Bold Balastier move could pay off for Baystone’s Harvey
Brazen Beau colt to step out for the first time in Aquis Gold Nugget
Victorian buyer Dean Harvey is hoping he’s pulled the right rein more than once with promising debutant Balastier (Brazen Beau), as he attempts to topple hot favourite Spywire (Trapeze Artist) in today’s Gold Nugget (1100m) at the Gold Coast.
Harvey, of Baystone Farm near Geelong, bought the son of stakes-placed mare See Me Exceed (Sebring) from Yarraman Park’s draft at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling sale last January for $200,000, placing him with Leon and Troy Corstens, intending to sell him through his annual draft at October’s Magic Millions 2YOs In Training sale.
Balastier won an 800-metre Flemington jump-out 11 days before the auction, leading Harvey to set a $280,000 reserve. But while the top bid came temptingly close, at $260,000, Harvey kept his nerve and his colt, with a small band of owners assembled including regular client Sean Buckley.
Already in Queensland for the sale, Balastier was transferred to Brisbane’s premier trainer Tony Gollan for a Magic Millions preparation.
And having contemplated holding him up for next week’s $500,000 first-timers’ sprint, The Debut (1000m), Harvey and associates have instead aimed higher, opting for today’s slightly longer test as hopefully an entree into the highlight of next Saturday’s Magic Millions raceday, the $3m Magic Millions 2YO Classic (1200m).
Balastier, bearing the Buckley black and green chevrons most famously carried by Miss Andretti (Ihtiram), now has a win and a second from two Brisbane barrier trials behind him, but still faces a tough challenge today despite another tiny Queensland two-year-old field.
Bookmakers had him a $3.80 chance last night, but among his five rivals is the $1.80 favourite Spywire, the Maher-Eustace colt bought for $520,000 from Widden’s draft last January.
Spywire debuted with a slashing 2.3 length win in an 1100-metre Rosehill maiden before being grabbed late over the same trip in the Wyong Magic Millions 2YO Classic (Listed, 1100m) by Highness (Snitzel), the current $5 second-favourite for next Saturday’s Gold Coast ‘grand final’ behind Storm Boy (Justify, $2.50).
Spywire heads into today on the fourth line of betting for next Saturday at $8, with $26 on offer for Balastier and $11 for Arabian Summer (Too Darn Hot), the raging favourite for today’s fillies’ warm-up, the Gold Pearl (1100m).
Harvey at least has high hopes of a strong showing today from Balastier, who has Brisbane’s premier rider Jimmy Orman aboard.
Balastier’s full brother will be offered through Yarraman’s draft next week.
“He’s [Balastier] going really well,” Harvey told ANZ Bloodstock News. “He’s been up for a while now, because of the breeze-up sale, but he’s done everything right and has trialled well. He’s still learning his craft, but he’s got a lot of talent, and we expect him to run well.
“We were thinking about going for the $500,000 race in The Debut next week, but we think the 1100 metres of this race will suit him better than the 1000. If he wins and pulls up well, we’d hope he can back up next week in the big race.
“Spywire’s going to be very hard to beat, he’s already got the score on the board, but we expect our boy to perform well.”
Harvey bought three colts at the Gold Coast last January and is so far delighted with their progress.
The Team Corstens-trained Aardvark (Capitalist), a $240,000 buy from Highgrove Stud’s draft, won two jump-outs to entice James Harron’s colts syndicate into the ownership, before running third in Caulfield’s Debutant Stakes (Listed, 1000m) on October 18 at his only start thus far.
Baystone and Malua Bloodstock went to $375,000 to buy an Arrowfield Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) colt who’s a half-brother, out of Rose Of Cimmaron (Bite The Bullet), to stakes-winners Siege Of Quebec (Fastnet Rock) and Bull Point (Fastnet Rock). Also with Team Corstens, the colt is due to trial on January 16, whilst joining Aardvark on a path towards the Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) at Caulfield on February 24.
“We’ve got three irons in the fire now and they’re all nice colts,” said Harvey, who had always seen Balastier as an ideal breeze-up type.
“We breeze a few up every year, and selling him was always the plan. To take them to the breeze-ups, they’ve got to be mature enough and stable enough to get there, so attitude’s always a big thing for us.
“He always had a good attitude, and was a sharp, really well balanced colt, and an obvious type, being out of a mare who was quite fast.
“But he didn’t make what we needed him to at the sale. It wasn’t too far off, but we were pretty firm on what we wanted. We knew he had good talent, and he’d already won a jump-out, so we stuck firm. I think we’ve pulled the right rein because he looks to be a nice horse.
“And then since he was in Queensland anyway, we moved him to Tony Gollan. It’s really hard to get them from Victoria to Queensland before the Magic Millions’ race, so we thought we’d keep him up there.”
Balastier may face a tough task overcoming Spywire, after Ciaron Maher gave his colt a glowing appraisal yesterday.
“He’s great. He’s in very good order,” Maher told ANZ Bloodstock News. “He was set to trial earlier in the week but they weren’t going to happen because of the weather, so we gave him a gallop instead, which is OK because he’s a colt who does well, and he’s had a look around the Gold Coast track.
“He’s been ridden forward in his two runs, but this time he’ll probably just have a bit of a sit, and it’ll be a nice pipe opener for next week’s race.”
Craig Williams takes over from Tyler Schiller, who was aboard in Spywire’s two runs, including his slightly newsworthy second at Wyong.
Stewards quizzed Schiller about his amount of vigour in the finish as Spywire was overhauled by Highness. The young jockey said he had been measured in his use of the whip for fear of the colt shifting ground under pressure. Stewards also reported Spywire was 1/5 lame in the off-fore post-race, and displaying mild heat stress.
Maher was disinclined to find excuses for the defeat in the stewards’ report, saying “I couldn’t find anything wrong with him,” after the race. In any case, he is confident Spywire would be at his best today.
“The horse came through the race perfect. He hasn’t missed a day’s work since,” said Maher, also unfazed by the questioning of Schiller.
“It’s one of those things. He did a bit of work early, and the other horse nabbed him on the line. They’re young horses. They’re improving.”
Arabian Summer, meanwhile, had settled in well at the Gold Coast after a two-night trip from her home base of Ballarat, and was ready to take the next step in her highly promising career today, according to co-trainer Calvin McEvoy.
The third-top lot of Book 2 at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale last January, as a $220,000 purchase from Coolmore Stud’s draft, Arabian Summer first appeared with a second, ahead of the colt Aardvark, in the Debutant Stakes. A second black-type placing followed when she was third in the Ottawa Stakes (Gr 3, 1000m) on November 9, before she blitzed her rivals by 3.5 lengths on a deteriorating track in the Magic Millions 2YO Classic on Ballarat Cup day.
A product of the Australian breeding wing of Dubai’s Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Maktoum, who’s stayed in the ownership, Arabian Summer appears a formidable candidate to further the cause of Darley shuttler Too Darn Hot (Dubawi), who’s had three winners from five starters in his first season with runners in Australia. She also has a half-sister by Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj) in this year’s sale, though most definitely not in Book 2.
“She’s living up to expectations,” McEvoy told ANZ Bloodstock News. “She was a nice filly – $220,000 in Book 2 was a bit of money after all – and she always looked to be a nice, sharp, early two-year-old, and that’s what she is.
“She’s been pretty hard to fault so far, and her last win was the most impressive of her runs. It was good that she showed versatility to win on the soft ground, and if she continues on that upward trajectory she’ll be right in this race for sure.
“She’s in really good order. She arrived well after a big trip from Victoria. She had a canter around this morning [Friday] with [race rider] Harry Coffey on board. She’s bright and well, and she’ll be hard to beat.
“I’d say 1200 metres has to be a little bit of a query – she’s fast and not overly big – but the way she finished off over 1000 metres at Ballarat last start, I’m not worried about the 1100 metres tomorrow. She’ll need to take the next step and get over 1200 metres next week, but hopefully she can.”
As in today’s colts and geldings’ prelude, a Gollan-trained debutant is set to start second favourite in the fillies’ event, with Moulin Miss (Spirit Of Boom) at around $3.50 last night following an impressive Doomben barrier trial win by almost five lengths.