‘It’s like bang, bang, bang’ - Slade and Murphy thrilled with Cosmic Force

Cover image courtesy of Newgate Farm

When jockey Daniel Stackhouse released the brakes on Stay Focused (Cosmic Force), the potential he had shown in his jump-outs was on display for all to see, with the 2-year-old roaring away to claim victory in the Geelong Diamond.

For first-season sire Cosmic Force, the win is a milestone one, despite not carrying any black type. The manner in which he won, and what it could mean next, deliver his draft of 14 yearlings on offer at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale a valuable boost ahead of selling commencing on Tuesday.

One diamond down, one to go

With plenty of anticipation around him, the exciting colt jumped a $3.10 favourite to take out the inaugural edition of the Geelong Diamond, a race that comes with a guaranteed ticket into the G1 Blue Diamond S.

Viewed as a stallion-making race, the February fixture has produced the likes of Written By, Tagaloa and Artorius in recent years, as well as the legendary Redoute’s Choice all the way back in 1999.

Settling behind the leaders for the majority of the race, Stackhouse presented his colt three-wide rounding the final turn, showing his acceleration to claim Trunk (Snitzel) and roar away from his rivals to win impressively by 2l.

Fellow son of Snitzel, Markdel, was a distant third, with all three colts likely to progress onto some of the key 2-year-old races held over the remainder of the season.

Instant impact for Sledmere graduate

For Sledmere Stud’s Royston Murphy, the emphatic performance was a moment of enjoyment amidst a frenetic period, as he intently watches his yearlings parade against a backdrop of driving rain at the Magic Millions Gold Coast complex.

Murphy, who is approaching 30 years of involvement in the Australian racing industry, has seen plenty of yearlings, many of which contained enviable talent, roll off his farm, but he maintains a close eye on the performance of each one as they embark, and sustain, racetrack careers.

“I'm always really keen to watch our graduates go to the races, especially on(their) first starts. Absolutely delighted for Bennett Racing. They loved that horse from the day they saw him.

“I talked to them this week while doing parades, they were very excited to get to the races with him today and show how good he is, he’s a horse we (all) have a lot of faith in, we really loved him when he got here.”

“Full credit has to go to Mel O’Gorman, she found him as a weanling and we offered him for her through the sale last year.”

Gallery: Images courtesy of Magic Millions

Stay Focused is a rather experienced professional when it comes to going through the sales ring, having been sold as both a weanling and a yearling. Initially offered at the 2022 Magic Millions Gold Coast National Weanling Sale, he commanded an impressive $190,000 out of the draft of Kingstar Farm.

Less than a year later, he would make his way through the ring again, this time at the 2023 Magic Millions Gold Coast National Yearling Sale, where $250,000 was the price paid by syndication company Bennett Racing, of which $82,500 was reclaimed with his debut success at Geelong.

“She (O’Gorman) found him as a weanling and we offered it for her through the sale last year. He was an outstanding physical type, and it's great to see those horses go on and win a competitive 2-year-old race like that and get a result like that.

“So for all involved, the team at Sledmere are delighted.

“We've been lucky. We've had a (strong) last couple of years. We've sold many a Group 1 winner and to be a part of this one would be great, but I'd love to see for Bennett Racing.

“I'd love to see this colt go on really well. And as I said for Mel O’Gorman. I've always thought she's a very good judge of a horse and we've sold horses for her over the years and she's got a great keen eye and it'll be great for her as well (if Stay Focused can go on to success in the Blue Diamond).”

Asked about Cosmic Force, Murphy shared his thoughts on the promising son of Deep Field, telling The Thoroughbred Report, “We obviously have a close relationship with Newgate. Over the years we've used a lot of their stallions, with Russian Revolution and even with Dissident, one of their earlier stallions, and produced good stakes winners for them.

“So, it's nice to have a new boy coming through and hopefully we can continue our stakes winners with their stallions. It'll be great for Newgate, they do a super job. They always have those stallions that look to produce precocious 2-year-old winners.”

Slade thrilled with early Cosmic Force performances

Newgate Farm’s Director of Bloodstock, Bruce Slade, told The Thoroughbred Report of his delight with the performance of Stay Focused, and the value it provides the farm's stallion, Cosmic Force.

“I think the interesting thing about Cosmic Force is (that) he's the son of a stallion we had a lot of time for, Deep Field and he's so important for us.

“He's the horse that was purchased as a yearling by Henry (Field) for our colts syndicate, he had all the right 2-year-old form. In fact, you know, he (was) the (G3) Pago Pago winner, favourite for the (G1 Golden) Slipper of his year, and he was favourite for the (G1) Coolmore of his year as well.

“So he was a top, top sprinter, an early maturing horse, (who) trained on, and he’s a very good-looking horse. He's been a horse that always had the right profile, very easy to mate to, given his pedigree.

“They've sold well as yearlings, and thankfully they've made their way into good homes and just really nice to see his first crop start the way they have.”

As Slade alluded to, there is a lineage of Newgate success with Cosmic Force, having stood Deep Field, who’s penultimate yearlings will be offered across 2024.

“It's just good to keep the line going, isn't it? Unfortunately, with Deep Field, we're not going to get as many seasons out of him as we'd hoped. He's a horse that has been so good to so many breeders, so many trainers, so many owners.

“Unfortunately, it was short lived, just like his own sire, Northern Meteor, it was short lived. Hopefully we've got a horse here that can just carry that line on in a really impactful way. Like I say, so far so good. It looks like the horse that might carry the bat on.”

With just days remaining until the bids fly in and the hammer thunders down on the Gold Coast, the success, and hype, around Stay Focused has optimal timing.

“I think we're quick to judge, and the sooner you can sort of get a roll on, the better you're going to hold your value or establish your value for the marketplace.

“He (Stay Focused) is a beautiful yearling, bought by terrific people at the Bennett Racing team. He’s got a great system, got himself a good trainer, and he's really done a job on debut. And this is the horse that's been loved from day one, Nathan Bennett, Bennett Racing has been sending us stuff, like the breaker loved him, they loved him, obviously. Phillip Stokes has loved him all the way along.

“There was so much chat on him going into today's race. And it was not an easy race I mean, I work with Gai (Waterhouse) and Adrian (Bott) as well, and the horse that we have there for Yulong called Trunk is a really smart horse.

“I think he's won a very good race there and I think you'll find that the form out of the race will be very strong and, and perhaps down the track we'll look back at that race and be like, wow, it wasn't just an impressive picture to the eye, but also who he's beat.

“Really important for Cosmic Force, got him going. I mean, he has started really well. He's had a horse (Force Red) that ran fifth in the (G3) Breeders’ Plate for his first runner, and he was blocked for a run with Peter Snowden, (he’s a) nice horse for the Triple Crown.

“He's had the unbeaten filly (Devine Force) in Brisbane with Chris Munce, um, and then he's had the colt (Beer Baron) go down a nose in the Inglis Nursery for Neil Osborne. Those are (mostly) his only runners to date, now this horse. So it's like, bang, bang, bang, everything we've seen from him, (it’s) pretty exciting.”

As Slade alluded to, his work as Racing Manager for Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott leaves him with few spare moments across the buildup to the major sales, and from what he’s seen across the complex, there’s a lot to like.

“Genuinely chuffed with the conversion of our second look list to our final list. We've been rolling through our second look list with Adrian and Gai the last couple of days,” he explained.

“I’m just loving that the horses that we've liked on farm have come on well since we've seen them. I feel like we've got a really good number of nice horses to have a crack at over the next week. Then it's just a matter of obviously getting through the vetting and hopefully winning out on most of them.

“But of course, that's impossible, you can't buy them all, but I feel like we've got the opportunity to have a crack at a lot of nice horses here.”