Cover image courtesy of Peter Rubery (Race Images)
Second time lucky for Ceolwulf in Chelmsford
Trainer Joseph Pride has taken a kinder approach to Chad Schofield’s G1 Winx Stakes ride on Ceolwulf (NZ) (Tavistock {NZ}) than many on social media, with the expectation that the better horse will most certainly emerge on Saturday in the G2 Chelmsford Stakes at Randwick.
“Chad was the first one to put his hand up and say it was the wrong (choice),” Pride told RSN on Friday. “That’s racing, we move on and here we are second-up.
Ceolwulf (NZ) | Image courtesy of Georgia Young Photography
“The inside draw on Saturday will hopefully make Chad’s job a little bit easier and I can’t wait to get to the races with him.”
“The inside draw on Saturday will hopefully make Chad (Schofield)’s job a little bit easier.” - Joseph Pride
Despite his fourth-placed run in the Winx - where Schofield swung the 5-year-old gelding out wide in an attempt to avoid a worsening wet track - Ceolwulf will line up as the favourite on Saturday, and Pride found more than enough merit with the performance.
“It looked like the Ceolwulf of last spring,” he said. “He’s got a really distinctive galloping action, and it just looked exactly like it did when he won the King Charles III Stakes and the Epsom Handicap, the way he was stretching out.”
Joseph Pride | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
A 12-horse field will tackle the Chelmsford, with Ceolwulf taking the number two saddlecloth behind Bjorn Baker’s 9-year-old Arapaho (Fr) (Lope De Vega {Ire}), and Chris Waller’s Full Count Felicia (USA) (War Front {USA}), eighth in the Winx, being the only mare in the field.
How will Saturday’s racing shake up the broodmare sire rankings?
With 13 stakes races either side of the Tasman this Saturday, there’s a myriad of opportunities for Australia’s leading broodmare sires to update their resume; 21 stakes runners have been spread between the top five broodmare sires in Australia.
Street Cry (Ire) has shot to the top of the premiership in Australia courtesy of Treasurethe Moment’s (Alabama Express) G1 Memsie Stakes blitz last weekend, overtaking Fastnet Rock, despite the latter having had more than double the amount of runners from his daughters so far this season; Street Cry has just broken 100 individual runners, whereas Fastnet Rock’s daughters have delivered 240 in the first month of the racing season.
| Street Cry (Ire) | 21 | $1,708,328 | 2 | Arabian Summer (G1 Moir Stakes) |
| Fastnet Rock | 26 | $1,683,740 | 7 | Savvy Hallie (G2 Furious Stakes) |
| Redoute's Choice | 28 | $1,494,972 | 3 | Coleman (G2 Tramway Stakes) |
| Snitzel | 29 | $1,417,617 | 8 | Stardom (G2 Furious Stakes) |
| Exceed and Excel | 36 | $1,362,765 | 1 | Tiger Shark (G3 Concorde Stakes) |
Table: Top five Australian broodmare sires by earnings (as of Friday morning)
Street Cry has another shot at a Group 1 this weekend courtesy of Arabian Summer (Too Darn Hot {GB}), who takes on open company in the G1 Moir Stakes at Moonee Valley.
Earlier in the week, co-trainer Tony McEvoy confirmed the 4-year-old mare would kick off her campaign this weekend despite a wintery appearance, with the Moir ultimately confirmed as her spring starting point.
Tony McEvoy | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
“All the data we’re getting off her is excellent,” he told the media ahead of acceptances. “Her lungs are good, she’s recovering well, and she’s doing everything right.”
“Her (Arabian Summer's) lungs are good, she’s recovering well, and she’s doing everything right.” - Tony McEvoy
Fastnet Rock will flex a big hand at Randwick, where a quarter of the 16 acceptances are out of his daughters, including the leading chances of last start G2 Silver Shadow Stakes winner Savvy Hallie (Hellbent) and G3 Magic Night Stakes winner Memo (Capitalist).
“It will be interesting to see how she handles the better track, I suppose, but has raced well before on a good track without winning, so it would be nice to see her get the job done, then she covers every kind of aspect,” Savvy Hallie’s trainer Brad Widdup told the media on Thursday.
“It's nice to have drawn well and I think she is going really well. I am sure she will be competitive, she is a really nice filly and certainly hasn't gone backwards.”
Savvy Hallie | Image courtesy of Sportpix
Tiger Shark (Rich Enuff), out of a daughter of Exceed And Excel, has dodged the Moir in favour of the lucrative G3 Concorde Stakes in Randwick, where she will carry 1.5kg less than her Valley impost.
Snitzel leads the top five by representation, with eight runners in stakes races across Australia, including the lightly raced Stardom (Zoustar), who won the Listed Woodlands Stakes at her last start back in May. Stardom is the fourth foal from Group 3 winner Diddums (Snitzel), a half-sister to Hong Kong’s champion Voyage Bubble (Deep Field).
Apprentice gets crack at first Group 1 with La Dorada
Super Seth’s first juvenile Group 1 winner and a major star of the Te Akau Racing stable last season, talented 3-year-old La Dorada (NZ) lines up for the Moir on Saturday with a featherweight impost of 50kg, and it will be apprentice Luke Cartwright getting the call up in the Valley this weekend.
The 3-year-old was beaten only once as a juvenile, running second in the G2 Eclipse Stakes at her second start, before mowing her way through the R. Listed Karaka Million 2YO field in January, followed by the G2 Matamata Breeders’ Stakes and the G1 Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes to close out her season. This spring, she has arrived in the Cranbourne base of Te Akau co-trainer Mark Walker and was second in her last jump-out in mid August.
La Dorada (NZ) | Image courtesy of Kenton Wright (Race Images)
Cartwright, who has ridden 86 wins to date, will be having his first swing at the top level in just his third season in the saddle, and his victory on Te Akau’s Savoir Faire (NZ) (Savabeel) shortly after the satellite stable’s opening in 2023 gave him a pathway into riding trackwork for the operation.
“If you remove apprentice next to his name, he's (Cartwright) arguably the most promising jockey in Australia,” Walker’s assistant trainer Ben Gleeson said. “He deserves his chance. We had options of other people, but we chose him.”
“If you remove apprentice next to his name, he's (Cartwright) arguably the most promising jockey in Australia.” - Ben Gleeson
“I gave Mark Walker a call about three weeks ago and I put my chips on the table,” Cartwright said. “With the rider selection he had and with the riders that had rides in the races, the dart ended up landing on me, so very thankful.
“If you told me two months ago I'd be having my first ride in a Group 1, I probably wouldn't believe you.”
Luke Cartwright | Image courtesy of Racing Photos
Cartwright has gotten to know La Dorada well ahead of their Group 1 partnership; there could be more Group 1 combinations in the future if she performs up to the team’s expectations on Saturday, with the G1 One Thousand Guineas next month at Caulfield being her next big goal.
“She's a feisty little thing,” Gleeson said. “Small in stature but a firecracker. He knows what he's got underneath him.”
Operation Everest begins in Concorde for Jimmysstar
Last start G1 All Aged Stakes winner Jimmysstar (NZ) (Per Incanto {USA}) will begin his G1 The Everest campaign in earnest on Saturday when taking the number one saddlecloth spot in the G3 Concorde Stakes at Randwick. Trainer Ciaron Maher confirmed on Thursday that he will track a similar path to Maher’s 2024 Everest champion Bella Nipotina (Pride Of Dubai) with two preparatory runs into the slot event.
“I was toying with whether to kick him off in this race or in two weeks’ time, but just the way he’s prepped up, it would be a similar preparation to what Bella did,” Maher told Racing.com.
“He can run here, and then in the Premiere, and then two weeks into The Everest.
Jimmysstar (NZ) | Image courtesy of Sportpix
“It was a real breakout prep last campaign; in four Group 1s, he was able to secure two and wasn’t too far away in the other two.”
Maher warned we have yet to see the best of the 6-year-old Kiwi galloper.
“I feel he’s got a bit more to come, and he’s certainly trialled up in good order,” he said. “You can just ride him where he’s comfortable and let him hit the line, as we know that he will improve off that first-up run.
“I feel he’s (Jimmysstar) got a bit more to come, and he’s certainly trialled up in good order.” - Ciaron Maher
“He likes that little bit of freshness on his side too, so the aim will be a couple of prep runs and then hopefully have him right to go.”
Ciaron Maher | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
Running in the TAB slot, Jimmysstar is one of four confirmed runners in the richest race on turf; Max Whitby, Steve McCann, Colin Madden, and Neil Werrett have selected G1 TJ Smith Stakes winner Briasa (Smart Missile) for their slot, the Hong Kong Jockey Club will send over Ka Ying Rising (NZ) (Shamexpress {NZ}) and Yulong Investments have locked in G1 The Galaxy victory Private Harry (Harry Angel {Ire}).
Queman needs wings to score in Moir
Last start G3 Behemoth Stakes winner Queman (Mint Lane {USA}) will need to lift above that returning effort if he wants to make a splash in the Moir this Saturday, but co-trainer Shane Oxlade is confident he’s bringing the right horse to the gates at Moonee Valley.
“He's four from four second-up, hasn't been beat, he's got an outstanding record, and on his work Tuesday. you would say he's going in with the same form," Oxlade, who trains in partnership with daughter Cassie Oxlade, said on Friday. While barrier 12 in a field of 15 - although, with Friday’s scratchings, he will move into barrier 10 - isn’t ideal, Oxlade believes he’s put the right jockey on board.
“He's (Queman) got an outstanding (second up) record, and on his work Tuesday. you would say he's going in with the same form.” - Shane Oxlade
“The draw is certainly not ideal, it's not where you want to be, a lot of the speed is inside,” Oxlade said. “I'll leave it up to Luke (Currie), it all depends on how the horse begins. He can begin really good like he did in the Behemoth, he began quite good, and there are times he can miss it a touch and dwell a little bit.
Queman | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
“We are just going to have to ride him as he begins and go from there. He might be able to get the back of something, three deep with cover somewhere, we'll see how it unfolds on the day.
“I haven't done a lot with him as far as galloping, he's done plenty of evens and striding work, he had a gallop Tuesday. He's in a good space, really happy, we'll need luck from out there but that's all you can hope for.”
The 7-year-old gelding is a month between runs, but that poses less of a query for Oxlade than the Moonee Valley course itself, which brought Queman undone in the G1 William Reid Stakes last year, where he finished seventh. The start before, he won the G1 Oakleigh Plate.
Shane Oxlade | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
“I thought he would get around The Valley, Harry (Coffey) said he didn't handle it great, but it was wet and they were sitting off the fence, he missed it a touch that day, drawn in and the speed straight away crossed him,” Oxlade said of the William Reid.
“If he runs really well and pulls up well, you've got the Manikato (Stakes) in three weeks. Other than that, we can sit and wait, and find something around Caulfield. I'd love to try him down the Flemington straight.”
