Cavalry Girl charges towards juvenile features
Prime Thoroughbreds aiming high with youngsters after successful weekend
A bumper weekend for their juveniles has Prime Thoroughbreds’ principal Joe O’Neill excited about the future for Flemington winner Cavalry Girl (Bivouac) and unbeaten filly Zany Girl (Needs Further), with both set to chase black type in the coming months.
Twenty-four hours after Cavalry Girl had created a notable impression with an assertive victory in a two-year-old handicap over 1000 metres at Flemington, Zany Girl completed a clean sweep of Tasmania’s trio of juvenile races this season when she carried the Prime colours to a slashing win in the Elwick Stakes (Listed, 1100m) at Hobart on Sunday.
For all the success they have enjoyed as one of Australia’s leading syndicators, O’Neill readily concedes that Prime Thoroughbreds are not primarily known for racing precocious juveniles.
However, their current baby boom looks set to continue with Zany Girl being aimed at the $150,000 Gold Sovereign Stakes (Listed, 1200m) at Launceston next month, while Cavalry Girl is on course to become Prime’s first Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) runner – via a lucrative stop-off at Randwick for the Inglis Millennium (RL, 1100m) in three weeks’ time.
Having only just arrived back in Melbourne from Hobart, O’Neill was keen to let the dust settle on a whirlwind weekend before looking too far into the future – not least as more than two decades in the ownership game has taught him that even the best-laid plans can come unstuck. However, the 68-year-old is convinced both fillies may have the elusive X factor required to succeed at racing’s highest level.
“I think they’re both pretty special,” said O’Neill, who did not demur when put to him that Zany Girl might one day become the next Mystic Journey (Needs Further), the winner of the 2018 Elwick Stakes before conquering the mainland.
“Zany Girl will run in the Magic Millions Tasmania Classic and the Gold Sovereign, then we’ll give her a good spell and bring her over to the mainland in the early part of spring to see how she measures up. She’s the only two-year-old in Australia to have won three races this season, which is pretty good going.
“I thought Cavalry Girl was so impressive at Flemington on Saturday. She might be something out of the box. Physically she reminds me a lot of Rubisaki, which is a pretty big compliment. She’s got a great attitude and she’s very straightforward and business-like, which will take her a long way in the game.
“There’s always a little query when they have their first run down the straight, but we needn’t have worried because she just took it in her stride. You’re always more wary than confident, but she handled it beautifully and was so strong. Who knows where they can both get to, but it’s just exciting to have two young horses showing such promise.”
Zany Girl cost $65,000 at the Magic Millions Tasmanian Yearling Sale from the Armidale Stud draft – the Whishaw family farm where Mystic Journey took her first steps towards future stardom.
At $110,000, Cavalry Girl was a touch more expensive but given her next two intended assignments are worth a combined $4 million in prize–money, she will have ample opportunity to repay that investment.
Since Prime Thoroughbreds parted with $120,000 for another daughter of Bivouac (Exceed And Excel) at the recent Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, Cavalry Girl’s breakthrough win was particularly well-timed.
Within 24 hours the last remaining shares had been sold in the bay filly, who will join the in-form Dabernig Racing stable once she has been broken in and educated.
Given the way Cavalry Girl had burst onto the scene and the high hopes he harbours for the filly purchased from the Sledmere Stud draft, it is unlikely to be the last progeny of Bivouac that O’Neill takes home this sales season.
“I really like their attitudes,” said O’Neill.
“We have another one with Patrick and Michelle Payne who will be making her debut soon, and I think she’ll make a really nice filly in time. Maybe some buyers were hesitant about the Bivouac yearlings at first, but he sired his first stakes winner in New Zealand just before Christmas and now with Cavalry Girl coming onto the scene, I think you’ll see his popularity really increase at the sales over the next few months.”
Bivouac’s two most precocious wins both came down the famous Flemington straight, as he won the 2020 Newmarket Handicap (Gr 1, 1200m) by 2.5 lengths from Loving Gaby (I Am Invincible) before defeating Nature Strip (Nicconi) by 3.3 lengths in the Darley Sprint Classic (Gr 1, 1200m) later that year.
While Cavalry Girl still has a fair way to go – to put it mildly – before she can be mentioned in the same breath as her sire,the professionalism of her performance certainly bodes well for her future assignments.
They are set to begin with a tilt at the $2 million Inglis Millennium on February 8, and the $2 million Blue Diamond Stakes will then figure prominently in the minds of her connections should Cavalry Girl cope with the demands of the float journey to Randwick, where she will be stabled with John Thompson.
An even greater challenge will then be posed by some of Sydney’s most precocious juveniles, but given her general demeanour and a seemingly innate ability to cope with the rigours of racing at such a tender age, Dabernig is keen to aim high with the filly knowing that the window of opportunity with two-year-olds can close as quickly as it opens.
“From the first time she arrived at our stables she was very switched on, and she has always coped really well with her workload,” said Dabernig, whose last 50 runners have produced 14 wins – including black type success for Romantic Choice (Toronado) – and 13 minor placings.
“You never know with two-year-olds whether their work at home will transfer to the races or whether they’re going to need a bit more time to mature mentally, but as soon as she started trialling you could tell she was a very forward filly.
“She had three jump–outs before making her debut at Geelong, and even though she bumped into a stylish one trained by Ciaron Maher, that race showed you she had good natural speed. She pulled up so well from that race so we were quite confident heading into Saturday, even though running her down the straight was a bit of an unknown.
“But she travelled so well under Linda [Meech] and seemed to love the straight. When she copped that mid-race bump I winced a little bit because any interference can really put juveniles off their stride, but she handled it well which goes to show what a great temperament she has and how professional she is.
“Especially with two-year-olds you need to see them match their athleticism with a good mentality, and she’s in the special bracket where she seems to have both attributes at this stage. You know with two-year-olds it can change very quickly, but she’s probably pulled up even better from the Flemington win than she did at Geelong, so that’s obviously a very good sign.”
Dabernig is yet to train a Group 1 winner since branching out on his own – his four runners at the elite level have all gone unplaced – but he does have five stakes wins to his name in addition to the countless feature race victories he oversaw in partnership firstly with David Hayes, and latterly with his sons Ben and JD.
The Inglis Millennium would be comfortably the biggest win of Dabernig’s burgeoning solo training career and, should Cavalry Girl extend the rapid rate of progression she has shown to date, the temptation to press onto the Blue Diamond might prove impossible to resist.
“Putting her on a float and travelling her up to Sydney for the Inglis Millennium will be another good test for her maturity and development,” said Dabernig.
“She will do a couple of gallops on her home track the other way of going, so that will help but it’s a big ask especially as the Sydney two-year-olds have traditionally been a little stronger than the ones down here in Melbourne. She seems adaptable and very light on her feet though, so we’re confident she will cope and at this stage we’re happy to have a crack at the race given how good the prize–money is.
“Depending on how she performs and comes through the run, we would then assess whether or not we potentially push onto the Blue Diamond. Her first run at Geelong was over 1100 metres and she won over 1000 metres at Flemington, so 1200 metres is an unknown but that probably applies to a lot of horses on a Blue Diamond path. Even though it’s a cliché we are taking it one run at a time with her, but the way she’s going clearly the Blue Diamond would have to be firmly on the radar.”