comfortable in the ground under pressure as I would have hoped (but) he adapted well. He is one of those horses who will adapt to anything,” he said.
“I still felt his last 100 metres was his best. Really encouraging going to the Slipper.”
Straight Charge was bought by Yulong at last year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Sale, and the colt races in the stud’s green and white checks with a slight twist: he has a pink cap, since he races in the ownership of April Zhang, Yulong’s finance director and daughter of the stud’s billionaire Chinese owner, Zhang Yuesheng.
Bred by Scott and Kathy Robertson, Straight Charge is the second foal of Matryoshka (I Am Invincible), a half-sister to Group-winning pair Winning Rupert (Written Tycoon) and Tycoon Evie (Written Tycoon). Matryoshka’s first foal, four-year-old gelding Staroshka (Star Witness), recently broke through to win the last two of his five starts; the first at Kyneton and then – after a stable change – at Toowoomba.
Matryoshka was sent back to Written By soon after Straight Charge’s birth, but slipped. She now has a yearling colt on the ground by the same stallion and was covered by Zoustar (Northern Meteor) in November.