Tarpaulin has his rivals covered
Bright future predicted for Godolphin youngster after he shines in testing conditions at Randwick
Godolphin look to have unearthed another potential star youngster by one of their most successful shuttle sires after Tarpaulin (Harry Angel) strolled to victory in Saturday’s Ranvet Handicap (1100m) at Randwick.
Well supported into $1.80, Tarpaulin offered James McDonald a commensurately comfortable ride in settling near the rear of the eight-runner field, stalking the leaders around the turn, and coming away to win by 2.5 lengths.
The well-related colt – a half-brother to three stakes-winners including triple Group victor Aft Cabin (Astern) – was spelled for further development following a debut fourth at Randwick in December.
Since returning, he has won the past two of three starts, with Saturday’s success following a 1200-metre Warwick Farm Wednesday handicap win by a similar margin.
And though his winning form has come on heavy tracks in the depth of winter, trainer James Cummings was impressed enough with Saturday’s performance to forecast more laurels in tougher races as the spring unfolds.
Cummings identified the $200,000 The Rosebud (Listed, 1100m) at Rosehill on August 17 as Tarpaulin’s next target ahead of possibly richer events later in the year.
“He’s a lovely colt. He is exciting. He cruised up to them with such an effortless stride today,” Cummings said.
“He let down well. It is tired ground, but that’s a good progression from putting away a handy maiden field.
“To put that margin on that field today, I think that bodes well for his prospects in the Rosebud. Hopefully he doesn’t go up too much in weight for the win.”
While Darley will not be returning their imminent champion first season sire Too Darn Hot (Dubawi) for another season this year, the future looks bright for Harry Angel (Dark Angel), who’ll shuttle for the sixth time.
The rising 11-year-old will stand at his personal-high Australian fee of $38,500. That’s up from $33,000 last year, which was double his 2022 mark after a third-placed finish on the 2022-23 first season sires’ table.
Harry Angel sired three stakes winners from his first Australian crop, among nine winners from 23 runners headed by Arkansaw Kid.
The stallion has backed that up this season, currently sitting fourth among second-season sires with 40 winners from 81 starters including four black type victors headlined by his sole international elite-level winner, ATC Spring Champion Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) hero Tom Kitten.
Harry Angel covered his third-largest Australian book last season, with 119 mares, down from the 175 in his last year at $16,500 the previous season.
Cummings noted that with a 5m x 5m duplication of the great Mr. Prospector (Raise A Native), Tarpaulin was a particularly well-bred son of Harry Angel, who he feels will continue to shine as a sire.
“Tarpaulin is line-bred to Mr P, and I think he’s got a big future with an excellent pedigree,” Cummings said.
“One thing I’ll say about the Harry Angels is that for the mares that he’s had so far, he’s actually doing a very good job. And this is yet another promising colt that he’s got out and about. It’s exciting for the team.”
While Saturday’s win came against a small field on a heavy 9 in winter, McDonald was more than impressed with Tarpaulin.
“He’s got a lethal turn of foot, he really scoots through the ground, and he’s got a killer will-to-win,” McDonald said. “He’s up at the right time, he’s got good ability, so he’ll measure up whatever he runs in.
“He’s a nice fit racehorse. He ran it out strong, 1200 back to 1100 suited him, and with his ability against these sort of horses he was always going to put them away pretty quick.”
Tarpaulin is the seventh of eight named foals for the Sydney and Melbourne city winning mare Shelters (Lonhro), who Darley inherited from her breeders after buying out Woodlands Stud in 2008.
The rising 17-year-old’s other stakes winners aside from Aft Cabin are Group 3 and Listed victor Multaja (Medaglia D’Oro) and her brother, the Listed-winning Veranillo.
Godolphin also has Shelters’ rising two-year-old colt Cavern (Brazen Beau), while she has a weanling colt by Astern (Medaglia D’Oro) and was covered by that stallion again last spring.
Team Snowden’s last-start Kensington winner Sakima (Snitzel) took second behind Tarpaulin in Saturday’s race as the $6 third-favourite, with Bjorn Baker’s Ride The River (Headwater) more than six lengths further adrift in third at $20.
Public Attention leaps into Caulfield Guineas contention
Mick Price believes he has a Caulfield Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) contender after Public Attention (Written Tycoon) impressive debut victory on Saturday.
The Coolmore colt, bred by the late Sir Patrick Hogan and bought for $160,000 from Carlaw Park’s draft at last year’s Karaka Yearling Sale, stepped out as one of only two first-starters in Caulfield’s Chairman’s Club Handicap (1200m).
And though an easy $16 chance – despite winning two recent jump-outs – he produced a powerful performance to suggest spring riches could be in store.
Ridden superbly by Ethan Brown, Public Attention showed good speed from gate six to settle fifth, three-wide without cover in the one-turn affair. The striking grey ground away in pursuit of the two leaders for most of the straight, and while the well-fancied Ndola (Justify) found a gap late on to challenge to his inside, Public Attention lifted noticeably to beat him by 0.4 lengths.
“When something wins, every trainer says, ‘Oh I really liked him’ you know?” Price, who trains the winner in partnership with Michael Kent Jnr, said post-race.
“But just the fact we turned up on a Saturday [against] some proven form and horses that are ahead of us, gives you some idea what we think about the horse.
“We didn’t want to take him to a little bush meeting. We wanted him qualified for the better races.”
Price said Public Attention may yet carry the Coolmore colours in the Coolmore Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) at Flemington on November 2, but given the style of his debut win on Saturday, the longer trip of the Caulfield Guineas on October 12 would likely be a more suitable target.
“He’s a beautifully clean-winded horse,” said Price, “He was a lighter, backward type of yearling and it took him, I reckon, 15 months before he started to morph into a colt, and you look at him now he’s a beautiful horse.
“In the pre-race I said he was a black–type horse coming, so we’ll have a crack at a good race.
“At this point, he’s either a Coolmore horse or a Caulfield Guineas horse, and I think he’s a Caulfield Guineas horse.”
Brown concurred, saying Public Attention should “well and truly” be bound for the longer of those two stallion-makers.
“I can’t see why not,” Brown said. “He’s a very nice colt. He covered ground today but he appreciated room at the same time.
“He was very wayward up the straight, but when [Ndola] came up on the inside of us, he rallied again, which is a good trait for a colt. He’s only going to improve.
“I heard he was a bit of a handful getting saddled up, but he really switched on once I got on his back. He knew, to a point, what his job was, but I think going forward, he’s really going to take improvement and measure up in better races.”
Public Attention’s victory gave Yulong’s remarkable fee-for-service sire Written Tycoon (Iglesia) an 18th juvenile winner for the season as he bears down on his second two-year-old sires’ title, eight years after his first.
The rising 22-year-old leads that table comfortably by earnings, thanks mostly to Golden Slipper (Group 1, 1200m) winner Lady Of Camelot, while he ended Saturday four winners clear of second-best in that category, Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice).
Australia’s champion sire of 2020-21 currently sits sixth on the general sires’ table, having finished seventh last term.
Public Attention is the second of four foals – and the only one to race so far – from two-time winning New Zealand mare Legramor (Commands). She has a Tarzino (Tavistock) weanling colt on the ground, and was shipped to Australia in-foal to Satono Aladdin (Deep Impact) earlier this year.
I Am Velvet shines in Gold Ingot
Swettenham Stud sire I Am Immortal’s (I Am Invincible) promising first season of runners received another boost when the wayward but exciting I Am Velvet made it three wins from as many starts in the lucrative VOBIS Gold Ingot (1400m) at Caulfield on Saturday.
Providing a handful of a ride for Daniel Stackhouse, the Phillip Stokes-trained filly was caught five-wide without cover from gate six of seven around the first turn, then moved up to travel outside of odds-on leader Dom (Pierro).
While many will have expected Dom to kick away from his rival in the straight – following his debut win over 1430 metres at Geelong by 5.5 lengths earlier in the month – the hulking filly to his outside soon put him under pressure after the home turn.
And while Stackhouse had to battle throughout the straight to stop her from lugging in on her smaller rival – despite her new near-side bubble cheeker – she eventually steadied enough to pull away from the Team Hayes gelding.
Shortening slightly herself into $3.30 by post time, I Am Velvet beat Dom by 1.5 lengths, with the Cavity Bay (Cable Bay) carrying the Makybe Diva colours to third at $26, another 0.5 lengths behind.
Having also scored in her first two starts over 1000 metres at Pakenham in January and first-up, by three lengths, over 1200 metres on the Pakenham synthetic recently, I Am Velvet is one of three winners from 13 runners for I Am Immortal, a trio headed by Danny O’Brien’s Listed-placed Immortal Star.
One of ten sons of the great I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) standing in Australia, I Am Immortal will stand his fifth season at an unchanged $13,750 this year, having covered his largest book of 121 mares last spring, up from 100 in 2022.
Stokes predicted I Am Velvet could become her rising eight-year-old sire’s first stakes winner.
“It was a good ride by Stacky because we didn’t think there was going to be a lot of speed, and I was pleased when he pushed to get outside the favourite,” Stokes said.
“The hanging in is a problem. I thought the bubble cheeker would rectify that, but we will keep working on it.
“She ran the 1400 metres out strong, so that’s a tick. She is an exciting filly; we will try to iron out those kinks.
“I think she is a stakes filly in the making.”
Bred by Esker Lodge and bearing the fluorescent yellow silks of Australian Thoroughbred Bloodstock (ATB), I Am Velvet is from the same family as another rising eight-year-old sire son of I Am Invincible, Strasbourg, who had his first stakes winner last Saturday when Colmar took the SAJC Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 3, 1400m).
I Am Velvet is the second named foal of the 12-year-old Black Velveteen (Domesday), a Melbourne city winner who had only four starts.
Bred by a group headed by ATB’s Darren and Liz Dance, Black Velveteen’s first named foal is the Stokes-trained Tobaysure (Cable Bay), winner of four races including last spring’s VOBIS Gold Star (1500m) at Moonee Valley.
Possessing a patchy breeding record, Black Velveteen missed to Shalaa (Invincible Spirit) in 2021, slipped to Magna Grecia (Invincible Spirit) in 2022, and was covered by Shalaa again last spring.