‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen a 2-year-old so relaxed’: Harron taken with bombproof Bodyguard

Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything

After scratching from last weekend’s G3 Breeders’ Plate on account of the wide draw, the decision was made to send Bodyguard down to Melbourne for Victoria’s first 2-year-old stakes race of the season, and what a decision it proved to be.

A son of reigning Champion Sire I Am Invincible, who sired his landmark 100th stakes winner later in the afternoon, Bodyguard scythed through the pack under a hands and heels ride from Craig Williams to score in effortless fashion, looking every inch deserving of his $1.6 million price-tag.

Out of the unraced Fastnet Rock mare Tumooh, a daughter of G1 Golden Slipper S. winner Mossfun (Mossman), Bodyguard oozed class and looked professional in every sense of the word as he sauntered down the Flemington straight, and Harron could not have been more delighted with how the regally bred colt acquitted himself on debut.

“I’m so pleased with how he took it all in, it was quite a big ask,” Harron said. “He had to come down on Wednesday night, arrived Thursday morning and he just copped the whole thing really well. The reports from the stable were great, he ate all his feed and just went about his business.

“You need horses that can handle the pressure. The travel, the raceday itself, the crowds, things just not going their way as they normally would do at home in a more controlled environment - there’s just so many variables thrown at them and I think that’s what separates the good ones from the mediocre ones.

“I went and watched him in the pre-parade ring and he was brilliant. I then watched him in the parade ring and he was like an older horse, he had his ears pricked and was looking around, taking it all in. He went down and was so tractable, I was just so impressed.

“I’m very excited, not just by the performance, but by the attitude that he showed and how he soaked it all up.”

It is exactly that laidback attitude which sets Bodyguard apart at this early stage in his career according to Harron, who revealed that winning jockey Craig Williams was equally as astounded by his seemingly bombproof temperament.

“Even after the race, he just came back in, stood for photos and just did everything so well,” Harron added. “It was quite extraordinary really. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a 2-year-old so relaxed afterwards.

“Craig Williams said to me that he actually saw a bit of mud on his eye. He reached over on the track afterwards, leant round, brushed it off his eye, gave him a pat on the face and said he just let him do it, he didn’t budge. You don’t get that from a 2-year-old, he was quite taken aback.

“Since we’ve been running this colt partnership it’s the only feedback that I hear from these great trainers, they just talk about the attitude and how they adapt to training and how they handle their work.

“Obviously you need to have the ability, but so many horses have great ability and great physique, but they don’t have the mind to put it all together. He has shown that he has that in bucket loads today and hopefully it continues on.”

The complete package

Harron is certainly no stranger to success when it comes to juvenile colts, having purchased Champion 2-Year-Old and now Newgate Farm-based stallion Capitalist, as well as dual Group 1 winner and now Coolmore-based stallion King’s Legacy, both of whom, like Bodyguard, are graduates of the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.

Both of those colts were also trained by Peter and Paul Snowden and used the R. Listed Magic Millions 2YO Classic as a springboard to Group 1 success in the autumn, but Bodyguard is no certainty to follow in their footsteps up on the Gold Coast, with Harron keen to give the impressive debutant plenty of time to recover from Saturday’s exertions.

“We’ve asked a bit of him to come and do this, so I think what we’ll do is get him home and give him a little bit of a break now,” he revealed to TTR AusNZ.

“We’ll let him get over that and allow him to mature and develop further. I think we’re thinking more about the autumn for him.

“He’s that bigger, scopier, larger type of horse and he has a great mind with speed all through his pedigree. Hopefully it’s a good recipe for a lovely horse to come in the autumn.”

That scope is part of the reason why Harron was so keen to secure the son of I Am Invincible as a yearling, and after signing the docket for $1.6 million, the bloodstock agent left the Magic Millions auditorium confident that he had found some value in spite of his hefty price-tag.

“We’re looking for that physique and pedigree package, and he had all of that, he’s an incredible-looking horse,” Harron said. “We were very taken by him as a yearling. He had an amazing presence and was one of those horses who just stood out.

“Belinda Bateman came to the sales and I took her and her daughter Samantha down to see him. Belinda said to me, ‘Make sure we come home with this one!’ She just absolutely loved him.

“We didn’t want to go completely crazy on him, but we were very happy to buy him for the price that we did, even though it was a high price. We were all very happy afterwards which isn’t always the case, sometimes you feel like ‘Ugh, I’ve paid a lot for that horse’, but we were just so happy to get him.

“So far so good, but there’s a lot of water to go under the bridge.”

Bred on the same cross as fellow 2-year-old stakes winners Queen Of The Ball (I Am Invincible) and Fake Love (I Am Invincible), Bodyguard was born and raised at Emirates Park, who also bred last weekend’s G3 Gimcrack S. winner Manaal (Tassort).

Following his $1.6 million sale up on the Gold Coast, Emirates opted to retain equity in the grandson of its G1 Golden Slipper S. heroine Mossfun, and Harron is delighted to be sharing in the journey with a farm that he believes to be one of the best in the business.

“A big thing is that he is from a really good nursery in Emirates Park, who have amazing statistics off the farm,” he added.

“They loved the horse and really endorsed him, so it’s super to be partnering with them as well. I’ve known Bryan Carlson for a long time and I didn’t have to ask them twice to stay in the horse.

“We’re investing in a number of colts, so for us it helps when breeders are retaining an interest as it helps us spread our capital a little bit easier.”

A winning formula

The very same recipe worked a treat for Harron and his partners last weekend, with breeder Gerry Harvey opting to retain a share in G3 Breeders’ Plate winner Espionage (Zoustar) having sold him to the James Harron Bloodstock Colt Partnership under his Baramul Stud banner for a cool $1 million at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in January.

Espionage was the second most expensive of the five colts Harron purchased on the Gold Coast this year, behind only Bodyguard, and the two could only be separated by the narrowest of margins when they locked horns over 845 metres at Sydney’s official 2-year-old trials last month.

Harron was at a loss to predict which of the two exciting colts may have the brighter future, but did reveal that Bodyguard was subject to glowing praise from Tommy Berry long before he partnered him in his first barrier trial on Randwick’s Kensington track.

“Tommy galloped Bodyguard early days and called me on the way home in the car to say, ‘He’s the nicest 2-year-old that I’ve sat on all year’,” Harron recalled.

“Tommy is a great judge and a great rider, he gave him a great experience in his barrier trial and gave us a lot of confidence to travel him to Melbourne, which we really appreciate.

“It was really good to see both trainers and jockeys teach them to be competitive and use those trials as a really good guide to get them ready for the races - I think it has paid dividends.

“This year we committed our colts to three trainers at Randwick - Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, Peter and Paul Snowden and Michael Freedman - and so far these horses have been beautifully handled by their respective trainers and riders.”

It may be a little easier to say with the benefit of hindsight, but Harron recalls being particularly pleased with the haul of 10 colts he purchased at the yearling sales in 2023, colts whose prices ranged from $60,000 all the way up to the $1.6 million spent on Bodyguard.

Gallery: a selection of the high-priced colts purchased by James Harron Bloodstock's colt partnership, at the 2023 yearling sales

Regardless of the sums in question, to start the season with two juvenile stakes winners from the first three 2-year-old stakes races is no mean feat, but as well as his team of trainers, Harron was also quick to deflect any praise onto his supporting staff and his fellow members of the red-hot colt partnership.

“We buy the horses that we really love physically and we are very fortunate to have amazing partners with us that back me,” he said. “We’re a great team, we talk a lot and manage everything very carefully.

“It’s getting more and more competitive in the sales ring, especially in the colt sector, but we work really hard and I have an amazing team behind me - Stephen Heath, Anna Ryan, my wife Ali, Johnnie Walker our vet and Mark Sheehan our form student.

“A huge amount goes into it. Sometimes it doesn’t always go your way, but we’ve stuck strong to our systems and we always try to learn. I was really pleased with what we got this year and it’s certainly a great relief and a great thrill to start the season so strongly.

“We went into the Breeders’ Plate with three horses with three different trainers who were equally as buoyant. All three of them went really well, so it gives nice credibility going forward and we’re very privileged to work with them, they are great stables to work with.”

Not all Sunshine

On a good day for Harron and his colt partnership, the Michael Freedman-trained Mexico (Capitalist) enhanced his future stallion credentials with a hard fought second behind talented colt King’s Gambit (I Am Invincible) in the G2 Roman Consul S. at Rosehill Gardens.

Runner-up in the R. Listed Inglis Banner on debut last year, Mexico gained some valuable experience down the Flemington straight when finishing a creditable fourth in the Poseidon S. on his previous outing, and the 3-year-old son of Capitalist will now return to the Melbourne venue to test his mettle against the best sprinters of his generation in the G1 Coolmore Stud S. next month.

It hasn’t all been fun and games for Harron recently, however, after it was confirmed that $3.9 million Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale purchase Sunshine In Paris (Invader) had been ruled out for the remainder of the spring due to a minor ligament strain.

The Group 1-winning mare was set to run in the slot of her breeder Aquis Farm in The Everest on October 14 after returning with a bang in the G2 Sheraco S., but her new connections will have to wait until next year to see whether she can measure up in the $20 million contest.

“It was very disappointing and frustrating, it was a reminder of how tough horse racing can be,” Harron said.

“She was absolutely thriving by all accounts and I think she had improvement to make in her coat. She’d have been in it up to her ears, but it’s not to say that we won’t see her in it next year.

“The good news is she’s going to be absolutely fine, she’ll make a full recovery. The owner and trainer did the right thing by her and made sure that they didn’t take any risks.

“Confidence is high that we will see her in the autumn and we’re looking forward to getting her back. Her last start win was exceptional and I think she’s pretty untapped. There are plenty of big races for her.”