Eternal Warrior set to tune up for Blue Diamond task in Caulfield’s Preview
Trainer Lloyd Kennewell is growing excited about the Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) prospects of Eternal Warrior (Extreme Warrior) as the stallion sons of Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt) continue their encouraging early steps in the stud world this weekend.
Eternal Warrior, an ultra-impressive long odds winner of Caulfield’s Merson Cooper Stakes (Listed, 1000m) at his only start in late November, resumes among the favourites in Saturday’s colts and geldings’ Blue Diamond Prelude (Gr 3, 1100m).
That his sire Extreme Warrior (Extreme Choice) can boast a stakes success among two winners from six runners represents a brilliant start to siring life for Rosemont Stud’s seven-year-old.
And he’s put himself in the centre of discussions as the Australian breeding scene eagerly watches to see the extent to which Extreme Choice’s red hot siring power will be passed on through his sons.
Four of them are at stud in Australia, with Extreme Choice’s Newgate Farm barnmate Stay Inside also off to a flyer.
The Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) hero has two stakes victors among three winners from six runners.
Michael Freedman’s Incognito took Randwick’s Breeders’ Plate (Gr 3, 1000m) on debut. He disappointed on resumption in Saturday’s Canonbury Stakes (Gr 3, 1100m) at Rosehill, but another Stay Inside – Eviction Notice – took third to become the stallion’s third stakes horse, in a race incidentally taken out on debut by Extreme Choice’s second-most expensive yearling, $1.7 million colt Hidrix.
Meanwhile, Andrew Forsman’s daughter of Stay Inside, Lassified, has won two of three in New Zealand, including Trentham’s Wellesley Stakes (Listed, 1100m), and is nominated for Saturday’s $2 million Inglis Millennium (RL, 1100m) at Randwick.
Another Stay Inside daughter, Shy Miss, is nominated to debut for the Moody-Coleman team in Saturday’s fillies’ Blue Diamond Prelude (F) (Gr 2, 1100m) at Caulfield, after winning two of her four barrier trials, all at Pakenham.
Newgate’s other son of Extreme Choice, Tiger Of Malay, has had eight runners including fillies Momentslikethese – who’s run second in a Tasmanian Listed – and Tigroni, who’s been placed twice in Sydney and ran third at the Gold Coast behind Gimcrack Stakes (Gr 3, 1000m) winner Shiki (Too Darn Hot).
Despite awaiting his first winner, Tiger Of Malay sits atop the Australian first season sires’ table, thanks to Tigroni’s earnings. Although she only finished ninth in the Gold Coast’s Magic Millions 2YO Classic (RL, 1200m), she scooped a $330,000 Racing Women’s Bonus for being the first all female-owned runner home, which somehow gets considered in stallion standings.
In any event, Australia’s first season sires’ table now features the above three sons of Extreme Choice in its top five, with Stay Inside third and Extreme Warrior fifth.
The fourth Extreme Choice at stud, Don Corleone, standing at Eureka Stud in partnership with Newgate, has his first crop of foals on the ground.
Subfertile sensation Extreme Choice’s yearling prices continue to spiral upwards. His eight sold lots at Magic Millions Gold Coast last month averaged $822,500, and included the sale’s equal-top purchase, a colt sold by Kingstar Farm to Yulong for $2 million.
That average compares to Extreme Choice’s Gold Coast 2025 figure of $478,333, and his average last year overall of $477,575.
And this comes alongside expectations of a particularly attractive batch of yearlings by Extreme Choice headed to Inglis Easter.
The 12-year-old – whose 18 stakes winners include six at the top level and come at a thumping 12.24 per cent of runners – also has a colt and two fillies headed to next week’s Inglis Classic sale, spread across Newgate and Kingstar Farm’s drafts.
As Extreme Choice’s small crops of yearlings continue to rise in price alongside his stellar results on the track, more and more buyers, perhaps with an eye on budgets, will be looking to the offspring of his sons as a means of tapping into his increasingly valuable blood.
That was partly what motivated Kennewell at the Magic Millions Adelaide Yearling Sale last year, when he paid $80,000 with Blueblood Thoroughbreds for Eternal Warrior, who was bred by the China Horse Club and sold by its NSW southern highlands stud farm, The Chase.
The strapping colt, from the same family as quadruple Group 1-winning mare Alinghi (Encosta De Lago), bore a strong resemblance to a son of Extreme Choice in the Kennewell stable, the Listed-winning and Group-placed Meridius.
“Adelaide’s been a very good sale for me over the years. I’ve bought a lot of really good, stakes-class horses there,” said the Cranbourne-based Kennewell, who began his career in his hometown of Adelaide and bought stars including his dual Group 1 winner Viddora (I Am Invincible) at the city’s yearling sale.
“I went there to buy a nice colt and he [Eternal Warrior] was the one colt I wanted for the year over there, so it worked out well.
“He was by a son of Extreme Choice, but he had a lot of resemblance to Extreme Choice. He reminded me a lot of Meridius, actually, a very good, strong looking colt.
“I’ve had a lot of luck with Extreme Choice, I’ve had two stakes horses by him, so I know the breed pretty well.
“Obviously his stats are through the roof for the numbers he gets. He’s going to another level with the prices people are paying for his stock now.
“Extreme Warrior had the same bloodlines, and this colt looked very much in the shape of an Extreme Choice colt, so I was very keen and happy to buy him.
“I thought he might go for $100,000, so getting him for $80,000 was great. I guess the fact he was by a first-season sire helped keep his price down, and I guess Adelaide is that sort of sale.
“But anyway, that price is looking even cheaper now.”
Kennewell said that with the Australian scene “looking for that next stallion to come through”, it was understandable that buyers would place faith in the sons of Extreme Choice.
“I can see them working,” he told ANZ News. “I’ve already seen one work, as in we’ve got a stakes winner by Extreme Warrior, so I can’t see why a few of the others won’t perform.
“They were pretty well-performed racehorses, Don Corleone, Tiger Of Malay, Extreme Warrior, Stay Inside. You’ve got to say they’re going to work. I think the future’s pretty safe with a few of those stallions. They’ll fly the flag for sure.”
Bearing the Rosemont colours throughout his track career, Extreme Warrior went to stud after just eight starts for three wins, including a Group 3 and a Listed at Caulfield. The Price-Kent Jnr-trained colt started $3.40 favourite in the 2021 Coolmore Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m), finishing tenth behind another current first-season sire, Home Affairs (I Am Invincible).
If Eternal Warrior can continue on from his strong start, he could provide a timely boost for Extreme Warrior, whose other winner Blandford Baron scored at Morphettville. Latest studbook figures show Extreme Warrior covered 48 mares last season at $13,200 (inc GST), after serving 22 in 2024 at $16,500. He kicked off his career in 2022, covering 113 mares at $24,750.
Kennewell said he was particularly pleased to have the “straightforward” son of Extreme Warrior he has.
Eternal Warrior is the first foal of winning sprinter Devout Hero (No Nay Never), a half-sister to three stakes-placed gallopers whose second dam – the also stakes-placed Oceanfast (Monde Bleu), was the mother of Alinghi.
The colt ran second in two trials in November, finishing 1.25 lengths behind Alibaba (Alabama Express) in the second. Despite that performance, but perhaps due to drawing the widest gate of 13, he started at $41 behind Alibaba’s $5.50 in the Merson Cooper.
But after travelling three and four-wide without cover throughout the 1000-metre journey, Eternal Warrior showed tremendous grit up the Caulfield straight to win by 0.1 lengths from another son of a first-season sire in Stretan Ruler (Wild Ruler). Alibaba was 1.25 lengths away in third.
“It was a terrific win,” Kennewell said. “I’m not really sure why he was so long in the market, to be honest, but I don’t try to work out the odds – I just train them.”
Eternal Warrior returned from a short break in an 800-metre Caulfield Heath barrier trial last Thursday, running a 0.5-length second. The trial’s time of 44.77s was the fastest of the seven 800-metre heats on the morning, comfortably eclipsing the 45.63s of the open trial in which the first three home were Group winners in My Gladiola (I Am Invincible), The Everest (Gr 1, 1200m) hero Giga Kick (Scissor Kick) and McGaw (I Am Immortal).
Kennewell said Eternal Warrior was “exactly where we wanted him to be” as he goes in fresh to the Prelude, two weeks in advance of the Blue Diamond, the $2 million stallion maker for which he’s currently $18.
“We qualified early by winning the Merson Cooper, and we were very keen to go the soft approach early and make sure we got him to the Prelude with room for improvement to go to the grand final two weeks later,” said Kennewell, who has booked Damian Lane as Eternal Warrior’s new rider for Saturday.
“He trialled up terrific. He was in need of a good trial, since he was carrying a bit of excess. Damian had his first sit on the horse and was very pleased with what he did.
“We’ve got him right where we want him now. Saturday will top him off for a fortnight’s time. Whatever he does on Saturday, there’ll be more improvement to come for the grand final.
“I don’t think Saturday be a huge field size – single digits, I reckon – but it’ll be a good race to find out where he’s at. There’s some nice horses in it and hopefully he’s one of them.”
“He’s a nice colt. He did everything right leading into the Merson Cooper and has done everything right since then. We’ve been very, very happy with him.”
The Prelude shapes as a quality affair, with Price-Kent Jnr’s recent Cranbourne debut winner Guest House (Home Affairs) at $2.10, Anthony and Sam Freedman’s second starter High Alert (Street Boss) at $5, and Eternal Warrior sharing the third line at $7 with Closer To Free (Street Boss), who debuts for Danny O’Brien after two recent trial wins.