Cover image courtesy of Casino Racing Club
Written by Paul Vettise
Exclusive (Written Tycoon) showed promising early signs of repaying a hefty purchase price before health issues and surgeries interrupted his progress.
He went through two major Sydney stables before finding his way to hobby trainer Stephen Bennett at Casino and a strong run of form has earned him a crack at the Listed GDSC Ramornie H. at Grafton on Wednesday.
Exclusive has won six times from 14 appearances for Bennett, a butcher who prepares a small team of horses on the side, and with consecutive victories to his credit looms as a lightweight chance in the feature.
Watch: Exclusive winning at Grafton on June 28
“He’s not a bad horse and we had a crack at The Country Championship with him and he ran fourth in a heat at Grafton and then the coronavirus kicked in and we had nothing else we could go to,” he said.
“I gave him a few easy weeks and thought about things for a while and my son said to me you might as well have a go at the Beef Week Cup and you might be able to get in the Ramornie and then he won a race at Grafton and this is where we’ve finished up.”
From the family of Group 1 winners Our Tristalight (NZ) (Sir Tristram {Ire}), Danske (NZ) (Danehill {USA}) and Midnight Oil (NZ) (Keeper), Exclusive was originally purchased out of Woodside Park Stud’s draft at the Magic Millions National Weanling Sale for $230,000 by James Harron.
Written Tycoon, sire of Exclusive | Standing at Arrowfield Stud
Encouraging debut
He subsequently joined Peter and Paul Snowden’s stable and finished fifth on debut behind The Autumn Sun before winning at Kembla Grange. He was then sidelined for a year before having three runs for trainer Mark Newnham.
Exclusive had undergone throat surgery and was gelded before he was sold at an Inglis Digital Monthly Sale for $35,000. He is now raced by a syndicate that includes Bennett and Leon Sullivan, whose partner was involved in the previous ownership.
“We bought him and that’s the fairy tale of the story. He goes well and I’ve got four in work at the moment,” Bennett said. “I’m a butcher, but I’m nearly ready to retire. I’ve always had a couple of horses around as a hobby.”
Stephen Bennett | Image courtesy of Casino Racing Club
Exclusive will jump from an outside gate, but that’s not considered to be a negative for the 4-year-old.
“If you go through his record he’s had wide draws a lot of times and he is a horse that doesn’t like to race too close to the lead,” Bennett said. “He likes to be midfield or six or 7l off them.
“The other day when he won I thought he was up too close, but he finished it off and that’s the first time he’s ever done that. There will be a lot of speed in this race so it should suit him.”
