Making the distance: The 3-year-old vying for fresh middle-distance riches

Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything

Most of the spring’s 3-year-old stars have headed for the paddock - or just returned, with eyes on the lucrative Magic Millions raceday in January - but a 12-horse field will convene at Caulfield on Saturday for a chance at a $220,000 first prize over 2000 metres in the inaugural $400,000 Whispering Angel Melbourne Classic.

Featuring on the G2 Zipping Classic undercard, it’s a brand new addition to the Victorian spring calendar for this season, and carries a heftier prizemoney tag than its fellow 2000-metre age restricted races, the G3 Caulfield Classic and G3 Ethereal Stakes that are held on Caulfield Cup day.

While it doesn’t carry black-type status, the significant prize pool and knowing you have successfully dodged a run-in with the likes of Classic victor Autumn Mystery (The Autumn Sun) and Ethereal victress Spicy Lu (Tagaloa) has to be somewhat of a draw.

An eclectic mix of stallions and an even more diverse range of families converge into a field that might well turn a few heads before the first yearling sale of the season.

Not quite to plan

Brave Danza (Brave Smash {Jpn}) hasn’t quite turned out to be what Glenlogan Park’s Steve Morley had imagined when he put the Japanese sprint star over Morganza (GB) (Singspiel {Ire}).

A winner in France over 2000 metres, Morganza was acquired by Belmont Bloodstock at Arqana December Breeding Stock Sale in 2011 for €80,000 ($142,000) and added a handful of metropolitan placings to her record in Australia before retiring to Glenlogan Park. Brave Danza is her fifth winner from seven to the track, and her second foal by Brave Smash (Jpn), the first being four-time winner Brave Agenda.

“I quite liked that foal,” said Morley. “She probably didn't progress quite as well as what we'd hoped originally.”

Morganza is, by Morley’s own admission, “full of staying blood”. She is a half-sister to Group 2-winning Monturani (Ire) (Indian Ridge {Ire}) who won her races out to 2000 metres, out of a mare who was placed in two Oaks. She is also a half to Listed-winning stayer Mill Springs (GB) (Shirocco {Ger}) and is closely related to Italian champion miler Anda Muchacho (Ire) (Helmet).

The hope was that Brave Smash would inject a bit of speed into her pedigree and neaten up the mare’s longer, narrower, European frame.

“I'm not sure we achieved that with Brave Danza,” Morley said. “As in, I think he's a really nice progressive horse, but he might just be best suited at a mile and maybe further.”

His career so far is certainly evidence to that; debuting in August after three jump-outs, he found his feet more as he was pushed out in distance by trainer Matt Cumani, breaking his maiden at start number four over 1765 metres in October. At his next start, he was second to well fancied Different Gravy (Ghaiyyath {Ire}) over 1800 metres in the Listed Batman Stakes. Up to 2000 metres is a logical step.

“Matt trained his sister, Tycoon Bec,” Morley recalled. “She was a very good filly and was probably unlucky in a couple of stakes races earlier on in her career.”

Tycoon Bec (Written Tycoon) won seven races and over $322,000 in prizemoney for Cumani, who understandably was keen to keep an eye on what the family was producing.

“From that, Matt had a good line on the family, so every time we took something out of that mare to the sales, he would certainly take the time to give them a good inspection,” Morley said. “And to his credit, he quite liked this one straight up. This was his only purchase at that entire sale. It was towards the end and he just took his time waiting for him.”

Cumani parted with $110,000 for Brave Danza at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale - a little cheaper than Tycoon Bec, who was a $140,000 graduate from the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.

“I’m sure in the long term, they (the owners) are going to be rewarded,” said Morley. “He’s shown some really good ability. Matt Cumani does a fantastic job, and for these kinds of horses that can get out to middle-distances, there’s no one better than him.”

Old is gold

Breeder Ian Millard struck gold when he acquired Pride Of Tahnee (Best Western) from Newhaven Park in the late eighties.

An unraced granddaughter of triple Principle race winner Swiftly Ann (Swiftly Morgan {USA}), she provided him with three Group 1 winners, who amassed 22 stakes wins between them, amongst 11 winning foals; G1 George Ryder Stakes winner Referral (Dr Grace {NZ}), G1 Oakleigh Plate winner Singing The Blues (Bluebird {USA}), and triple Group 1 winner Shogun Lodge (Grand Lodge {USA}) who also placed in two Derbies and the G1 Golden Slipper Stakes.

One of her daughters Tahnee (Lake Coniston {Ire}) produced three stakes performers, amongst them the dam of Group 3-winning stallion Worthy Cause, and in turn Tahnee's daughter Tahnee Topaz (Lonhro) produced Listed-winning, Group 1-placed Evalina (I Am Invincible). From Tahnee Topaz, Millard also bred Tahnee Tiara (Commands), who rewarded Millard with her first foal, G1 Queensland Oaks winner Socks Nation (Sioux Nation {USA}).

For her third foal, Millard visited another stallion who perhaps hasn’t received the welcome in Australia that he deserved - Ghaiyyath (Ire) - to produce Gold Topaz.

“He was the best racehorse in the world,” was Millard’s justification for choosing the horse once rated the world’s best racehorse. “And he’s a lovely sort. Unfortunately, most people couldn’t even pronounce Ghaiyyath, let alone spell it.”

Sioux Nation (USA) received an even more frosty reception in his one trip down under, leaving just 39 foals in his singular crop. Millard’s Socks Nation is one of his two Australian stakes winners.

With Ghaiyyath, Millard thought the horse could add a little bit of speed into the domestic stock. Perhaps a strange thing to say of a stayer, but it has made sense to Millard.

“She (Tahnee Tiara) was a good mare, but perhaps lacked a little bit of acceleration,” he said.

Millard mostly retains fillies from his family - admitting to a “moment of weakness” that led him to sell Tahnee Tiara to Yulong for $545,000 last year in an Inglis Digital auction, although he has retained three of her sisters. He sent Gold Topaz to the Magic Millions Adelaide Yearling Sale but the colt failed to make his reserve, so Millard sent him to Peter Hardacre.

“Peter was training for me at the time, and he formed a partnership to race him,” he said. “He’s since retired from training and instead educates them full time. So we sent him to Victoria to Mitchell Freedman because he was Silver VOBIS qualified.”

The rest, they say, is history. While Gold Topaz only boasts a Bordertown so far, it did tick the 2000-metre box, and his fourth to Different Gravy at Listed level the start before was strong, creeping forward from the back of the field to land only half a length behind runner-up Brave Danza.

“I think if Gold Topaz doesn't win it, the other Ghaiyyath will,” Millard said.

Matching the mare

Khory McCormick was also a fan of Ghaiyyath from the start, and sent his mare Venerated (Medaglia D’Oro {USA}) to visit the stallion in his first season as well. Once he purchased the Godolphin-bred mare in an Inglis Digital auction for $6000 in 2020, the road to Ghaiyyath was a logical one - and thus produced Different Gravy, already a stakes winner.

“I have bred horses for about 35 years, and I have been a student of pedigrees at the same time,” McCormick said. “And particularly international, traditional pedigrees, particularly British and American lines. When I purchase mares, I look for something that resonates with me and with that breed.”

A fan of Medaglia D’Oro (USA), McCormick has been pleased to see the stallion take the step from a well-performed racehorse, to a top sire, to blooming into a wonderful broodmare sire in both hemispheres. What else appealed to McCormick about Venerated - described as a “barrel on legs” who’s foals throw more to the appearance of their sires - appeared under her third dam, dual Group 3 winner Blue Storm (Bluebird {USA}). He was drawn to the performances of Flit (Medaglia D’Oro {USA}), who would win a G1 Thousand Guineas at the pinnacle of her career.

This same branch of Venerated’s pedigree has since grown further, producing Broadsiding and G3 Blue Sapphire Stakes winner Pisces (Frosted {USA}).

“I thought the family had the potential to progress,” McCormick said. “And then when you get to the stallion - I always try to breed a horse that will get a mile, because if you breed to a mile and you fail, you're more likely to end up with a horse that can still sprint. I bred Different Gravy to be a 2000-metre or thereabouts horse, and he (Ghaiyyath) had presented logically for that reason.”

The cross combines four of the world’s most powerful sires in the first three generations; Dubawi (Ire) and Galileo (Ire) produced Ghaiyyath, and Venerated is the product of Medaglia D’Oro over a Street Cry (Ire) mare. McCormick sought the same cross again this season when sending the mare to first season sire Henry Longfellow (Ire) at Rosemont Stud.

Different Gravy’s trainer Henry Dwyer spoke this week of the decision to dodge the G1 Victoria Derby with the knowledge that the $400,000 prize lay at the end of the carnival, and for McCormick, it was one more logical decision.

“I think Henry thought that, as statistics show the Victoria Derby can have a fairly gut-wrenching effect on the 3-year-olds that participate in it, the idea was more to give the horse time to mature and step up in distance,” he said.

While Different Gravy launched his career in a pre-Christmas juvenile race - running fifth to Aleppo Pine (Blue Point {Ire}) - it was all part of a patient plan to have the horse reach Derbies in the autumn of his 3-year-old career.

“If you look at the stallion line, they're likely to get better at four and five. If he stays sound, he will hit his peak as a 5-year-old.”

Like turning the Titanic

It’s no secret that Australia loves to breed for speed - and rather more, Australia loves to shop for speed as well, thus making the first assertion an imperative. While the prizemoney is enticing for the Melbourne Classic, Morley isn’t sure it can turn the tide on breeding on its own.

“It’s like turning the Titanic,” he said, when asked if the race could have a trickle down effect on domestic breeding choices. “It will take quite a while to have an impact on how we breed, because I suppose what most breeders react to is how well-rewarded they are in the sale ring. So if the demand comes there from the buying bench, then breeders will follow.”

Even then, what makes it difficult to deliver is the lack of strong, well received middle-distance stallions standing in Australia. Shuttle horses, particularly those who were effective over more ground, are handled with a bit of caution, and entires who win middle-distance races locally can’t command nearly as high of a fee as their sprinting brethren.

The late So You Think (NZ) is perhaps better known for producing a middle-distance type - his best winners to runners ratio for black-type is 23.5% for the 2101-metre to 2300-metre range - and posted a bargain fee of $44,000 (inc GST) this season, less than half of his peak, despite posting an Oaks winner last season.

“I don’t think we have really had a staying stallion that we have been able to commercially target since Zabeel,” said Morley. “He was one of the last real stallions where you knew you could go buy a lovely yearling and you could target Caulfield Cups and Derbies and Oaks.”

Some of Australia’s top stallions are very versatile with their progeny, but, as Morley rightfully points out, you don’t buy an Extreme Choice with the express purpose of winning a G1 Melbourne Cup - even if he has achieved that.

“He's had a Golden Slipper winner and a Melbourne Cup winner and an Oaks winner along the way, but when you think of them, you're still thinking of sprinters,” said Morley. “It's already tough enough to try and keep your head above water as a commercial breeder, let alone trying to breed yearlings where there's only a very, very small buying bench that would attack it.”

More races like the Whispering Angel are the start of the cycle in Morley’s eyes; build more incentives for the buying bench to source locally-bred staying talent, and they will in turn look to local breeders more readily to produce the stock.

“We might not know which comes first, the chicken or the egg, but we would know what would come first in this particular instance,” he said. “There's got to be an incentive there for buyers and trainers to want those horses before the breeders will stump up to produce.”

Worth the wait

For the owner-breeder, patience is a virtue, and one that McCormick has in spades. That being said, the wait is made easier when a race like the Whispering Angel awaits a breeder who is willing to wait and is actively seeking the distance.

“An owner-breeder always thinks their horse is going to be a champion, and the trainer is always realistic and more objective,” he said. “But the balance is a blend of enthusiasm and pragmatism, hoping you get a result. When you breed a horse with those crosses, you've simply got to commit to the view that you can get it right.

“I think having the race on Saturday is a very big appeal with a horse that you want to be patient with. Different Gravy is doing exactly what he’s been bred for.”

Millard does think the race can turn owners’ heads in the direction of seeking middle-distance riches. At the very least, it’s a good reason to stick to his current breeding pathways.

“I’ll retire and sell everything when I breed a Cox Plate winner,” he said. “I’ve come third once.”

In the short term, our eyes turn to Caulfield, where there are 12 3-year-olds, with sires from Snitzel to Savabeel to Fiorente (Ire), vying for that golden carrot and the opportunity to prove they are worth the wait.