Ambitious Pepper hoping for a tasty performance from bargain buy Opal Ridge
Rubick filly set to take on big hitters in Silver Shadow Stakes as the action steps up a notch at Randwick
Bargain filly Opal Ridge (Rubick) will be out to provide more validation for sire and for Luke Pepper’s move to the growing training hub of Scone when she takes on several bigger hitters in today’s Silver Shadow Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m).
On a day in which the season’s elite-level action kicks off a race earlier at Randwick with the Winx Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m), Pepper will saddle Opal Ridge for the 1200-metre contest as only his second Group starter.
Pepper, Takeover Target’s (Celtic Swing) former work rider, who left Canberra at the start of June citing rising costs in the capital, has been in form since setting up with 17 on-course boxes in Scone.
With 40 horses on his books, the 41-year-old has trained nine winners from his past 35 runners. They’ve come at tracks including Parkes, Inverell, and the picnic meeting of Wean, but today he ventures into town and black-type company with what he feels is an undeniable chance of upsetting some more powerful rivals.
And if he can, it will be another boost for Swettenham Stud’s speed sire Rubick (Encosta De Lago), who’s made a strong start to 2022-23 with 13 winners from 51 runners after just 20 days of the season – compared with 81 winners for the whole of last term – and with another Group winner to his name last Saturday via Bound For Home in Caulfield’s Quezette Stakes (Gr 3, 1100m).
Opal Ridge – the first foal out of three-time Canberra winner Chadana (Myboycharlie), a half-sister to Adrian Knox Stakes (Gr 3, 2000m) winner Candelara (Real Saga) – cost part-owner Ryan Hunt just $20,000 at the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale. Such were her early strides in Pepper’s care, the trainer struck out south to Tasmania’s Magic Millions sale this year to buy what’s become her “very lovely and very forward” half sister by Outreach (Exceed And Excel) for $25,000.
Opal Ridge had won a Canberra two-year-old maiden on debut by that stage, and has continued to impress since. She resumed to win her second start in an 1100-metre Scone Benchmark 58 by three lengths on July 15, as a two-year-old against older horses. She then stepped up to city two-year-old class over the same trip to run a length and a half second, as second-favourite, to well-bred Godolphin filly Troach (Epaulette) at Rosehill on July 30.
That form has been emphatically franked, by fourth placegetter Hell I Am (Hellbent) winning at Canterbury on Wednesday and by Troach running a solid third in last Saturday’s Rosebud (Listed, 1100m) at Rosehill. Furthermore, Pepper believes racing fitness will carry Opal Ridge a long way as she steps up to 1200 metres today, with 11 of her 13 rivals resuming.
“She’s come through her last run super,” Pepper said of Opal Ridge, who was last night around the $12 mark in a market headed at around $3.50 by first-upper In Secret (I Am Invincible), a $900,000 Gold Coast buy for Godolphin who’s unbeaten from two starts.
“Opal Ridge won a couple of country races well, so we thought she deserved her chance in town for the last two-year-old race of the season, and she ran very well.
“Now this is a step up in class but I just thought it was a good time to strike with her, with her having had two runs in and being quite fit. It’s a good field but she’ll have a fitness edge. Plus, the form has stood up out of her last start, which made us a little more confident.”
Rubick is in his second year at Swettenham after a transfer from Coolmore, and stud owner Adam Sangster is hopeful his runners’ strong start to the season – which has him third on the nascent general sires table – coinciding with a fee drop from $27,500 to $22,000, will spark a busy spring for the 11-year-old.
With four crops racing, Rubick still awaits his first Group 1 winner, his flag best flown by Yes Yes Yes and his wins in The Everest (1200m) and the Todman Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m), and by Rubisaki’s three black–type wins capped by the AV Kewney Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m). Sangster is hoping that will change, given the runners emerging from bumper books of 263 and 262 in 2018 and 2019.
“He’s a stallion with enormous upside with the numbers coming through,” Sangster said. “We’ve seen it with Pierro, with Shamus Award, when their numbers came off and then they excelled, and everyone who went to them in those quieter years did particularly well in the sales ring three years later.
“He’s had big numbers at big prices, meaning good quality mares. He’s a sire who gets lots of winners, he’s very fertile, and the new VOBIS Sires Boost makes him very attractive too.
“The Encosta De Lago line has been very strong lately through Northern Meteor, and Rubick is out of a three-quarter sister to one of the best stallions of all time, in Redoute’s Choice.
“We’re still waiting for his first Group 1 winner, but I think this time next year we’ll be counting them on our fingers.”
That sentiment is shared by Pepper, who also went to Adelaide this year to buy a Rubick colt out of Gypsy Miss – a Denman (Lonhro) mare he trained to five straight country wins – for $20,000.
“I’ve trained a couple of Rubick mares, and I bought the one in Adelaide just because of Opal Ridge. I think he’s a very good stallion. He gets winners left, right and centre,” said Pepper, who had 24 winners from 124 starters last season, and who’s excited to be one of several trainers to set up in Scone in recent years.
“It’s a lovely place to train from – the horse capital of Australia. It’s a nice, relaxed atmosphere up here and the horses enjoy it. And although we’re in the bush, we’re only three-and-a-half hours to Randwick, and it’s all highway, so it’s definitely an easy trip for horses.”
Meanwhile, syndicators Australian Bloodstock have a degree of confidence around their two Kris Lees-trained starters resuming in the Silver Shadow – Willinga Beast (Snitzel), and Wolverine (Tivaci).
With Randwick a Soft 5 last night and with fine weather forecast, Willinga Beast was second-favourite at around $4.80 after two strong runs on heavy tracks in her first campaign last autumn.
A $625,000 Gold Coast purchase out of Time Check (Shamardal), a half-sister to the dam of Group 1 stars Alizee (Sepoy) and Astern (Medaglia D’Oro), the Arrowfield-bred Willinga Beast scored a debut win over 1100 metres at Canterbury, before rising to stakes company for a meritorious long head second to Paris Dior in the Percy Sykes Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m), behind Paris Dior (Pierro).
Wolverine, a $50,000 buy from Karaka Book 1 bred by Waikato Stud, will be having her first Australian start. Australian Bloodstock purchased the filly after her debut two-year-old win at Otaki last November. They were cheering when she won Group 2s at her next two stars, in Te Rapa’s Wakefield Challenge Stakes (Gr 2, 1100m) and Ellerslie’s Eclipse Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m), before seconds in the Karaka Million 2YO (RL, 1200m) and at elite level in the Manawatu Sires Produce (Gr 1, 1400m) at Awapuni. Still, bookmakers had her at around $26 last night.
“It’s hard to to draw a line between the two formlines,” said Australian Bloodstock’s Jamie Lovett. “One filly’s only had two starts, both on heavy tracks, and the other has Group 2 New Zealand form, which can be a bit patchy sometimes, so I’m a bit guarded there.
“But Wolverine has arrived in very good order and Kris is very happy with her. She’s quite a good type, very athletic, and might appreciate a bit more ground, probably up to a mile.
“Willinga Beast did a great job in her first prep, and looks like she’s come back stronger and every bit as good. She’s going to need to be to step up for this, but she looks a progressive filly with a good bit of class. I’d lean her way out of our two runners, because I think she’ll be the sharper one at the 1200 metres.”