Xtravagant filly’s Group-class gears to be tested in Thousand Guineas Prelude
Laming confident Newhaven Park-bred three-year-old can live up to early promise
The endorsement of Newhaven Park’s John Kelly was enough for Richard Laming to take a punt on a filly by the NSW stud’s first season sire Xtravagant (Pentire) and, 20 months later, the now three-year-old Xtra Gear can go a long way to justifying the breeder and her trainer’s lofty opinion of her.
Such is the rapid progression of the lightly raced Xtra Gear, an impressive last-start winner on the Victorian provincial circuit, Cranbourne trainer Laming has brought forward the filly’s first stakes assignment by a week and she will run in tomorrow’s Thousand Guineas Prelude (Gr 2, 1400m) at Caulfield.
“She is bred to get 1400 metres to a mile and the way she is starting to relax in her races and her work suggests that it shouldn’t be an issue,” Laming told ANZ Bloodstock News yesterday.
“She wanted to get it over and done with early days in her trials but I think riding her quietly at her first start saw her benefit from that and she really jumped and put herself in the race last time.
“She finished off nicely and quickened up nicely (to win at Geelong), and she’s got to take the next step on Saturday, but if she does everything right, she will be hard to beat.”
Xtra Gear’s first start most likely would have passed without much fanfare – it was a Sunday maiden at Sale during footy season – but bumping into Invincible Caviar (I Am Invincible), a daughter of Black Caviar (Bel Esprit), meant there was a much bigger audience watching than just the hardened punters.
The fact she moved up on the turn to momentarily go shoulder to shoulder in the straight left most with little doubt she was above average.
She gets her chance to prove that in tomorrow’s Thousand Guineas Prelude, if her subsequent Geelong maiden victory hadn’t already.
The form produced thus far by Xtra Gear has come as no surprise to Laming.
“Our plan was to go back that day (at Sale) and teach her something. If we had gone forward and sat outside Invincible Caviar we might have seen a different result,” he said.
“She went back, covered extra ground and she was wide. They said she (Invincible Caviar) did it easily, but we did a lot wrong and she’d already had a prep under her belt and we hadn’t. Look, I wouldn’t swap my filly at this stage.
“It was a good run on debut and it was a good win when she won her maiden.”
Laming also played down the fact that Jye McNeil, who has ridden Xtra Gear at her two starts to date, would be on the Anthony and Sam Freedman-trained Elusive Express (Jakkalberry) tomorrow.
“That’s jockey managers for you. Jye actually rang up wanting to get off that (Elusive Express) to ride ours but he was already booked,” the Cranbourne trainer said.
“Our plan was to probably wait until next week (for the Jim Moloney Stakes) but when the nominations came out and she worked so well on Tuesday, I opted to come forward by a week and Jye’s manager had already taken another ride.
“I would have preferred Jye on her as he knows her, but we are certainly at no disadvantage with Dean Yendall who rides Caulfield very well.”
Newhaven Park, of course, has a long and proud history of breeding top-class horses and Laming has been the beneficiary of that on more than one occasion, so when stud principal Kelly told him he’d retain 25 per cent in Xtra Gear prior to her going through the Magic Millions sales ring in January last year, the trainer was not letting her go and parted with $170,000 to secure the filly.
“(Xtra Gear) was a lovely yearling. She had a nice, big long walk on her and I’ve had a lot of luck with the breeder John Kelly and he was happy to keep a quarter before I bought her and that always gives you confidence when a breeder backs his judgement,” Laming said.
“John actually bought the mare to be covered by Xtravagant and she was a very good type. John also bred Jamaican Rain (who Laming trained to win two Group 3s), so that always gives you confidence.
“I was happy to buy her and I have got a good group of owners in her.”
A daughter of the unraced Stregheria (Flying Pegasus), a half-sister to Hong Kong stakes winner Captain Sweet (Fastnet Rock), Xtra Gear could become Newhaven first season sire Xtravagant’s second first crop stakes winner in a matter of weeks after the Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young-trained He’s Xceptional took out the Mitchell McKenzie Stakes (Listed, 1200m) at Moonee Valley last month.
Xtravagant, who stands for a fee of $11,000 (inc GST) at the Boorowa stud this year, has covered 387 mares in his first four years at Newhaven Park.