Tavistock’s Saint Eustace out to give Frost second SA Derby
Twelve years after Bill Frost had Zarita (Pentire) become the first filly to claim the Australasian Oaks (Gr 1, 2000m)-South Australian Derby (Gr 1, 2500m) double, the Victorian owner and breeder will be attempting to take out the staying race for a second time.
Saint Eustace (Tavistock) will be aiming to add his name to the South Australian Derby honour roll as well as join Frost’s growing list of talented horses that he has raced.
Trainers Mick Price and Michael Kent Jr have had the Group 1 race earmarked for Saint Eustace since his Geelong maiden victory in March.
Perhaps unconventionally, Saint Eustace was sent to South Australia for the Port Adelaide Guineas (Listed, 1800m) before connections elected to use the VRC St Leger (Listed, 2800m) as his lead-up run to the Derby.
“After he won his maiden we mapped out a series of races and we thought that the St Leger gave him the best chance to win the Derby,” Kent told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“We couldn’t go back to Adelaide three times in a row and we didn’t want to leave him over there because we can’t travel (due to coronavirus).
“But we wanted to give him one look over there, bring him back and give him a run in Melbourne and we thought the St Leger was the race. Bill has always wanted to win a St Leger and he very nearly did and now we’ve had two weeks to keep the speed in his legs going back in distance.”
Zac Spain takes the ride on Saint Eustace tomorrow after combining with the stable to take out the Port Adelaide Cup (Listed, 2500m) last week.
“He’s very clean-winded and we’ve had Regan Bayliss on him since and he’s been thrilled with his work,” Kent said.
“He’s drawn the right barrier in six. He can flop out, look to relax and then get out at the right time. He’s got a good sense of timing about him, that horse.”
While Frost will be hoping to achieve the ultimate success at Morphettville with Saint Eustace, an NZ$160,000 New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka Yearling Sale graduate from the Cambridge Stud draft, he will also have homebred filly Ready Set Sail (More Than Ready) resuming at Caulfield.
Also trained by Price and Kent, Ready Set Sail dead-heated with Flit (Medaglia d’Oro) in the TBV Thoroughbred Breeders Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) during last year’s Melbourne autumn carnival.
Since then the two fillies have experienced vastly different results: Flit won the MRC Thousand Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) while Ready Set Sail was unplaced in three starts during the spring and has not raced since.
A daughter of Frost’s talented mare Jolie Brise (Fastnet Rock), Ready Set Sail has drawn barrier ten in the Darren Gauci Handicap (1200m) for three-year-old fillies.
“She’s a beautiful, big filly but she just didn’t come up in the spring,” Kent said.
“This time in, we’ve had the most amazing prep with her. Everything’s gone perfectly and we couldn’t do any more with her without going to the races.
“She has trialled super and race day is her test now. She’s got to stand up under race day pressure but she’s very exciting.”
Frost, who agists his select broodmare band at Widden Stud, also raced Group 2-winning mare Ballet Society (Stravinsky) who he sold in 2017 to China Horse Club carrying this season’s Reisling Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) winner Dame Giselle (I Am Invincible).
The property developer also has two exciting unraced fillies who could make their mark during the spring, the NZ$115,000 unraced Savabeel (Zabeel) Karaka graduate called The Lion Inside, and the recently acquired Annavisto (Reliable Man) who was formerly trained by Tony Pike in New Zealand.
Frost is racing the Reliable Man (Dalakhani) filly with her breeder, Nearco Stud’s Greg Tomlinson, and AFL footballers Jobe Watson, Cale Hooker and Tom Bellchambers.
“Greg Tomlinson, who is a fantastic breeder, is staying in and also in the ownership are the Essendon boys – Jobe Watson, Cale Hooker, Tom Bellchambers. Bill’s taken a major share and she will race in his colours.
“She won a trial impressively at Te Teko in February and out of the trial, the second horse went and won its next trial and the third horse in the trial is Safe Passage who went and won her first start by four lengths (at Matamata in March),” Kent said.
“She flies in on Monday for a Guineas-Oaks prep and she looks most promising.”
The deal was completed prior to Covid-19 causing New Zealand racing and the country to shut down.
On The Lion Inside, Kent said: “She’s unraced and is being set for the spring. She’s just come back into work and (jockey) Michael Walker had massive raps on her.”