Grafterburners puts on the afterburners to jet away from Sunlight field
Exciting Queensland colt Grafterburners (Graff) stamped himself a potential superstar by extending his winning streak to four races unbeaten this preparation with a barnstorming victory in Saturday’s $3 million slot race, the Sunlight 3YO Plate (1100m) at the Gold Coast.
With the all-conquering James McDonald aboard for the first time, the Kelly Schweida-trained colt was sent out a dominant $2.25 favourite as he sought his sixth from 12 starts overall.
Jumping well from gate two, the handsome bay travelled sweetly in the run behind the leader
Swordplay (Shalaa) as a solid pace ensued. His backers may have had their hearts in their mouths early in the straight as Grafterburners was blocked for a run for some 50 metres, but taken on an inside path by McDonald, he quickly showed his class.
Grafterburners first ground his way to the lead then exploded with a paralysing burst to put the race to bed, streaking away to score by 1.55 lengths. Brad Widdup’s Nashville Jack (Farnan) took second at $71, with Michael Freedman’s Yulong-raced filly Sylph (I Am Invincible) third at $10.
Bred by Canning Downs, Grafterburners was bought for $70,000 by Schweida at the 2024 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale, in association with old friend and client Glenn Betts, himself a former jockey and trainer.
Saturday night’s $1.2 million first prize pushed Grafterburners’ prize-money earnings to $2.05 million, and followed on from his stakes breakthrough at his previous start when he took the Gold Edition Plate (Listed, 1200m) at Eagle Farm.
“I’m pretty proud of him,” Schweida said of Grafterburners, who raced in the slot owned by training giants Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott.
Eagle Farm-based Schweida admitted he’d been thinking of taking an alternative path with Grafterburners before the Sunlight slot offer first arrived.
“We were going to go a different option until we were offered a slot. We were going to go to the Vo Rogue Plate, but this will do,” he said with a smile.
McDonald was also delighted with Grafterburners’ victory, calling him “a very good horse”.
“He was outstanding,” he said. “Credit to Kelly and his team. They turned him out immaculate. He was presented to win, he drew a good gate and he just put himself in the box seat.
“It’s nice to ride a beautiful colt”.
The first stakes victor, from 30 runners, for Kitchwin Hills stud’s double stakes–winning stallion Graff (Star Witness), first-crop son Grafterburners continues a rich Inglis Classic tradition for Betts and his main trainer Schweida.
They also struck gold at the sale in 2023, paying $50,000 for filly El Morzillo (Star Witness). The now four-year-old has won three races for $1.09 million, capped by her victory last March in the $1 million Inglis Sprint (1200m) up the Flemington straight.
Betts was understandably delighted after Grafterburners’ Sunlight triumph, reflecting on how a combined Classic sale outlay of $120,000 had brought two runners for him and Schweida who’ve carried Betts’s orange with the purple cap to claim $3.14 million between them – so far.
“We snoop around trying to buy horses at the right price and give them to Kelly and try to get him to turn them into good horses for us,” Betts said. “He’s certainly managed that very well this time.”
Also understandably, Betts calls himself “a huge fan” of the Inglis Classic sale, which will be held again at Riverside from February 8-10.
“We’ll be back this year for sure,” said Betts, who now runs an international welding supplies company.
“Since we bought El Morzillo there the year before, you could say we’ve had a pretty good trot out of it.
“Grafterburners has turned out to be a real bargain buy, at $70,000. I don’t know who the underbidder was, but they’re probably not very happy with themselves these days.
“I really liked his pedigree, particularly on the dam’s side. There’s a Golden Slipper winner there [Overreach] and a Blue Diamond winner [Reward For Effort], and we were looking for something that’d go early.
“It just seemed to be a good family. I had a sneaky feeling Graff, who was a first-season sire at the time, was going to be a good sire.
“Kelly checked him over and liked him, the vet checks came up well, we managed to secure him for the right money and the rest is history.
“He’s just a lovely quiet horse with loads of ability.”
Betts said Waterhouse and Bott had made a concerted effort to secure Grafterburners for their slot via their long-term associate Bruce Slade, winning out ahead of several rival bidders.
“We had a few slot owners chasing him, but the Gai and Adrian team came up with the best deal,” Betts said. “Their form expert reckoned Grafterburners was the best horse by a fair way, based on what they thought would be in the race.”
Grafterburners is also eligible for this year’s Inglis Sprint at Flemington on February 28. Schweida said he’d be tempted to try to win that race two years in succession, though he will also consider the $500,000 QTIS Jewel 3YO (1200m) at the Gold Coast on March 7.
The colt is the sixth and best foal out of Coralina (Dylan Thomas), an unraced half-sister to Overreach (Exceed And Excel), who was Australia’s Champion 2YO Filly of 2012-13 after her Slipper victory.
He’s also Coralina’s latest offspring, with two misses and a deceased foal on her breeding record since Grafterburners’ birth in 2022. The mare was covered by Eureka Stud’s Spirit Of Boom (Sequalo) last week.
Graff, who covered 42 mares for $9,900 last year, has 11 winners from 30 runners, with his progeny also including the stakes-placed filly Royal Chic.
The ten-year-old is represented by one colt, Lot 862, at this week’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, and by four lots at next month’s Inglis Classic sale.