Lead Story
Kurrinda looking to the future with exciting Group-winning prospects
Trevor Marshallsea
ANZ News
Kurrinda Bloodstock have felt exhilaration and pain in equal measure this spring but can at least hope racing’s roller coaster carries them to success in the Coolmore Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) and two-year-old riches in the new year.
On the down side, a new season which had promised so much for their unbeaten colt - and future Yulong stallion - Private Harry (Harry Angel) has transpired in near-disastrous fashion, with the sprinter likely to be out until next year’s Brisbane winter carnival.
The four-year-old was subject to a 50 per cent buy-in from Yulong last March worth more than $8 million, with Zhang Yuesheng’s empire choosing him for their slot in next Saturday’s Everest (Gr 1, 1200m).
But the horse has been forced out for a lengthy spell by deep bruising in the near fore knee which plagued him as he ran fifth at both runs this spring, the first defeats of his seven-start career.
On top of that has come acrimony and public outcry after jockey Ash Morgan - the expat Welshman largely put on the map by his association with the colt - was taken off the horse after the first of those two unplaced runs.
While Kurrinda director Sean Driver was moved to clarify that and other Private Harry matters on Sunday during an interview with ANZ News, his group has at least been cheered by two other recent results.
On Saturday their three-year-old colt Hidden Motive (Capitalist) - a $120,000 son of roup 1-winning mare Secret Agenda (Not A Single Doubt) who is trained, like Private Harry, by Newcastle’s Nathan Doyle - sealed his ticket to the Coolmore with a tough win in Rosehill’s Roman Consul Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m). The all-the-way victory, at $17, came in class-record time.
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And that came a week after the most expensive purchase in Kurrinda’s history, Shiki (Too Darn Hot), claimed the first fillies’ two-year-old race of the season in Randwick’s Gimcrack Stakes (Gr 3, 1000m).
Driver told ANZ Hidden Motive would soon be sent to Melbourne for familiarisation with the Flemington straight ahead of the stallion-making Coolmore on November 1. Morgan, who’s ridden him in six of his eight starts and all three of his wins, will have first refusal of the ride.
Shiki, who Kurrinda bought at Magic Millions Gold Coast for $420,000 before striking a deal with her trainers Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, is spelling at the syndicator’s Hunter Valley farm. She could next be aimed towards the Gold Coast’s $3 million Magic Millions 2YO Classic (RL, 1200m) in January, or perhaps held up for the Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) in March.
Also in the plus column, two starters are set to carry the Kurrinda blue and white in Saturday’s $2 million The Kosciuszko (1200m) in $13 shot Boston Rocks (Hellbent) and $26 chance So You Pence (So You Think).
Driver and Kurrinda - along with Doyle and Morgan - were thrust into a glorious spotlight by Private Harry’s meteoric rise last season, from a Newcastle 900-metre maiden winner last November to victory in Rosehill’s The Galaxy (Gr 1, 1100m) in March, days before Yulong bought in.
They’ve felt another edge of fame this spring amid the latest, unwanted, chapter of the Private Harry story.
Driver summed up his spring’s dramatically mixed fortunes with: “It is what it is. That’s racing.”
But what was also clear was his level of disappointment over Private Harry’s fate, and his deep discomfort over the Morgan situation and its surrounding public commentary.
Driver revealed to ANZ that Private Harry had been struggling with his knee issue not just in his last-start fifth in the Premiere Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) on October 4, but for the past month.
What's On
Affecting also his first-up fifth in The Shorts (Gr 2, 1100m), the problem had been managed “in-house”, Driver said, but Sydney’s hard tracks had not helped.
“It’s devastating - there’s no other word for it,” he said.
“On data, we knew he was going better than ever. He was going about three lengths better than his Galaxy win. We knew we had the horse flying, and his fitness levels were good, but we knew the issue we were dealing with, right at the pointy end of when we needed to get results.
“It’s not an ability issue. It’s soundness issues.
“It’s the third and fourth carpal bones in his near fore knee. There’s no cartilage, ligament or suspensory or tendon damage at all. It’s just very deep bone bruising we’ve been battling with for the past month.
“We dealt with that in-house and we thought we’d be able to manage him accordingly, but unfortunately the firm tracks found us out.
“We’ve got no doubts about his ability. It was just unfortunately an injury at the wrong time of year.”
Driver said Tim Clark - Private Harry’s new rider in the Premiere - had felt the problem manifest when he gave the stallion his head after straightening for home, having first cruised up to leader Mazu (Maurice) under a hold.
“Tim told me that when he put three-quarters of a length on Mazu on the bridle, he thought he was going to win by three, but as soon as he let him go he felt his stride shorten by half,” Driver said.
“He looked after him accordingly. He limped onto the truck after the race. He was three-out-of-five lame, and we knew the spring was over straight away.”
Driver said Private Harry had arrived at Kurrinda’s farm on Saturday after a week at the REC veterinary practice, and would require box rest and “12-to-14” weeks out.
While discussions will be held with Yulong and Doyle, Driver said that rather than next autumn, the entire may more likely be aimed at the Brisbane winter, given his bulk - and comportment - demanded more time for rehabilitation than for smaller horses.
“It’s something we’ll have to discuss with Nathan. It’s probably that we have to manage his career accordingly now, and stay away from firm tracks,” Driver said. “I’d probably more likely aim up at the Queensland winter carnival, to be honest.
“By the time you’ve had 12-to-14 weeks with [spelling] a colt, there’s a lot of ground work you have to do.
“It’s tough, because you can’t put him on the water walker or anything like that. He’s very bullish. He’s a proper colt, he’s hard to manage, so he’s banned from the walker and the water walker. You’ve got to do things differently.
“It takes another third of the time compared to a normal horse to get him up fit and going, because he’s such a heavy, big, gross colt.
“Treadmills are fine, just no walkers or aqua walkers. He’s banned from those.
“He knows he’s a boy now.”
After much public speculation over which part of Private Harry’s ownership group was responsible for Morgan’s dumping, Driver voluntarily addressed the controversy when agreeing Hidden Motive’s Roman Consul win, under Morgan, was a salving tonic after the Private Harry saga.
“Exactly. It was just fantastic. The public hear one side of the story, and it’s not accurate. I won’t get into that, but it’s great to see Ash Morgan, Nathan and myself back together,” he said.
“If you’ve noticed, I’ve still used Ash on a lot of my horses since he was taken off Private Harry. I think that speaks more volumes as to what really went on.”
Driver also added he’d been “talking to Yulong probably every other day” about their precious entire.
“As far as I’m concerned, we’re programming as if the horse is going back to Nathan. Nothing’s changed as I’ve been told anyway,” he said.
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“The horse will be back to Nathan, as of today, until I hear otherwise. Until Yulong decide or discuss anything else with him either, it’s just business as usual.”
While Private Harry recovers, Kurrinda and Doyle can look forward to the Coolmore bid of Hidden Motive.
They bought the colt relatively cheaply at $120,000 at Magic Millions Gold Coast after he was initially passed in. That made him the cheapest of the four yearlings out of the now-deceased five-time stakes winner Secret Agenda to have gone to auction. Her first - Negotiation (I Am Invincible) - fetched $750,000 at Inglis Easter, won his first three starts for Ciaron Maher, but hasn’t won again in 13 more tries.
“Nathan and I both liked him and we actually thought he’d sell for much more than what we paid,” Driver said of Hidden Motive, who ran fourth in last year’s Breeders’ Plate (Gr 3, 1000m).
“He was a bit slack in the pasterns to my liking, but to Nathan’s credit, he said he’d be able to manage the horse accordingly, and he’s done a fantastic job.
“He had moderate sesamoiditis as a yearling. I never really have an issue with sesamoiditis, as long as you manage it. We still got him to the first two-year-old race of the season in the Breeders’ Plate. He probably should’ve won that race - he was a bit unlucky. Nathan’s done a terrific job managing the horse.
“We’ve always liked this fella. What he lacks in brilliance - he doesn’t have that classy edge about him, but he’s very tough and on-speed. That’s what Australia loves, isn’t it?
“The obvious step is the Coolmore. I’ll talk to Nathan. We’ll probably send him down there early to have a look up the straight. I think he’ll be very good up the straight - I don’t think that will bother him.”
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On the question of his Coolmore rider, Driver added: “If Ash is willing to sacrifice a Saturday in Sydney, he’ll be getting the first opportunity to stick with him.”
Shiki, meanwhile, is spelling at Kurrinda’s farm.
“I’ll talk to Adrian [Bott] about her. She’ll either have a fortnight off or 28 days off,” Driver said. “There’s the Magic Millions there, but if we don’t follow that path we’ll follow the same path as Lady Of Camelot.”
The Waterhouse-Bott trained Lady Of Camelot (Written Tycoon) was spelled after her fourth in the 2023 Gimcrack and didn’t resume until winning the Widden Stakes (Gr 3, 1100m) in February, 2024. She then ran second in the Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) before taking the Slipper at start No. 4.
“Shiki was the most expensive yearling we’ve bought,” Driver said. “She was expensive compared to our others, but quite cheap considering she was a Too Darn Hot out of an Exceed And Excel mare. The mating really worked.
“She was the biggest Too Darn Hot at the sale, a lovely big, strong filly, and she’s got great residual value now.
“She’s probably tripled her price already. The owners have had a great result with her, and there’ll be plenty of improvement to come.”
