Glittering display puts Gold Coast Belle on path to stakes success

Image: Gold Coast Belle, (Credit Racing Photos)

The decision by prominent owner-breeder John Wheeler to cut short a holiday to watch Gold Coast Belle (So You Think) in action last Saturday was duly rewarded when the classy mare romped to victory to put a stakes campaign firmly on the agenda this spring.

After a recent hip operation which has left him “walking like Quasimodo”, Wheeler and his partner Barbara elected to escape the Melbourne winter for the warmer climes of Singapore to aid his recovery but, given the high opinion he has of Gold Coast Belle, the 75-year-old was intent on returning to the somewhat less salubrious surrounds of Sandown to witness the fifth victory of her seven-start career.

Due to his affection for the town of Grinzing on the outskirts of the Austrian capital of Vienna, many of Wheeler’s horses carry the Grinzinger moniker but in this instance he deferred naming rights to Barbara, who chose Gold Coast Belle as she owns an apartment on Queensland’s famous coastline.

Thus far their golden girl has more than lived up to her name, with a narrow defeat as an immature three-year-old on debut and a runner-up finish behind Ciaron Maher’s dual Group 1 placegetter Paltrow Miss (Circus Maximus) the only blemishes on an otherwise flawless CV.

The fact that Saturday’s success on an attritional track came at the expense of the previously unbeaten Tennessee Bound (Written Tycoon) added further merit to the 2.25-length victory, and has persuaded Wheeler and trainer Danny O’Brien to plot a path towards some spring features with Gold Coast Belle.

As a $375,000 purchase from Coolmore’s draft at the 2024 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, the mare was by no means a cheapie but given the progeny of the late, great So You Think (High Chaparral) are renowned for improving with age – and with the demand for her deceased sire’s stock soon set to outstrip the supply chain – there is now every reason to think that Wheeler bagged a bargain that day.

After breaking the track record en route to winning the Bendigo Guineas (Listed, 1400m) back in May, Gold Coast Belle was sent for a winter spell and having picked up where she left off on her first outing as a four-year-old, races like the Let’s Elope Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m) and potentially even the Empire Rose Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) are now very much part of her plans.

“I was determined to get back from Singapore in time for Saturday’s race because I was very confident that she would win,” Wheeler told ANZ News.

“It was great to see her win like that and even better that several of the bookies went home with their bags a fair bit lighter, which doesn’t happen often enough. My only query was whether she would handle the Heavy track, but most of the So You Thinks seem to cope with it so I was reasonably confident that it wouldn’t be an issue.     

“The mare wasn’t fully wound up and she still ran a good time given the conditions, so based on that performance you’d have to think she’d be a live chance in a race like the Let’s Elope Stakes in three weeks’ time. I believe we’re in for a very exciting spring with her, she’s shown ability from the start but Danny’s taken a patient approach because we all know that the So You Thinks only get better with age.

“She’s got the ability to quicken at the end of her aces which only the good ones can do, and I’ve got no doubt she’ll get over a mile – but I don’t think we’d look to go any further than that to try to keep the brilliance in her legs. There are so many options for her in that distance range, whether it be the Empire Rose or The Invitation in Sydney. That’s worth twice as much in prize-money but it’s only a Group 2, so if she held her form I’d probably be more inclined to head towards the Empire Rose because a Group 1 on her pedigree page would obviously be worth its weight in gold.”

Wheeler’s other main spring hope in Australia is Grinzinger Heart (Toronado), who had the distinction of becoming the first juvenile stakes winner for Swettenham’s flagbearer when she narrowly defeated Zambales (Pinatubo) in the Darley Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m) at Flemington.  

The filly, who was purchased by Wheeler for $110,000 from the Lustre Lodge draft on the Gold Coast last year, will plot a path towards the Thousand Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) for her emerging trainer Ben Brisbourne.

Across the Tasman, Wheeler will also take a keen interest in the exploits of Grinzinger Heart’s former stablemate Grinzinger Moon (Puissance De Lune), who is undefeated in her two starts for co-trainers Roger James and Robert Wellwood.

Wheeler had originally shipped the mare over to New Zealand to be served by Ka Ying Rising’s fertility-challenged sire Shamexpress (O’Reilly), but she subsequently returned to the racetrack after the mating was unsuccessful.    

That mishap may have been a blessing in disguise for Wheeler, as his homebred mare has relished the change in scenery with back-to-back triumphs at Auckland over 1100 metres.

Grinzinger Moon’s dam Taqdees (Redoute’s Choice), a three-quarter sister to Group 2 winner Wee Nessy (Snitzel), was a member of Wheeler’s boutique broodmare band before he decided to scale back his breeding operation in recent years.

Quintello (Intello) is now the solitary broodmare on his books, and after she produced a colt who was sold to Matt Laurie for $120,000 at this year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, Wheeler has decided to race the yearling full-brother in his distinctive orange and blue colours.   

Both colts were sired by Russian Camelot (Camelot), who provided his majority owner with his two biggest thrills in racing when he won both the South Australian Derby (Gr 1, 2500m) and Underwood Stakes (Gr 1, 1800m) and was placed at racing’s highest level on three further occasions during a purple patch of form in 2020.  

Having subsequently been retired to Widden Victoria, Russian Camelot will shortly embark on his fourth breeding season which could make or break his time in the Riddells Creek stallion barn.

Without a stakes winner to his name, Russian Camelot is perhaps in a somewhat peril/ous position on such a premium roster, but Wheeler remains hopeful that the ten-year-old bull can turn his fortunes around.

“Every stallion needs a good horse early in their careers to get them up and running, so Russian Camelot probably needs to produce a stakes winner or two this season,” Wheeler told ANZ News.   

“There are plenty of good stallions who just needed a bit of time, but in this day and age time isn’t always on your side. If you look at Shamexpress, who also won a Group 1 for Danny [O’Brien], it took him a little while to really make his mark as a stallion but now he can lay claim to having produced the best racehorse in the world.  

“Hopefully we can have a bit of fun with Russian Camelot’s colt out of Quintello. I only kept her because she was probably the best of the broodmares that I owned and she is back in foal to Russian Camelot, so we’re expecting that to arrive very shortly. I enjoy the breeding side of things and I’ve had a lot of fun along the journey, but at my age you probably have to wait a bit too long to see the fruits of your labour.”