Stray path to racetrack no Fantasy for Cummings

Written by Bren O'Brien

There are many paths a thoroughbred can take to the racetrack, but few have followed quite the route that the Anthony Cummings-trained Stray (Thunder Fantasy) has taken to her debut in Saturday's Precise Air H. at Randwick.

The 2-year-old filly is the only progeny of Group 2 winner and multiple Group 1-placed stallion Thunder Fantasy, out of mare that was given to Cummings. She survived a life-threatening illness as a foal and having impressed in a trial win at Canterbury on Tuesday, backs up for her first start in a race.

Among her rivals on Saturday are colts Zarastro (I Am Invincible) and Coastwatch (Fastnet Rock), who cost $1.05 million and $750,000 respectively, a very different profile from Stray's humble beginnings as the homebred result of a fertility test by Cummings.

Cummings knew Thunder Fantasy well having trained him when as a 3-year-old he had placed in a G1 Victoria Derby, a G1 Australian Guineas and a G1 Rosehill Guineas and won a G2 Autumn S. He headed to Hong Kong for his 4-year-old campaign, where he won a Listed Hong Kong Classic Cup, before his owner Andy Chiu returned him to Australia, winning one more race before being retired.

"Thunder Fantasy was at Princes Farm and the guy that owns him had another broodmare there which he was serving and she wasn't going in foal," Cummings told TDN AusNZ.

"At about that time, the fellow that owned Playa Del Carmen had given up on her. She had developed an airway issue while she was at a pre-trainer's place at Ballina. He gave her to me and said to do what I liked with her. I took her on, because I had trained her mother and I'd seen a couple of trials that she'd had which were impressive.

"I was willing to take the punt on what she might be able to do but when she got to Princes Farm, the vet had inspected her and said her throat was no good and she'd never be a racehorse. That was a bit of a blow.

"We needed to work out whether Thunder Fantasy had an issue, whether he was shooting blanks, we thought we'd cover this other mare with him. She got in foal and this is the upshot of it."

As is always the case there was a significant degree of calculation to Cummings' thoughts, having experienced success with crossing the blood of Thunder Fantasy's grandsire Danehill (USA) and Playa Del Carmen's sire Uncle Mo (USA) before.

"Like all Uncle Mos, they react well to Danehill-blood. That's what Thunder Fantasy had. A lot of the Uncle Mos I had, all came out of Danehill-line mares," Cummings said.

"I thought there was a chance it would work a few different levels, both as a type and then again as a pedigree."

Thunder Fantasy's stud career amounted to a total of three services across two seasons, with only one foal to show for his efforts.

The filly was a 'meld' between his sire and dam, according to Cummings, but she got off to a slow start.

"When she was born, she had some sort of septic episode as well, which can often kill them. In this case it didn’t. We knew that if she was strong enough, she would get through it, which she did," he said.

Having overcome that hurdle, Stray, as she is now known, has progressed normally according to her breeder, owner and trainer.

Her debut has come to hand quickly, having only trialled publicly for the first time on December 8, finishing fourth, before then stepping out to win her second trial on Tuesday.

Watch: Stray win her Canterbury trial

The short back-up off that trial into Saturday does not concern Cummings, who backs the filly's robust nature to shine through.

"She seems to take it all in her stride. She seems unfazed by the whole thing. It will be interesting to see what she does for us," he said.

As for her obscure background story, Cummings knows too well that good horses can emerge from anywhere.

"There's a few different aspects there with her and it’s fun when it turns out well," he said.