Beiwacht enters Golden Slipper picture
Godolphin colt Beiwacht (Bivouac) became his Darley sire’s first Australian black type winner with an impressive longshot’s victory in a Silver Slipper Stakes (Gr 2, 1100m) that blurred calculations surrounding next month’s Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m).
In a race notable for the dethroning third placing – after a particularly tough run in transit – of Golden Slipper favourite Wodeton (Wootton Bassett), Beiwacht sat second in transit, a length astern of the leader and one off the fence, and powered clear in the straight to score by 2.15 lengths.
Behind the $17 winner was a mixed bag of tales from more fancied Golden Slipper candidates.
Wodeton, with Kerrin McEvoy substituting while James McDonald rides Romantic Warrior (Acclamation) in the Saudi Cup (Gr 1, 1800m), settled three-wide at the tail from the widest gate of nine.
McEvoy moved forward down the side, three and four wide without cover, and the $1.6 million Coolmore colt was still the widest runner entering the straight. He battled hard to make ground but couldn’t reduce the leeway on Beiwacht after the Godolphin colt pinched a decisive lead into the straight.
Wodeton, the $2.20 favourite, had to settle for third, beaten 2.44 lengths, while West Of Swindon (Wootton Bassett) – another son of Coolmore’s boom shuttler – made ground for second, at $9.50.
The $3.20 second favourite Bel Merci (Extreme Choice), resuming from her Gimcrack Stakes (Gr 3, 1000m) success, tumbled down Golden Slipper betting after running second-last, while the freshly gelded Gambler (Capitalist), backed in to $7.50, weakened after leading to finishing one spot ahead of her.
Assessing Wodeton’s tough run, bookmakers maintained the Chris Waller-trained colt as a $3.50 favourite for the world’s richest two-year-old race, at Rosehill on March 22.
They trimmed Beiwacht in appreciably to an $11 equal second favourite – alongside Silver Slipper scratching North England (Farnan) and Apocalyptic (Extreme Choice) – while tightening West Of Swindon to $15, and Saturday’s Blue Diamond (Gr 1, 1200m) victor Devil Night (Extreme Choice) to $26.
Beiwacht may have been aided by Wodeton’s ill fortune – as even Godolphin trainer James Cummings conceded – but little should be taken away from the effort of the royal blue army third-starter, who himself raced without cover off the leader’s rump.
The colt bombed his debut in a 1000-metre Randwick two-year-old handicap on January 25, fading from second to finish seventh, before improving for second, on an inside run in the straight, in the Lonhro Plate (Listed, 1000m) on February 8.
Beiwacht then appeared to put his A-game together on Saturday, in a win which was Darley through-and-through. He’s from the first crop of their triple Group 1 winning sprinter and $55,000 (inc GST) sire Bivouac (Exceed And Excel). And he’s out of a Darley-bred mare by their former star shuttler Street Cry (Machiavellian) in 2013 Caulfield Listed winner Metastasio – who now has two stakes winners from seven runners.
“It’s a big result for Bivouac – he’s had a really good start as a stallion, and as a sire for the future for us, and that’s pretty exciting,” Cummings told Channel 7.
“It’s a big confidence booster for the horse [Beiwacht] himself. And what a race to have a confidence booster in, a Silver Slipper, a month out from the Golden Slipper itself.
“Since last year, I’ve had a big opinion of the horse, and our team have just done a great job to get him there, get him through, bit by bit.
“He’s got more and more relaxed, he’s getting things right. His debut was a disaster, but we got through that and stuck to the plan.
“It’s a huge result for the farm. He’s by Bivouac, he’s out of a Street Cry mare, he’s a home-grown product. And it bodes well for Bivouac’s future as a sire, but importantly now it’s about what happens in the next four weeks.”
Cummings added: “I appreciate that he’s had absolutely everything go his way today but look, he’s a Silver Slipper winner and a legitimate class act going into a Golden Slipper.”
Jockey Adam Hyeronimus said he was hugely impressed with Beiwacht’s effort.
“Today, with the good speed, he jumped well, he was nice and relaxed in the first 100 metres, and I was able to take up a nice position outside the lead on a good speed,” he said.
“But he started to get quite strong before the turn because I was going so well and I didn’t really want to go but at the same time, I didn’t want to break his stride. So I just tried to hold onto him as much as I could and he showed a very sharp turn of foot.
“There’s a lot of improvement [to come]. He’s still a very raw colt. What he’s doing is just pure ability. Once he realises he’s a racehorse, there’ll be a lot of a different story.”
McEvoy said Wodeton had lost no gloss from a Golden Slipper perspective.
“I thought he ran fantastic,” he said.
“The plan was to be a little bit quiet to get some cover but that didn’t eventuate. He got a little bit competitive, having to be a bit closer on the corner having done it the hard way.
“I liked the way he was quickening through the last furlong. Everything points to him being 100 per cent ready to go in a few weeks’ time [for the Slipper]. A little bit further will suit him as well.”
Bivouac now has a stakes victor among three winners from nine runners in Australia, while Intention, one of his two New Zealand runners, has also won black type when he claimed Manawatu’s Wakefield Challenge (Gr 2, 1100m).
Beiwacht is the seventh of nine foals for Metastasio, who has a yearling sister to him in training with Cummings named Cafe Reine, a weanling filly by Darley’s Microphone (Exceed And Excel), and was covered last spring by Darley shuttler Benbatl (Dubawi).
Metastasio’s third foal was the Listed-winning and Group 3-placed Gravina (Sebring).