Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
My Gladiola hoping to sign off spring a winner
Few have been more terrific bridesmaids this spring than 3-year-old My Gladiola (I Am Invincible), who faces a full field of opposition in the $1 million G3 Thoroughbred Club Stakes at Caulfield on Saturday. The winner of the Listed Cap D’Antibes Stakes has ran second three times this preparation, narrowly missing to Mcgaw (I Am Immortal) in the G2 Danehill Stakes and being the first filly home in the G1 Coolmore Stud Stakes a fortnight ago.
It’s a return to fillies-only company, but if anything, for trainer John McArdle, that means her opposition have a tougher battle on their hands.
My Gladiola | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
“If she gets daylight and she can produce the turn of foot she has in her other starts this prep, then the opposition are going to have to run to their best, I would have thought,” he told The Verdict podcast on Thursday.
“If she (My Gladiola) gets daylight and she can produce the turn of foot she has in her other starts this prep, then the opposition are going to have to run to their best.” - John McArdle
McArdle called the filly’s draw of barrier one “not ideal” for the 1200-metre dash, but shared that regular rider Jamie Mott had a plan in place to put the filly in the right spot.
“It’s not ideal. In saying that, I was standing at the jumpouts with Jamie Mott when the fields came out and he said ‘it’s OK, mate, I’ll get her out’. So, he’s confident, which is good.”
Win, lose, or draw, the daughter of G2 Challenge Stakes winner Villa Verde (Not A Single Doubt) heads to the paddock after Saturday’s run with a view of resuming in the G1 Lightning Handicap in the autumn. McArdle has also been entrusted her half-sister to train, the 2-year-old Bella Lavita (Pierro), who was a $180,000 selection for Riverstone Lodge at the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale.
John McArdle | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
In a good year for Kia Ora Stud-bred fillies, the top two seeds for Saturday’s $1 million event were bred by the farm, and both are daughters of I Am Invincible. The number two saddlecloth is worn by Inkaruna (I Am Invincible), who was third to My Gladiola in the Cap D’Antibes and ran second in the G3 Red Roses Stakes on Oaks Day at her most recent start.
Pedigree delights in the Max Lees field
Twelve runners by 12 different sires face the starter for the $160,000 Max Lees Classic at Newcastle’s The Hunter meeting on Saturday, and three among that number will jump for first season sires. Final Gift bids to get one on the board for his Coolmore Stud-based sire Acrobat, and Wild Courage (Wild Ruler) and Yamashita (Tiger Of Malay) will attempt the same for their Newgate Farm-based sires.
This is the time of year where proof emerges that a good horse, or at the very least an early 2-year-old can come from just about anywhere. Of the nine contenders that sold through public auction, the average price was $179,000 with Mulberry Racing-owned Tenenbaum (Snitzel) carrying the highest price tag, selling for $750,000 at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
Tenenbaum as a yearling | Image courtesy of Inglis
By contrast, the cheapest entrant was $10,000 Inglis Australian Weanling Sale purchase Pomelo Chamomile (Maurice {Jpn}), a trial winner at her only outing to date for Kris Lees, for whose father the race is named. Of the remaining seven sold at public auction, four came through the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale, and three from the Gold Coast.
Her price becomes all the more fascinating when viewing her page; dam Barooda (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) is an unraced half-sister to four stakes winners including Pride Of Dubai. The further pedigree includes the influential sire Invincible Spirit (Ire) and Pinatubo (Ire), whose first Southern Hemisphere 2-year-olds have hit the track this spring.
Pomelo Chamomile as a weanling | Image courtesy of Inglis
Understandably, Tenenbaum was born from the greatest sire fee of the field, with Snitzel commanding a fee of $220,000 (inc GST) in the year of the colt’s conception. He is also a full brother to Listed Hong Kong Derby winner Cap Ferrat, who was placed in the G1 Spring Champion Stakes and the G1 Rosehill Guineas prior to his fruitful export to Hong Kong. His dam C’Est Beau La Vie (Bernadini {USA}) is also one of three stakes winners out of a half-sister to the great Makybe Diva (GB) (Desert King {Ire}).
With an average across the field of $61,187 (inc GST), the cheapest to breed would have been Dynamic Diva (Strasbourg), whose sire's fee at the time was $11,000 (inc GST).
Jaipur Maison (Zousain) is one of the more intriguingly bred runners, being a granddaughter of G2 Silver Slipper Stakes winner Amelia’s Dream (Redoute’s Choice) and a full sister to G3 Red Roses Stakes winner Amelita (Zousain). She was offered in Cressfield’s Magic Millions Gold Coast draft on behalf of breeder Richard Pegum, but passed in.
Jaipur Maison as a yearling | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
A few more gems fill out the acceptances; number one saddlecloth Elio (Ole Kirk) is out of a half-sister to the dam of recent Listed Amanda Elliott Handicap winner Burma Star (Exceed And Excel), who lines up for the G2 Sandown Guineas at Caulfield on Saturday, and Wild Courage (Wild Ruler) will be the second runner for Listed-winning import Unbridled Courage (USA) (Leroidesanimaux {Brz}).
Can Sheza Alibi make it four fillies in a row in Sandown Guineas?
Since the G2 Sandown Guineas was moved to Caulfield on the last day of the Victorian spring carnival, it’s been a race dominated by fillies, with See You In Heaven (Divine Prophet), Serasana (Snitzel), and Snitzanova (Snitzel) taking out the last three editions. Sheza Alibi (Saxon Warrior {Jpn}) follows both the sex and naming theme, and is one of only two fillies in the 13-horse field bidding to make it four straight wins in the race for the girls.
Last year’s winner Snitzanova blitzed her way to a Group 2 win as the culmination of three straight victories, bouncing from the G3 Spring Stakes at Newcastle to the Guineas finale. By contrast, Sheza Alibi won the G3 Vanity Stakes a fortnight ago to make her black-type breakthrough, having placed twice at Listed level in her previous two starts. She heads into Saturday as the clear favourite with the punters to continue the theme.
Sheza Alibi | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
Her key rivals come in the forms of Burma Star (Exceed And Excel), a powerful winner of the Listed Amanda Elliot Handicap on Cup day for Godolphin, and his runner-up Tagline (Tagaloa), who loomed from the back of the field to finish second by a nose. The latter’s family is littered with speed, with his dam Rekindled Glow (Redoute’s Choice) being a three-quarter-sister to Giga Kick (Scissor Kick) and Alabama Express being another close relation.
Trainer Chris Waller has the confidence in Burma Star that the colt’s attitude can aid him in breaking the fillies’ hold on the spring classic, telling RSN on Thursday, “He's come through that (the Handicap) well, he's a really neat horse with a great action, and is very professional. He just goes to sleep in his races and likewise trackwork, so he looks after himself and turns up on raceday.”
“He's (Burma Star) a really neat horse with a great action, and is very professional.” - Chris Waller
Burma Star | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
Yorkshire the next big thing to emerge in The Hunter
Last year, the $1 million The Hunter went the way of Briasa (Shooting To Win), marking his sixth win in seven starts, and the following autumn would turn the gelding into a Group 1 winner in the G1 TJ Smith Stakes.
This year, co-trainer Tom Charlton hopes that the improving Yorkshire (Snitzel) can tread the same path. The winner of six from eight starts, the 5-year-old will, just like Briasa, be stepping up from Saturday Benchmark 88 grade to have his first tilt at a quality feature Yorkshire will carry just 0.5kg above the minimum weight, which Briasa carried to win last year.
Yorkshire | Image courtesy of Georgia Young Photography
“He is a lovely horse,” Charlton told racenet.com on Friday. “He has pleased us in the manner in which he has been preparing. He obviously has a very good winning record and that probably sums him up really well, he's a horse that is a real competitor and has a good race pattern.
“He (Yorkshire) obviously has a very good winning record and that probably sums him up really well, he's a horse that is a real competitor and has a good race pattern.” - Tom Charlton
“He just keeps progressing with every preparation and race he has.”
While Briasa arrived at The Hunter fourth-up, Yorkshire bounces into Newcastle’s feature race off the back of two trials, having won in town in the autumn, twice defeating subsequent G3 Newcastle Stakes winner Sandpaper (Snitzel).
“He had to have slightly longer off than what we planned, because it was the plan to get him to a Big Dance or something like that,” Charlton said. “He just needed a touch longer off which forced our hand to try and target this lovely series of races.”
Charlton feels that the 1300 metres of the $1 million feature is touching on the bottom of the talented gelding’s range, and that being out in distance will suit him better through the end of the spring.
Tom Charlton | Image courtesy of Australian Turf Club
“His last win at the mile at Randwick probably saw him in his best area,” Charlton said. “There is every reason to think he is still slightly well-handicapped at the moment, so that might bring him into it first-up, with improvement with racing and obviously when he gets out in trip.”
“There is every reason to think he (Yorkshire) is still slightly well-handicapped at the moment, so that might bring him into it first-up.” - Tom Charlton
Yorkshire will have to face off with a field that features the 2023 winner Coal Crusher (Turffontein), an improving Golden Mile (Astern), and last start $2 million Kosciusko winner Clear Thinking (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}). Fortunately, 5.5kg separates him and the race’s heavyweights Iowna Merc (Winning Rupert) and Robusto (Churchill {Ire}), who have 16 wins between them.
“One thing is, he is a versatile horse,” Charlton said. “He can jump well and race in a forward position and can take a sit and take a position. On a big track with some speed, it might help us.”
Aussie impact on the 2000 Guineas
Australian-based sires will be making their presence felt in the G1 NZ 2000 Guineas on Saturday, with eight of the 16-horse field being by stallions standing across the Tasman.
Multiple stakes-placed Alottago will fly the flag for his second season sire Tagaloa, whose progeny have been on fire in their stakes performances lately, posting two Group wins in October.
“It is good having him in a race like that, we are excited about it,” trainer Lance Robinson told loveracing.nz on Friday. “It is a step up, but all Group 1s are hard to win. I am happy with him, he has done everything right, so we will find out how good we are.
“I am happy with him (Alottago), he has done everything right, so we will find out how good we are.” - Lance Robinson
“He just keeps stepping up all the time. The more we give him the better he gets. As long as he keeps on going that way I think he has got the makings of a very good horse.”
Alottago | Image courtesy of Race Images South
There’s a good chance for the late Snitzel to add another feather in his cap, being the sire of Listed Star Way Stakes winner Little Black Dress and the Te Akau Racing pair of War Of Silence and He Who Dares (NZ).
The former two are both graduates of Arrowfield Stud’s Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale draft in 2024; Little Black Dress was acquired for $240,000 by Go Racing and Blandford Bloodstock, and War Of Silence was knocked down to Sir David Ellis CNZM (BAFNZ) for $700,000. Ellis took home the stakes-placed He Who Dares for NZ$825,000 at the New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sale earlier in the calendar.
Little Black Dress backs up from last week’s G1 NZ 1000 Guineas, where nothing went to plan for the G2 Soliloquy Stakes runner-up.
Little Black Dress as a yearling | Image courtesy of Inglis
“I thought she would have been a good chance to get some of it, but nothing went right,” trainer Stephen Marsh said on Friday.
“She was slowly away and got back to an impossible position. Her sectionals were good though and if there’s a bit of rain around then it wouldn’t worry her, she just needs to jump well to give herself every chance.”
“She (Little Black Dress) just needs to jump well to give herself every chance.” - Stephen Marsh
Bona Sforza (Written By) also comes from the 1000 Guineas, where she ran a credible fourth, and joins the line-up with Listed Sir Colin Meads Trophy winner Affirmative Action (Yes Yes Yes) and G2 Wakefield Challenge Stakes winner Intention (NZ) (Bivouac). To Cap It All (Capitalist) rounds out the Aussie-sired field, having run second in the G2 Sarten Memorial at the start of the month.
Stephen Marsh | Image courtesy of Trish Dunell
“It was a very good run last time and she’s bounced out of it without a problem,” Marsh said of the daughter of Capitalist, who placed in the G1 Sistema Stakes as a juvenile. “Hopefully, she can get some cover, and she’s got a really good turn of foot if she can be held up to give her every chance to get the mile at Riccarton.”
