Two hot chances for Too Darn Hot in Chairman’s Stakes
Too Darn Hot (Dubawi) continues to surge as a sire and will have two darn hot chances when the build-up to the Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) gathers pace in Saturday’s Chairman’s Stakes (Gr 3, 1000m) at Sandown.
Hot Sea (Too Darn Hot) will debut for the also up-and-coming Gavin Bedggood stable, after two impressive all-the-way jump-out victories at his home track of Cranbourne.
A homebred for West Australian breeder Brett Fogarty of Cape Falls Thoroughbreds, the gelding was on Wednesday a $5 joint second favourite – level with his sire’s other runner, Sword Of Legacy. She’ll also be striving to become Too Darn Hot’s fifth juvenile winner of the season, in her second outing for another emerging young trainer in Dom Sutton.
Former Darley shuttler Too Darn Hot’s pair were shaded in the market at $3.70 by Forceofone (Super Seth) – a filly representing Lindsay Park, who will sport the colours of Rupert Legh. Darley’s Victorian trainers Anthony and Sam Freedman will also send out a second blue army runner by Street Boss (Street Cry) in $8 first-starter Tentyris.
With interest in three of the nine runners, Sheikh Mohammed’s influence runs deep in the Chairman’s. But despite only being second in the market and one of the three males in the field, Bedggood rates Hot Sea a strong chance of striking a blow for the boys.
The second of four foals for the Cape Falls-bred Seannie (Sebring), who was Group 3-placed in Perth over 1100 metres and Melbourne over 1200 metres amid four wins from 15 starts, Hot Sea first appeared with an effortless three-length win in a 650-metre jump-out on January 13, albeit over just four rivals.
He followed up on Monday against eight rivals over 800 metres. The intention, Bedggood said, was to “park in behind” to afford a different experience, but Hot Sea soon powered his way to the front before being eased down close to home to win by almost a length.
Hot Sea was ridden both times by Jamie Mott, who’ll be aboard again from gate eight this weekend.
“Jamie’s feedback is just that he’s very fast,” Bedggood told ANZ Bloodstock News. “He just jumps and puts himself there.
“He’s a beautiful horse, really well put together, and with good strength. He looks like a two-year-old; he’s a ball of muscle.
“I’d think he’s a front running type. The biggest thing we’ve taken from the jump-outs is he’s got very good gatespeed. But I’ll leave the race tactics up to Jamie. He’s got a good bit of background on the horse from having a couple of rides on him.
“This is pretty much his first preparation. When he first arrived, if someone had said he’d be getting right through and lining up in a stakes race and being right in the market, I probably wouldn’t have thought so.
“But he had a nice jump-out on Monday morning, he’s gone home and eaten every cracker since, he’s bright and sound, so we’re looking forward to Saturday.”
Fogarty has already tasted important two-year-old success this summer in his home state, with the Dion Luciani-trained Yes Queen (Yes Yes Yes) comfortably taking Ascot’s $100,000 Crystal Slipper (1100m) on Railway Stakes day. Recognising Hot Sea’s potential, the breeder sent him to Bedggood earlier this season, having also given him a three-year-old filly by Capitalist (Written Tycoon) who’s preparing to trial.
Training since 2017, Bedggood is a young man on the rise amongst Victorian conditioners. He’s won eight black type races, and claimed his first top tier victory in the spring in the Moir Stakes (Gr 1, 1000m) thanks to Mornington Glory (Shalaa), who also won a Cranbourne jump-out on Monday and is set to resume in Flemington’s Black Caviar Lightning Stakes (Gr 1, 1000m) on February 15.
Bedggood’s stable has grown in size, commensurate with the attention.
“We’ve got a property where we can have 45 horses, and we’re pretty much full all the time now,” he said. “That’s good, but we’re also always trying to get a better calibre of horse as well, of course.”
The trainer also had a two-year-old by another star shuttler in Yamashita’s Gold (Wootton Bassett) in last Saturday’s males’ Blue Diamond Preview (Listed, 1000m). The excitable colt spent most of his tickets before the race, but still managed a 1.75–length second of six, behind Shining Smile (Spirit Of Boom).
Bedggood only has one Too Darn Hot but is hoping his increasing exposure will bring more.
Having stood four Australian springs until 2023 before Darley made the decision to keep him full–time in the northern hemisphere, Too Darn Hot has backed up last term’s first-season sires’ title by sitting atop the sophomore table at present, ahead of a continuing Darley shuttler who’s building momentum in Blue Point (Shamardal).
Having finished second among Australian two-year-old sires last season, Too Darn Hot is ninth on that table at present – but third by his four winners behind Spirit Of Boom (Sequalo) with seven and Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) with five.
On the general sires’ table, Too Darn Hot sits 28th – a creditable position in only his second season of runners. More impressive still, he’s equal fifth by stakes winners, with six from 66 runners, at 9.1 per cent. Those above him average 247 runners, with Pride Of Dubai (Street Cry) having the next-lowest with 161.
“He’s flying as a sire, Too Darn Hot,” Bedggood said. “Hot Sea is my one and only one by him, unfortunately, but we’ve got two two-year-olds who are up and going, and one’s by him and the other’s by Wootton Bassett.
“It just shows that even though you’re a small stable, if you can get a chance with something with a decent pedigree then you’re half a sniff.”
Of Hot Sea’s chances on debut, Bedggood put his confidence level at “around six or seven out of ten” – which seems conservative, “but that’s just me”.
“There’s plenty of top stables in the race, but it’s a two-year-old race, and anything could happen,” he said.
“My horse hasn’t had a trip away before. As good a place to train as Cranbourne is, we unfortunately don’t get the luxury of going anywhere else and trialling, and getting experience, and that brought about the undoing of my two-year-old [Yamashita’s Gold] last Saturday. If you train at Cranbourne, you have to trial at Cranbourne, unfortunately.
“But still, Hot Sea couldn’t have done any better than he’s done at the trials so far. He’s also a bit different to Yamashita’s Gold in that he’s not a colt, he’s a gelding, so you won’t see him getting around on five legs. He is still a high-energy horse though.”
Meanwhile, Sword Of Legacy will also fly Too Darn Hot’s flag after a debut 1.5–length second to Cavalry Girl (Bivouac) in a 1000-metre Flemington two-year-old handicap on January 18.
The filly was retained to race by David Moodie’s Hesket Thoroughbreds after failing to meet her $220,000 reserve at last year’s Inglis Australian Easter Sale.
Sword Of Legacy is the third foal out of the winning Hesket-bred mare Kaiken (Exceed And Excel), a three-quarter sister to other Moodie stars in Group 1 winner Flamberge (Exceed And Excel) and his Listed-winning sister Curtana. Kaiken is also a half-sister to two more Moodie-bred stakes winners in Sword Of Light (New Approach) and Sword Of Justice (Medaglia D’Oro).