Brutality sets up Doncaster tilt with Villiers success
Shamus Award (Snitzel) will have yet another son of his chase big-race Group 1 glory as the Joe Pride-trained Brutality (5 g ex Star Salute by General Nediym) won yesterday’s Villiers Stakes (Gr 2, 1600m) at Randwick, earning the five-year-old his spot in next year’s Doncaster Handicap (Gr 1, 1600m) on April 2.
Rosemont Stud’s Shamus Award, whose son Incentivise took the Melbourne Spring Carnival by storm in winning the Caulfield Cup (Gr 1, 2400m), Makybe Diva Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) and Turnbull Stakes (Gr 1, 1800m) before finishing runner-up in the Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m), secured his 17th individual stakes winner with Brutality’s Group 2 success.
Ridden by Regan Bayliss, Brutality tracked a wide route, albeit with cover, towards the rear of the field and loomed up around the turn to a wall of four spread across the track. Still with work to do with 300 metres to run, Brutality picked off a weakening Exoboom (Exosphere) before snaring Ellsberg (Spill The Beans) to win by a neck, with the staying-on Criaderas (Lonhro) in third, a further length and a half in arrears.
While the popular Happy Clapper (Encosta De Lago), who paraded at Randwick’s Villiers Stakes day yesterday, is latest horse to have won both the Villiers and Doncaster in their career, the last horse to complete the Villiers-Doncaster Handicap double in the same season was Wedding Day (Antonio) in 1917.
Pride confirmed Brutality’s autumn target as the Doncaster, on the second day of The Championships at Randwick.
“It’s a fantastic result, a big effort from the team at home to get him here at his peak today and yeah he gets a spot in the Doncaster,’’ Pride said. “He’d need a wet track to be really effective in it.”
In what has been a busy preparation for Brutality, the gelding was making his third start in as many weeks, having run fourth in the Festival Stakes (Gr 3, 1500m) on November 27, and then third in a Benchmark 88 Handicap (1400m) at Rosehill just a week ago.
“That was a fantastic result and the three weeks in a row was obviously the key to this horse getting to this race in peak fitness,” Pride continued.
“He’s not a robust horse, he just needs racing to settle and he settled today.”
The victory also continued the Pride stable’s purple patch of form, with this one of his two wins on Randwick’s ten-race card and a fifth success since last Saturday.
Furthermore, Brutality will look to add to the Group 1-winning exploits of Epsom Handicap (Gr 1, 1600m) winner Private Eye (Al Maher) and star sprinter Eduardo (Host), all within the last 12 months.
“We don’t usually measure the year that way, but it has been a fantastic 12 months,” Pride said.
“Great support from my owners and a lot of hard work from my team and it culminates into a day like this. It’s just great to be a part of.”
Brutality was a $40,000 purchase for Joe Pride out of the Bhima Thoroughbreds draft at the 2018 Inglis Classic Sale, having passed in the previous year as a weanling when failing to make his $40,000 reserve.
Yesterday, however, he recorded a sixth win on his 24th career start, a tally which sees his prize-money earnings surpass $800,000.
Bred by Go Bloodstock and foaled at Willow Park Stud, Brutality is the second foal out of the stakes-placed Star Salute (General Nediym), who sold for $140,000 to Paul Moroney Bloodstock and Sir Owen Glenn when in foal to Shamus Award at the 2016 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale.
She was most recently sold for $40,000 through last year’s Inglis Australian Broodmare Sale in foal to Russian Revolution (Snitzel), with that resultant colt set to sell at next year’s Inglis Classic Sale as Lot 267. In October the mare foaled a filly by Arrowfield sire The Autumn Sun (Redoute’s Choice).
Brutality is Shamus Award’s fourth stakes winner this season, while the stallion’s prize-money haul of $8,285,180 sees him sit a lofty second on the Australian general sires table, behind fellow Victorian-based sire Nicconi (Bianconi).
Shamus Award stood the 2021 breeding season at an increased fee of $33,000 at Rosemont’s Gnarwarre stud.
Two Illicit heads big raceday double for Trelawney
Te Rapa hosted a bumper black-type card yesterday following the early abandonment of Trentham’s meeting a week ago, a postponement which saw the rescheduled Captain Cook Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) as the headline act. However, that seven-day delay to the feature race did not faze the then pre-post favourite Two Illicit (5 m Jimmy Choux – Gemini by Tale Of The Cat), who came away with the elite-level prize on a memorable day for owner-breeders Trelawney Stud and trainers Roger James and Robert Wellwood.
Five-year-old mare Two Illicit landed a first Group 1 win to her CV, the highlight of a spate of recent stakes successes for mares owned by the Brent and Cherry Taylor-owned Trelawney Stud, and added to an on-the-day double as Cheaperthandivorce (4 m Savabeel – Boundless by Van Nistelrooy) claimed a second Group 3 success in their red and green silks when winning the Waikato Cup (Gr 3, 2400m).
Both mares are trained by the James and Wellwood partnership, who opened their stakes-winning spree yesterday when Concert Hall (7 m Savabeel – Classic Legacy by Carnegie) struck in the Cal Isuzu Stakes (Gr 2, 1600m).
Trelawney’s other recent stakes-winning mares in their silks include Zayydani (Savabeel) in Melbourne and Pareanui Bay (Lonhro) in New Zealand, and Two Illicit added to her previous stakes-winning exploits in landing the Red Badge Spring Sprint (Gr 3, 1400m) in October and victories in the Waikato Guineas (Gr 2, 2000m) and Royal Stakes (Gr 2, 2000m) as a three-year-old.
Two Illicit, who had the returning New Zealand 2,000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) winner Aegon (Sacred Falls) to contend with for this rescheduled running, overcame the outside barrier under Danielle Johnson to defeat Te Akau’s Prise De Fer (Savabeel) by a length and a quarter, while Triptonic (O’Reilly) finished a further length back in third. Aegon, sent off the $3.50 favourite, trailed in tenth.
“I just can’t believe it and certainly won’t be forgetting this day anytime soon,” co-trainer Wellwood said. “It was a super win by a very good mare.
“After barrier rise and when she was in a good position, I was very happy. The draw was always the niggle, but Danielle gave her a wonderful ride and had her in a lovely rhythm.“She really deserved this Group 1 and it is a testament to our stable staff as she has had a lot of niggles and they have put a lot of work in.
“She has always had the ability but has had a few soundness issues that have held her back, but everyone has done a massive job and they should be very proud.”
Two Illicit, who with her victory became the second individual Group 1 winner for her sire Jimmy Choux (Thorn Park), is out of Gemini, a half-sister to Group 3 winner and Group 1-placed Easy Eddie (Super Easy), while further back this is the family of Group 1 winners Elmaamul (Diesis), Reams Of Verse (Nureyev), Midday (Oasis Dream) and Zafonic (Gone West).
She is also a close relation to Rich Girl (Showcasing) who will sell in tomorrow’s Gavelhouse online auction.
Two Illicit has now won eight races from 17 starts, and over $670,000 in prize-money.
Two Illicit’s Group 1 highlight followed victory for Cheaperthandivorce in the Waikato Cup, who stepped up from her Group 3 success over a mile in October and will now head to the City Of Auckland Cup (Gr 3, 2400m) on New Year’s Day.
Again ridden by Danielle Johnson, Cheaperthandivorce headed a quinella for Waikato Stud’s Savabeel (Zabeel), as she defeated Starrybeel by a neck, while Lowry (Roc Des Cambres) finished two and a half lengths behind the winner in third.
“She has come a long way this season and it will take a while to wipe the smile off my face,” Wellwood said.
“She is pretty fierce in her trackwork, so we wanted to ride her quietly today and give her something to chase.
“She had that and has put in a really good effort to put her nose in front at the right time. Give her another year and she will be a pretty fair horse.”
Waikato stallions were to the fore throughout yesterday’s meetings, with the victory for Cheaperthandivorce added to with Group 2 success for another son of Savabeel, as Concert Hall won the Cal Isuzu Stakes.
The seven-year-old mare was winning for the first time in almost a year, having not been successful since her victory in the Zabeel Classic (Gr 1, 2400m) at Ellerslie.
“We’re super happy,” Wellwood said. “We came here expecting her to run well, but we didn’t really see her winning over a mile today.
“But Leith gave her a really good ride. He got her out of the barrier well and put her in the race. She can be a little bit tardily away sometimes, so that was probably the winning of the race.”
Tivaci continues stakes-winning streak
Savabeel’s more junior barnmate Tivaci (High Chaparral) scored a notable Group 2 success with his two-year-old daughter Wolverine, who won the Wakefield Challenge Stakes (Gr 2, 1100m), a race that was also postponed from the previous week’s Trentham card.
One of seven winners for Tivaci this season, Wolverine became the second stakes winner for her sire in defeating Taviarma (Tavistock) by a length and a quarter, with Andalus, representing the first crop of Cambridge Stud shuttler Almanzor (Wootton Bassett), finishing third, a further half-length in arrears.
The victory also justified the judgement of owners Australian Bloodstock, who bought into 50 per cent of the filly after her impressive debut win at Otaki in November.
“She’s a good filly and it is great to win for a good syndicate and to have Australian Bloodstock on board,” said trainer Royden Bergerson, who initially purchased the filly for $50,000 out of the Karaka Book 1 yearling sale earlier this year.
“She will go home to the paddock for a few days now and then we will bring her back for the last day at Ellerslie (Eclipse Stakes) and then she will stay up here for the Karaka Million.”
One of two winners from two to race out of winning O’Reilly (Last Tycoon) mare Knew It, Wolverine stretches back to the family of Zayydani and Ocean Park (Thorn Park), deriving from her fourth dam Benazir (Vice Regal), while O’Reilly appears under her fifth dam, the Group 2 winner Hunza (Pakistan II).
Knew It has a yearling colt by Iffraaj (Zafonic) and returned to Tivaci last breeding season.
Tivaci, who is also the sire of Flight Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) winner Never Been Kissed, stands at Waikato Stud for a fee of $12,500 (plus GST).