Written by Jessica Owers
Cover image courtesy of Scone Race Club
Scone hosted a busy morning of trials on Wednesday and, with a single event for the 2-year-olds, it was a good debut outing for the juvenile Bare To Witness, a Star Witness colt for Wyong trainer Damien Lane.
The colt lined up against four other 2-year-olds over 900 metres, and he scampered home by 2.16l to the Nathan Doyle-trained Asgoodasyougett (Performer), with Genzano (Maurice {Jpn}) coming home for third for Paul Messara.
Bare To Witness as a yearling | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
The winning time was 54.43s, the last 600 metres in 35.25s, and nearly 20l bookended the final results of Heat 7. It was a smart enough appearance for the chestnut Bare To Witness, whose agenda is the R. Listed Magic Millions Wyong 2YO Classic on December 14.
“The aim with this horse is the Wyong Magic Millions, and with that time-frame, we basically had to trial him today (Wednesday),” said Damien Lane, speaking to TDN AusNZ. “Heading up to Scone is probably not something we’d normally do with our horses, but we had a bit of a hiccup with this horse’s name coming back on time, otherwise he would have gone out in the last lot of trials at home.”
Bare To Witness will likely race at Rosehill over 1100 metres on Saturday week, which will fit him nicely for his Magic Millions Wyong effort next month. Lane was relatively happy with the horse’s trial win on Wednesday, even if there was room for improvement.
Damien Lane | Image courtesy of Damien Lane Racing
“He’s got a long way to go, don’t get me wrong,” the trainer said. “He’s still a bit raw. He’s got good ability but he’s going to have to improve a fair bit out of today to go down to Rosehill. He got a bit lost in the trial and wandered about. Once he had his mind on the job, he went straight and put the trial away which was good to see.”
A Magic Millions bargain
Bare To Witness was bought for $50,000 by Lane and Impact Racing at the 2022 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale. He was consigned by Middlebrook Valley Lodge, one of six progeny of Star Witness in the catalogue.
Star Witness | Standing at Widden Victoria
As Lot 802, he was a reasonably priced yearling in Book 1, and Lane recalls he was a nice, if not underdeveloped, young colt.
“He was passed in initially,” the trainer said. “Kristen Buchanan, who’s a good friend of mine that trains at Wyong as well, she trained the mother of this colt, which was what attracted me to him a little bit. He was a really nice colt. For me, he’s going to be a better 3-year-old and he’ll probably be better when he gets out to 1400 metres. His attitude is the best thing about him because he takes it all in his stride.”
Bare To Witness is the first foal from Bid’N’Bare, a Smart Missile mare who was a three-time winner for Buchanan. By her retirement in 2019, she had the good provincial record of 11 starts for three wins and four placings.
“For me, he’s (Bare To Witness) going to be a better 3-year-old and he’ll probably be better when he gets out to 1400 metres. His attitude is the best thing about him because he takes it all in his stride.” - Damien Lane
Bid’N’Bare is a half-sister to Lightinthenite (Galileo {Ire}), a winner of the G3 Coongy H., and a three-quarter sister to the Listed Eskimo Prince H. winner Major (Zeditave), plus Happen (Zeditave), a stakes winner and the grandam of Haut Brion Her (Zoustar).
The mare had a filly by Zousain last year and she is due to foal to Yes Yes Yes this spring.
Third time’s a charm
For Lane, who doesn’t spend a lot of money on new yearlings, the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale is an opportunity each January to be savvy.
“It’s our annual working holiday up there,” he said. “We go up to look at a few horses, and we’ve bought some nice ones out of the Gold Coast over the years for not a lot of money. I think we bought Buckin’ Beauty up there for about $40,000, and she won seven or eight races for us and $300,000 or so in prizemoney.
“Impact Star has been a good horse that’s come from up there, so we like to chase the bargains. It’s obviously tough if you’re not buying at the top end, but if you do your homework there’s always nice horses there that you can buy at realistic prices.”
“It’s obviously tough if you’re not buying at the top end (at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale), but if you do your homework there’s always nice horses there that you can buy at realistic prices.” - Damien Lane
If Bare To Witness makes the R. Listed Magic Millions Wyong 2YO Classic field on December 14, it will continue a good association between the race and the Damien Lane yard.
“Being a Wyong trainer, this is a race that we will always try to aim for,” he said. “If we can make the field with him this year, that will be three years in a row that we’ve had runners in the race, and that’s a pretty good effort from the team when we’re not buying horses for a lot of money.”
In 2021, Lane saddled Wealthy Investor (Capitalist) to be third in the Magic Millions Wyong 2YO Classic. That horse raced in the same colours as Bare To Witness, as did Impact Star (Star Turn), who took his place for Lane in the 2020 race.
“Bare To Witness has a long way to go, but he’s heading in the right direction for us,” the trainer said.
