Honor Galore stacked with ability as she earns first shot at black type in Danehill Stakes
Brown’s expensive Spirit Of Boom filly given first test down famous Flemington straight
Cliff Brown, two years into his Victorian training renaissance after a long and successful career in Singapore, admits to throwing unbeaten filly Honor Galore (Spirit Of Boom) into the Danehill Stakes (Gr 2, 1100m) deep end, but believes Saturday’s test could provide of the answers he’s been seeking.
The Mornington-based Brown, who has trained three stakes winners since his return to Australia, has had sprinter The Inferno (Holy Roman Emperor) flying the flag for his 20-strong stable alongside black-type winners Little Miss Kubi (Headwater) and La Danseuse Rouge (Manhattan Rain).
But at Flemington this weekend, with racing capturing the full attention of an engaged audience without football finals as a distraction, Brown is preparing to lift the bar with Honor Galore, a filly with the potential to put him back on the spring main stage.
The three-year-old daughter of Eureka Stud’s Spirit Of Boom (Sequalo), a $440,000 Inglis Easter purchase who is owned by Brown’s long-term client Glenn Whittenbury, won a race in July at Ballarat before resuming at a midweeker at Sandowon September 20 where she again proved too good over 1000 metres, running 57.79 seconds and her last 600 metres in 32.77 seconds against three rivals, all last-start winners.
“She’s a nice filly, but I’ve probably thrown her in the deep end and whether that’s the right thing to do I’m not convinced, but she has done nothing wrong,” Brown said yesterday.
“Her time the other day was very good, her sectionals were very good. Even though there’s miniscule form, they were three nice competitors, so we will just see how she goes.
“I do think she has good ability, if she wasn’t up to it you don’t head that way, but I feel that she is.
“Everything she has done on the track and at home I genuinely feel that she is a very nice filly.
“We head there with trepidation but also excitement because you hope she can do what we think she can.”
Damian Lane rode Honor Galore ($26) first-up but he will aligned to Stretan Angel (Harry Angel) ($5), the Dequetteville Stakes (Listed, 1050m) winner in Adelaide in April who was runner-up when resuming in the Cap D’Antibes (Listed, 1100m) three weeks ago.
Instead, Jamie Kah will ride Honor Galore who has drawn barrier three.
The Lloyd Kennewell and Lucy Yeomans-trained colt I Am Unstoppable (I Am Invincible) ($3.40) is favourite for the Danehill ahead of the Matt Laurie-trained Archo Nacho (Sioux Nation) ($4.40).
With Brown yet to find out what Honor Galore’s ceiling may be, the Flemington straight poses another question for the filly who is out of Meow (More Than Ready), a winning half-sister to stakes winners Global Warming (Agnes World) and Pure Purrfection (General Nediym).
“Down the straight is always an issue when you haven’t been down it before, they can get lost, but she’s a pretty sensible girl, so if she could get a trail into it, that’d be good,” the Group 1-winning trainer said.
If Honor Galore happened to prove she was adept at straight racing it would open the door for other three-year-old races at Victoria’s racing headquarters during cup week, the Coolmore Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) and the Red Roses Stakes (Gr 3, 1100m) on Oaks day springing to mind.
However, Brown hasn’t looked at the racing calendar beyond the Danehill Stakes.
“She just wasn’t ‘there’ [last preparation as a two-year-old],” he said.
“She came in and out a few times and she’s actually still not ‘there’.
“She is a very athletic filly, so I think in six months’ time she’ll be better again, but she’s certainly going well enough.
“She is a good, solid filly, she made a lot of money because she is a good sort, but I still think she’s got some maturity to come.
“You’ll see her on the weekend, she’s a really nice filly.”
The trainer also has little doubt that Honor Galore, who is from the same family as Tony Gollan’s now retired stakes-winning mare Outback Barbie (Spirit Of Boom), can run 1200 to 1400 metres in the future.
“But to be fair, we’re going to learn so much on Saturday, we might be going home with our tail between our legs and we’ll have to reassess,” he said.
“That’s not something you have to consider until you come away from the race and see how you’ve actually gone.”
Asked to assess how the stable has fared since reopening in Victoria, Brown admits it’s been a challenging first two years, but the rebuilding phase is starting to pay off now.
“When you’re a small team, what happens is, in my view, you might have a good group in and you look to be going really well and then they go for a break and if the next group, another small number, isn’t as good you can drift off into oblivion really quickly,” he said.
“But I think we’ve done well for the numbers we have. We’ve only been going a little over two years and we’ve already had three individual stakes winners and we only have 20 in work.”