Cover image courtesy of Ashlea Brennan
Barber: another star for Godolpin?
The global appeal of Darley’s Exceed And Excel was on full show in the early hours of Saturday morning, as he chalked up his 17th top-flight winner when his 2-year-old son Mischief Magic (Ire) landed the G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at Keeneland and the stallion looks to have another brilliant juvenile on the opposite side of planet in the shape of Barber, who ran out an impressive winner of the $1 million Golden Gift at Rosehill.
A winner of the Kirkham Plate last month, Barber was slow out of the barriers jumping wide from barrier 13, giving his rivals a 2l headstart. However, despite the tardy start, Hugh Bowman nursed the colt back into contention and with the early pace a furious one, it was only a matter of time before the field came back to him.
As the pace began to collapse up front, Barber began to pick off his rivals, coming from last to first up the straight, eventually beating Infatuation (I Am Invincible) by 0.14l, while the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained filly, Summer Loving, another by Exceed And Excel, finished 1l further adrift in third.
“The plan was taken out of my hands at that point, so I just rode him where he was and the pace was extreme from the outset.
“Mid-race you could feel I was detached from the pack, but the horse was happy. I was going to trust him to run his race late.
Barber wins the $1 million Golden Gift at Rosehill | Image courtesy of Ashlea Brennan
“He had to dig deep today and he produced, and I would suggest he is one of the top 2-year-olds in the country.”
Godolphin stable representative Darren Beadman was full of praise for both the horse and jockey.
“As soon as he jumped we went, 'Oh, plan B'. Fortunately, you've got a jockey of Hughie's calibre, he's a very cool customer and doesn't get overawed in those occasions,” Beadman said.
“He's a very push-button horse, he's like a horse that's had five or six starts. Worked his way through the pack and come out and hit the line with a lot of purpose and determination. He's class with a capital C.”
“He's (Barber) a very push-button horse, he's like a horse that's had five or six starts. Worked his way through the pack and come out and hit the line with a lot of purpose and determination. He's class with a capital C.” - Darren Beadman
After winning his first start at Randwick Barber had to display a different race pattern, a fact not lost on Beadman.
“He drew (barrier) one the other day in the Kirkham and had all the favours, but today he had to overcome adversity,” Beadman said.
“The way that he let down and once he put his sights on the horse in front of him, he really knuckled down. So it's a sign of a good horse.”
Darren Beadman | Image courtesy of Ashlea Brennan
Bred by Godolphin, the colt is out of the Group 3-winning Lonhro mare Trim, who sadly died 15 days after foaling Barber in 2020, and her progeny is lead by his sister Manicure, whose four victories were headlined by a win in the G3 How Now S.
When Exceed And Excel is mated to daughters of his barnmate Lonhro it has proved a successful nick, producing 32 winners from 44 runners and they are headed by five stakes winners.
Time produces Magic to hand Hellbent his first stakes winner
Yarraman Park Stud’s resident second-season sire Hellbent chalked up his first stakes winner when his daughter Magic Time retained her unbeaten record in the Listed The Amanda Elliott at Flemington on Saturday.
Trained by Grahame Begg, the 3-year-old filly opened her winning account when she won at Pakenham on debut and she stayed on strongly to beat the James Cummings-trained Atmosphere (Lonhro) by 0.75l, while Get Up Girl (No Nay Never {USA}) was another 1l further adrift in third.
It was also a nice consolation win for Begg, who endured another dramatic morning with Lunar Flare (Fiorente {Ire}), who was scratched on raceday morning for the second time in a week with the vets deeming her unfit to contest the G3 Queen’s Cup, having been scratched on the morning of the G1 Melbourne Cup on Tuesday.
Magic Time handed her sire, Hellbent, his first stakes winner when retaining her unbeaten record in the Listed Amanda Elliott at Flemington | Image courtesy of Bronwen Healy
Magic Time’s debut form was well and truly franked at Pakenham-Synthetic last night with Marxist (Capitalist), who finished second behind the filly earlier in the month, winning her second start by an extraordinary 10l.
“She’s a very nice filly. I know she’s only come off a synthetic maiden win that she won by five (lengths) and the filly that ran second to her won by 10 (lengths) last night (Friday) so it kind of franked the form a little bit,” Begg said.
“Very understated and we’ve given her plenty of time to mature. John Muir and Trish Muir, they’ll be over the moon. John is in Kentucky at the Broodmare Sale. He rang me this morning and said that it’ll be about 12:50am over there so he might have a nice little message on his phone when he wakes up.
“We just rode her like the best horse in the race at Pakenham. The smaller field, but we didn’t want any bad luck, so we decided to take luck out of the equation today.
“We drew a bit of a tricky gate, so we had to roll the dice and go forward. As it worked out, he was able to go three wide with no cover. Bloody good effort, second start in a race to be able to beat the colts and now she’s Listed winner.
“As it worked out, he (Jordan Childs) was able to go three wide with no cover. Bloody good effort, second start in a race to be able to beat the colts and now she’s (Magic Time) a Listed winner.” - Grahame Begg
“She might have a break because she’s only lightly raced, and we’ll let things work out.”
Bred by Milburn Creek’s John Muir, Magic Time was retained to race by Muir after she failed to make her $150,000 reserve at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in 2021.
The filly is out of Group 3-winning Nicconi mare Time Awaits, who was purchased by Damon Gabbedy’s Belmont Bloodstock (FBAA) for $300,000 at the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale in 2018.
Grahame Begg and Jordan Childs with Magic Time after winning the Listed Amanda Elliot | Image courtesy of Darren Tindale
Hellbent has sired 24 individual winners in total and this was a much-deserved stakes scorer with the stallion having sired seven black-type placegetters previously. The sire stands alongside his father, I Am Invincible, at Yarraman Park Stud for a fee of $22,000 (inc GST).
Atishu bounces back
Having finished a brave fifth in the G1 Empire Rose S. last Saturday, Atishu (NZ) (Savabeel) bounced back in the G2 Matriarch S. at Flemington and in the process provided James McDonald with his eighth winner of the meeting.
Atishu (NZ) bounces back to win the G2 Matriarch S. at Flemington | Image courtesy of Darren Tindale
The daughter of Savabeel was tasting success for the first time since her victory in the G3 Bill Ritchie H. in September 2021, but she got back in the winning groove when surging 2l clear of Steniem (GB) (Frankel {GB}). Tokorangi (NZ) (Redwood {GB}) was another 1.25l back in third.
The 5-year-old mare was purchased by Go Racing for NZ$260,000 at the New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sale in 2019 and she is a daughter of dual-winning No Excuse Needed (GB) mare Posy (NZ), making her a sister to stakes-placed Mazzolino (NZ).
Posy herself is a sister to multiple Group 1-winning New Zealand Champion mare Daffodil (NZ).
Presentations to connections after Atishu (NZ) wins the G2 Matriarch S. | Image courtesy of Racing Photos
Earlier in the card, Waller saddled his first winner of the afternoon when Atishu’s stablemate Soulcombe (GB) (Frankel {GB}), who was ridden by Craig Williams, made a big impression on his first Australian start in the G3 Queen’s Cup, which saw him surge to the top of the ante-post betting for next year’s G1 Melbourne Cup.
The son of Frankel (GB) began his career with William Haggas in Newmarket, winning three times in his native England and he added a fourth win to his record, and first at stakes level, when he galloped to a facile 2.25l victory over Luncies (GB) (Iffraaj {GB}).
When asked about future plans for the gelding, Waller said, “It's all about seeing how he recovers today. Most importantly he knows how to win at Flemington.
“It was a great experience (for the horse) and that's what it's all about with horses especially, when you're coming from a different hemisphere.
Soulcombe (GB) makes a big impression winning the G3 Queen's Cup at Flemington at his Australian debut | Image courtesy of Darren Tindale
“It is a different style of racing, but there's no better place than Flemington, the bigger tracks, and that will give the horse a lot of confidence.”
Soulcombe is from one of the most popular families in the European Stud Book, being out of the Group 1-winning mare Ribbons (GB) (Manduro {Ger}) and she is herself out of winning Marju (Ire) mare Sister Act (GB), who is herself a sister to multiple Group 1-winning Champion mare Soviet Song (Ire).
In winning the race Soulcombe becomes the 106th stakes winner for Frankel and 12th in Australia. His progeny Down Under is headed by three Group 1 winners; Hungry Heart, Converge and Mirage Dancer
