Butch Cassidy
TRAINER: Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott
RACE: Inglis Sires’ (Gr 1, 1400m)
Having made short work of six rivals in a 1200-metre maiden at Mornington on his last start following a debut runner-up effort in the Furphy Trophy (Listed, 1000m), Butch Cassidy will now take aim at today’s Inglis Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) at Randwick.
Sporting the dark green with gold epaulettes silks of James Harron, the juvenile son of Written Tycoon (Iglesia) was ridden by Jordan Childs on his latest outing and, after following long-time leader Kinky Reggae (Rubick), kept up a strong gallop to defeat Arizona Activist (Written Tycoon) by two lengths, with a further three-quarters of a length back to Tymon (Rubick) in third.
“He is still learning his craft, and it was good to see him do that today,” Childs said following that maiden success.
“I had to help him out as he was fractious in the barriers, but I was happy to let one go and sit outside the leader. It probably helped him as he had one to chase down.
“Even though I was in front a long way from home, he still found the line nicely, and he has a lot of upside and hopefully keeps improving.”
Butch Cassidy will take on a different calibre of rivals in today’s elite-level contest, including unbeaten last-start VRC Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m) winner Veight (Grunt) and the rapidly improving St Albans Stakes (Listed, 1200m) scorer Brave Mead (Brave Smash). He will jump from barrier 3 under Brett Prebble.
Purchased for $750,000 by Harron from the Milburn Creek draft at last year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, Butch Cassidy is the first foal out of the winning Dream Ahead (Diktat) mare Rose Ahead, herself a half-sister to Irwin Stakes (Gr 3, 1100m) winner Daytona Grey (Artie Schiller) and Listed winner Mail It In (Reset).
Rose Ahead has a filly foal by Star Turn (Star Witness) and was covered by Zoustar (Northern Meteor) in December after missing to earlier covers by Home Affairs (I Am Invincible) and Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt).