Progressive sprinter Nadal (Xtravagant) produced an explosive turn of foot to come from near last to win the inaugural running of Saturday’s A$1m The Ladbrokes Meteorite at Cranbourne.
Nadal (Ethan Brown) wins the The Ladbrokes Meteorite at Cranbourne (Pic – Inglis)
The Ciaron Maher-trained 4YO was coming off a luckless performance at Flemington during Melbourne Cup week when he never saw daylight behind one of his rivals and eventual runner up, Rey Magnerio.
When he was back in traffic rounding the home turn into the short Cranbourne straight it was looking like a repeat performance by Nadal before jockey Ethan Brown guided him into clear running and he surged past his rivals for an electric, near three-length win.
Saturday’s win was Nadal’s third from just 10 starts and takes the number of open A$1m+ races won by Inglis graduates since 2019 to 106.
Nadal races in the famous colours of Ozzie Kheir and his win is part of a lucrative few days enjoyed by Kheir and his partners with purchases from Inglis sales, following the sale on Tuesday of Inglis graduate Bold Bastille for A$810,000 in a standalone Inglis Digital auction.
Maher purchased Nadal for A$250,000 at the Inglis Premier Yearling Sale, where he was offered by his breeders Newhaven Park.
“That was impressive, his turn of foot was something else,’’ Maher, who is likely to target Nadal at a range of top-class sprints in the new year, said.
“We’ve always held him in high regard. As a 3YO we ran him in races like the Golden Rose and the Coolmore because we believed in him, but things just didn’t quite go right but now as a 4YO he’s bigger and stronger and was ultra-impressive at Caulfield during the carnival then just had no luck at Flemington.
“He’s got a dynamic sprint on him as we saw today so hopefully, we see plenty more of it.
“We really liked him at the Premier Sale and breeders don’t get much better than John Kelly and the team at Newhaven so it’s a great result for a lot of people, the ownership group is a lot of fun and I’m sure they’ll celebrate hard tonight.”
Newhaven has a draft of 37 for next year’s Classic Yearling Sale and John Kelly is excited about presenting it to the market.
“It’s a large draft, there’s something there for everyone, proven sires, young sires, just a large draft of what I believe will be good racehorses, which is what people are after at Classic,’’ Kelly said.
“That win was very impressive to the eye. Xtravagant, he’s only had very limited runners, but he’s done very well with what he’s got, and Nadal is the prime example of the type of racehorse he can produce.’’
Meanwhile Port Lockroy’s win in tonight’s Gr1 Railway Stakes in Perth was a significant result for Inglis Digital, with three shares in the 4YO selling through the platform earlier this year.
Brae Sokolski and Jason Hunter each purchased a 10% share while Curtis McNaughton bought a 5% share in the February (Early) Sale.
The Railway Stakes was the Annabel Neasham and Rob Archibald-trained Port Lockroy’s first Gr1 victory.
Sokolski revealed he was a fan of Port Lockroy as a yearling and despite not purchasing him, had followed his early career from afar.
“So, when the shares came up on Inglis Digital, we thought ‘this is the perfect opportunity to finally get involved with this horse’ so we did and now we’ve won a Group 1 with him, it’s great,’’ Sokolski said.
“That’s one of the many great things about Inglis Digital, you can buy these shares now that pop up every sale and become involved instantly.’’
And at Wyong on Saturday, Pasima (Pierro), also from the Maher stable, scored an impressive all-the-way win.
An A$1.5m yearling, Pasima is being offered as lot 128 in the current Inglis Digital November (Late) Online Sale as part of the Halo Racing Unreserved Reduction.
The final countdown of bidding for the auction, which includes the dams of the likes of North England and Pinstriped, begins on Wednesday.
To view the catalogue, arrange credit or participate in the sale CLICK HERE.
