Recent history found itself on repeat play at Randwick’s Kensington meeting on Wednesday, with the 2-year-old colt Conqueror bringing up a second juvenile winner in as many weeks for Coolmore shuttler Churchill (Ire).
Conqueror won the Schweppes Plate over 1100 metres to open the race meeting, and he followed in the footsteps of last Wednesday’s juvenile winner Robusto (Churchill {Ire}), who won the opener at Warwick Farm and logged his sire’s first Australian winner.
Conqueror raced for Chris Waller in the colours of Star Thoroughbreds, Denise Martin’s syndicate enjoying a purple patch of late, and he was very good for jockey Hugh Bowman.
He had the ideal draw from the inside barrier in a 10-horse field that featured nine debutants.
At the jump, Conqueror wasn’t quickest away, and he settled back with the majority of the field ahead of him. The early pace-setter was Deep Expectation (Deep Field) ahead of Alpha One (Super One).
Around the home turn, there were only four horses behind Conqueror, and Bowman had a fair bit to do in the straight to wind his way up along the rail. But the pair managed it, and Conqueror burst into open ground at the 200 metres.
Deep Expectation was persistent in the lead, but Bowman’s colt poked his head in front shortly before the 50-metre mark, and the 0.43l victory was more comfortable than it looked. The Mark Newnham filly Seven Veils (Shalaa {Ire}) was second, with 0.82l to the third-placed Dashing Legend (Snitzel).
The 1100 metres on the Good 4 was ticked off in 1:03.67, the final 600 metres in 34.24s.
Well-above midweek class
Conqueror had been there or thereabouts in two Rosehill trials this preparation, running into good juveniles like Metallicity (Zoustar) and Psychiatrist (Exceed And Excel).
Wednesday’s race was Hugh Bowman’s first sit on the colt however, but he thought the trial form was good enough to suggest Conqueror would be competitive.
Hugh Bowman, Denise Martin and Chris Waller
“In a full field of first starters, his trials were good coming into this,” the jockey said. “He didn’t know what to do early. I switched him on and I had a bit of trouble getting him to relax again under me, which I was able to do from the 700 metres.”
Bowman said Conqueror’s turn of foot was impressive thereafter.
“The acceleration he showed in my opinion was well-above midweek class,” he said. “It developed into a bit of a sit and sprint, but I had to wait until the others got going before I could get him into his gears because of the way the race panned out.
“When I let him go though, the response was immediate. He sustained it through the line so he’s an exciting young horse.”
“The acceleration he (Conqueror) showed in my opinion was well-above midweek class.” - Hugh Bowman
The Waller yard was equally as impressed with Conqueror in the aftermath of the race. Stable rep Damien Fitton said it was a satisfying debut.
“He’s a very professional colt,” Fitton said. “I was just saying before that all the Churchills we have in the stable are very precocious with great temperaments. They’re going to bring that to their races and this fellow is one of them. Robusto did it last week, and they’ve got a bright future moving forward.”
Churchill pages ahead
Robusto and Conqueror have brought up Churchill’s two winners from just seven Australian runners to date. They come from a season 2019 crop of foals numbering 84.
That they’re both city winners bodes well for the promising shuttler, who also had Lady Chartwell run second at Scone on debut in December, and Tanto run third at Sandown on debut the same week.
Churchill (Ire) | Standing at Coolmore Stud
For Conqueror’s breeder, 80-year-old Howard Blight of Bendaree Park Stud, choosing Churchill in the stallion’s debut shuttle-season was all about the page.
“If you look at Churchill’s pedigree, he’s a beautifully bred horse,” Blight said, speaking to TDN AusNZ. “I couldn’t fault the pedigree when I first saw it, and I spend a lot of time on pedigrees. I’d have to say that I've heard nothing about Churchill for a couple of years, but in the last few months I’ve heard a lot of people say things, including Chris Waller.”
“If you look at Churchill’s pedigree, he’s a beautifully bred horse. I couldn’t fault the pedigree when I first saw it, and I spend a lot of time on pedigrees.” - Howard Blight
It was a punt of sorts, using an unproven sire with a maiden mare, but Blight didn’t second-guess his choice at all.
“There are some very good crosses in Churchill’s pedigree, and quite honestly I try to find crosses that have been successful,” the breeder said. “I found that with Churchill, and that’s why we chose him.”
Bendaree Park Stud is in Appin, about 75 kilometres south of Sydney. It’s been breeding horses for a long time, but Blight is rising 81 and, with wife Judy, he’s relinquished most of his stock. The couple are down to four broodmares now.
Of those four, two are the family of his winning colt Conqueror (whom he kept for 10 per cent).
They are the colt’s dam, Dixie Chick (Star Witness), and her half-sister Dixie’s Comet (Northern Meteor).
Mischief maker
The genesis of this family at Bendaree Park Stud lies with the American mare Dixie Paradise (USA) (Dixie Union {USA}), who Blight imported into Australia in 2008.
The mare was initially pointed at the Keeneland November Breeding Sale in Kentucky, and Blight’s son-in-law, the Managing Director of the Inglis Group, Mark Webster, had seen Dixie Paradise and thought her good value.
The mare was a half-sister to two very good stakes winners in America and, in Australia, she produced seven foals for Blight before she passed away in 2019. Her two daughters have flown her flag ever since, with Dixie Chick the dam of first-foal Conqueror.
Dixie Chick when racing | Image courtesy of Sportpix
“In Dixie Chick’s early races, she used to come home like a train,” Blight said. “Conqueror has done the same thing in his race, and I think he’s got that from his dam. If, in any race, he’s halfway back through the field but within kicking distance, his speed will get him over the top because his mum was able to do that too.”
Nine-year-old Dixie Chick has had two foals for Blight. Conqueror was an October arrival in 2019 and he was a delightful customer, according to his breeder.
“He was the loveliest colt,” Blight said. “He was one of those horses that, as he grew, had a little bit of spirit of him. He was a mischief maker but he was the loveliest thing, and everyone here thought he was something out of the box.”
“He (Conqueror) was a mischief maker but he was the loveliest thing, and everyone here thought he was something out of the box.” - Howard Blight
On Wednesday, the Blights had to dash home from celebrating Judy’s birthday to watch Conqueror win his race at Randwick, and it was an appropriate birthday present in the end.
Size matters
Conqueror was put into the 2021 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale last year to sell from the draft of Byerley Stud, which is where he was picked up by Star Thoroughbreds. Denise Martin paid $180,000 for the colt in partnership with Brett Howard’s Randwick Bloodstock (FBAA).
Conquerer as a yearling | Image courtesy of Inglis
It wasn’t a blazingly obvious pedigree and, with Churchill an unknown debut sire, Blight was relatively pleased with the horse’s eventual price tag.
“I was happy with it,” he said. “You have to keep in mind that the mare was unproven until now, but having said that if he’d gone for much less I probably would have kept him. I was always very bullish about the colt because I thought he was a lovely individual, the sort of horse that you have and just fall in love with.
“I’m not really sure but I probably would have had $150,000 on him as a reserve and I would have kept him if he hadn’t made that.”
“I was always very bullish about the colt (Conqueror) because I thought he was a lovely individual, the sort of horse that you have and just fall in love with.” - Howard Blight
The Blights had a Pride Of Dubai colt also in the Sale from Dixie’s Comet, and that horse passed in at $55,000 immediately after Conqueror was knocked down to Star Thoroughbreds and Brett Howard.
That particular colt, the unraced 2-year-old Pride Of Dixie (Pride Of Dubai), stands just shy of 16.3hh.
Dixie Chick has a Vancouver colt at foot, and Blight is unsure of his plans with that horse just yet. He admitted that Conqueror’s progress would likely determine whether he kept the colt or sent him to a sale.
Dixie Chick, meanwhile, was sent to Farnan last spring in a move that Blight said was based on pedigree, but also on Pride Of Dixie’s size.
Pride Of Dixie as a yearling | Image courtesy of Inglis
“Dixie Chick isn’t quite as big as Dixie's Comet, but I was still worried about going to a stallion that was too big,” he said. “So we went to Farnan because he’s a little bit on the shorter side and he’d make a good mate for her.
“The Vancouver colt is big but he’s a lovely colt. He’s not unlike Conqueror in that he’s beautifully made-up but tall, and if this fellow (Conqueror) keeps going, I’ll probably keep him.”
