It was a day of fairytales for Inglis graduates at Caulfield on Saturday as a A$14,000 Premier Sale buy won the A$1m Showdown and wonder mare Pride of Jenni returned to racing with an emphatic victory in the Peter Young Stakes.
Bargain buy McGaw (I Am Immortal) made it two wins from as many starts with a tough victory in the A$1m Showdown.
McGaw (Damian Lane) makes it two from two (Pic – Inglis)
The victory was a huge result for a range of people – it was a career high for trainers Emma-Lee and David Browne, it was a monumental result for Ryan Arnel’s Stonehouse Thoroughbreds who sold both McGaw and runner-up Befuddle (Inglis Gold Sale) and an emotional moment for David Azzopardi of Dream Thoroughbreds, who bred both McGaw and Befuddle and races Befuddle.
“This is huge,’’ Arnel said.
“Obviously I’m lucky enough to be in the mounting yard on race day but the first two texts to come through after the race were from staff back on the farm, they follow the horses just as much as we do and it was as awesome for them as it was for me.
“It’s a great ownership group. I remember at the sale last year Dave and Em were the only ones to look at this bloke twice, they really liked him and they bought him and here we are today.
“Hopefully it’s the start of something because they came back to the well and bought another I Am Immortal colt out of our draft at Prem last week too.’’
Co-trainer Emma-Lee Browne was ecstatic post-race.
“It’s just so good!’’ she said. “Honestly, I’m gobsmacked. There was a lot of yelling! It means so much to us. We went to the sales…we found a couple of cheapies and gee, I can’t believe it.
“David’s a pretty good judge. He got off him one day and said ‘oh I like this one’ and here we are.’’
From just two career starts McGaw has now won A$580,000 in prizemoney.
Earlier on the program it was a stunning return to racing for Pride of Jenni (Pride of Dubai) as she annihilated her rivals with a dominant all-the-way win in the Gr2 Peter Young Stakes.
Pride of Jenni hadn’t raced since Melbourne Cup Week in November and had been retired by her owners Tony and Lynn Ottobre of Cape Schanck Stud.
But the Ottobre’s had a change of heart and decided to bring Pride of Jenni back into Ciaron Maher’s stables and that decision proved wondrous with a spectacular victory.
The Ottobre’s paid A$100,000 for the Trelawney Stud-bred Pride of Jenni at the Classic Yearling Sale, where she was offered by Segenhoe.
“She did a fantastic job today,’’ Tony Ottobre said.
“She was well ridden by jockey Craig Froggy [Newitt] and he had her in a great position and just kept her going. He wanted to keep her pretty steady for the first 1000m, it would have been nice to be out 30 lengths in front but the job was done and what a fantastic horse she is.
“It ain’t over until you’re really close and I’m never confident until you cross the line but she got the job done in great style.’’
Maher was confident Pride of Jenni could return in winning fashion on Saturday.
“On her data it was on par or better than before. I’m rapt to have her back and rapt to have options with her again,’’ the trainer said.
“She’s only had a short prep but we thought we’d change tack a little bit. She hadn’t won first up and normally she goes in the toughest races, usually seven furlongs, so we thought we’d stretch it out and thought she’d get it a little bit easier and fortunately it’s worked out really well.
“She’s getting a little bit softer each season she comes back which enables us to kick her off over nine furlongs like we did today.
“Because she puts so much into every run – she’s remarkable how she just keeps doing it – the holiday was probably a blessing in disguise because we’ve re-thought her prep a little bit.’’
Pride of Jenni will head to Sydney for either the Gr1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes or Gr1 Queen of the Turf Stakes, with a possible Gr1 Australian Cup start beforehand.
Meanwhile beautiful mare Eagle Nest (Shalaa) resumed with a strong all-the-way win in Saturday’s Gr3 Maurice McCarten Stakes at Rosehill.
Trained by Gerald Ryan and Sterling Alexiou and racing for a syndicate that includes Newgate, Matthew Sandblom’s Hollymount Stud, SF Bloodstock, Peter O’Brien and John Moore, Eagle Nest has proven a shrewd purchase having been picked up at last year’s Chairman’s Sale for A$300,000.
Stakes placed at the time of her purchase last May, Eagle Nest has since won a pair of Stakes races and added in excess of A$305,000 to her prizemoney haul.
The now 5YO mare sold out of the Arrowfield draft to Newgate Bloodstock at the Chairman’s Sale, having initially been a A$550,000 Easter Yearling Sale purchase for George Moore and IRON, where she was offered by her breeder Segenhoe.
And at Kembla Grange on Friday Verona Rose (Castelvecchio) led in an Inglis graduates trifecta in the Gr3 Kembla Classic when defeating Inevitable Truth and Brigidine Gal.
Trained by Gary Portelli, Verona Rose is unbeaten in three career starts and will likely follow a traditional path to next month’s Gr1 Australian Oaks via the Gr1 Vinery Stud Stakes in a fortnight.
Portelli bought Verona Rose for A$40,000 at the Classic Yearling Sale, where she was offered by her breeder Arrowfield.
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