Bred and reared at the Williams’ Mornington Peninsula property, Daily Bugle sold for $230,000 at last year’s Inglis Premier Yearling Sale and has quickly showed a return on that investment with two wins from five starts.
The flashy half-sibling to G3 Caulfield Classic winner and once leading G1 Victoria Derby contender Thought Of That (So You Think {NZ}) is another by-product of the Williams’ faith in Thoroughbred Genetics.
Ken Williams, the man behind Group 1 winners Sacred Choice (Choisir) and Costa Viva (Encosta De Lago), relies on the British-based service to reach an optimal level of inbreeding and outbreeding when matching his band of broodmares each season.
“We use a fellow by the name of Dr Steve Harrison in England, who we have bred Group 1 winners with, and he came up with the mating for Daily Bugle. I probably wouldn’t have looked at that match, but he liked it and gave his reasons,” Williams told TDN AusNZ.
“We use a fellow by the name of Dr Steve Harrison in England, who we have bred Group 1 winners with, and he came up with the mating for Daily Bugle.” – Ken Williams
“He’s very well-bred, but from a breeding perspective he’s a very interesting horse. The mother’s big, Press Statement is big and he’s just a little guy compared to Thought Of That, who is a big, strong, nice-looking horse.”
Williams has always had a big opinion of the progressive prospect, describing him as a lovely loose-walking type.
Daily Bugle as a yearling
The trend has since followed according to Williams, with Daily Bugle’s dam Hold Me Closer (Danehill Dancer {Ire}) producing two lovely fillies by So You Think (NZ) and Spirit Of Boom in succession.
“We knew he would be popular at the sales because if you can produce loose-walking horses, you’re on the right track and Thought Of That had given buyers confidence that the mare could be a very good producer,” he said.
“Growing up he just looked like an athlete and I always thought he would be a good racehorse, which led me to go back to Robbie (Griffiths) after I sold the horse to buy back a percentage. I believed that he could develop into a lovely, big horse that ends up as a stallion.”
Solid performances
Fast forward 12 months and Daily Bugle has justified Williams’ belief, having taken out a competitive edition of the Mornington Sires’ prior to producing a sound effort in last fortnight’s G1 ATC Sires' Produce S. over 1400 metres at Randwick.
Despite being ranked as an outside chance in Saturday’s $500,000 feature, Williams is confident that his galloper will not be disgraced and said that pedigree points toward a horse that will extend to a mile and beyond.
Williams doesn’t interfere with the training or planning processes in place for horses he owns. However, he does have a sound understanding of what it will take for Daily Bugle to reign supreme on Saturday.
“He ran the 1500 metres out at Mornington well and that was a slowly run race. I would prefer the race to be run similar to that as the horse has quite a turn of foot and last start the leaders went a bit too quick,” he said.
“The track that day was a Soft 7 and we don’t think that he goes all too well on a wet track, he needs a firm surface to really let down.
“The track that day was a Soft 7 and we don’t think that he (Daily Bugle) goes all too well on a wet track, he needs a firm surface to really let down.” – Ken Williams
“He’s drawn awkwardly in barrier 10 and is travelling back up to Sydney for the second time, but the horse does have a lot of ability and was only two or so lengths behind this Saturday’s race favourites the other day with genuine excuses.”
Unfortunately for the team at Tarcoola Stud, Hold Me Closer missed last season to top stallion Brazen Beau.
“For this season it will be around that Written Tycoon mark, but we just have to wait on my data and hair samples to be processed in England as I’m still waiting on it through Australia post, I’m a bit impatient really,” he said.
“We used blood samples early days, but the hair samples allow us to get a better read on where we might end up and who we should look closely at sending them to.”
