‘It’s a big step up in class again, but I know our horse will race well’
Unbeaten bush two-year-old Spicy Lu (Tagaloa) will attempt to go from a Cowra maiden to top tier glory in the space of four runs when she contests the Champagne Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) at Randwick on Saturday.
And while that’s a dizzying progression, her Queanbeyan trainer Nick Olive is confident the burgeoning filly will put her best foot forward when she takes on the creme of the big–city runners in the time-honoured third leg of Sydney’s juvenile triple crown.
Bred by the well-known Esplin family, and a humble $30,000 purchase from Vinery Stud’s draft out of book 2 at last year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast, Spicy Lu was on Monday on the fourth line of betting at $11 for the $1 million Champagne.
There, she’ll likely confront horses many times her value in the sales ring, such as her fellow $11 hope Federalist (I Am Invincible) – the $1 million first foal out of star mare Arcadia Queen (Pierro) – and his Team Hawkes stablemate Nepotism (Brutal), the $2.30 favourite.
But while it’s a long way, figuratively and literally, from Cowra to Randwick, Olive is backing Spicy Lu to acquit herself well, as she attempts the quick back-up from her winning city debut last Saturday over the same course and distance in the Fernhill Mile (Listed, 1600m).
The sole winner from 15 runners by Yulong’s Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m)–winning first-season sire Tagaloa (Lord Kanaloa) – and now also his first stakes victor – Spicy Lu debuted against older horses in a 1200-metre maiden at Cowra on March 10.
“We didn’t have much choice,” Olive told ANZ Bloodstock News. “There’s not many two-year-old races in the bush, and the two-year-old races in town were all Group 2s and that sort of thing leading into the Golden Slipper.”
While admittedly benefitting from a weight advantage over her more seasoned rivals, further enhanced under claiming apprentice Coriah Keatings, Spicy Lu had to overcome barrier nine of ten that day, and did so impressively.
As $3.70 second favourite, she travelled three wide without cover outside the leading pair, and bolted home by 3.22 lengths, beating a five-year-old gelding and a four-year-old mare into the minors.
Olive again raced her against older opposition at start two, in a decent class 1 field over 1400 metres at the Albury Cup carnival, the second and last day of which was washed out.
Again with Keatings claiming, the $6 shot raced third on the fence on a worsening Soft 7, then set out after the odds-on favourite – three-year-old Rose Aye (Supido) – wearing her down to win by 0.19 lengths.
“Those first two were both impressive runs, but I was really taken by the win at Albury,” Olive said.
“It was a deteriorating track, it had been raining all day, and the odds-on favourite jumped three lengths in front of her at the top of the straight. She had to knuckle down and run her down and she did, and the third horse was six lengths back.”
Even considering the five-kilogram weight pull, it gave Olive the confidence to tackle a trip to town for the Fernhill.
On the third line of betting in a seven-horse field under Rachel King, she was more impressive still. She this time went to the front and was largely left alone, and though showing signs of greenness you might expect of a country juvenile suddenly in the big smoke, she continued to stride out in the straight to leave her higher vaunted rivals behind, winning comfortably by 1.89 lengths.
“There was no pace in the race and we drew gate one,” Olive said. “We thought if Lady Pankhurst wanted to take it up, we’d let her, but she didn’t.
“So we were there in front, and there was no pressure at all, and she won easily. She never really flattened out. She was looking at the [camera] car going around on the inside, because she hadn’t seen one of those before. She had her ears pricked, and she was really impressive actually.
“We’d thrown her in the deep end at Albury, to see how good she was. There were some pretty decent horses in the race, and we thought if she won that we’d go to the Fernhill.
“Trying to line up wins at Cowra and Albury against the other formlines in the Fernhill was pretty hard to do, but the guys who do the ratings for me said she’d rated pretty high at Albury. So we went to the Fernhill with a bit of confidence, but it was a pleasant surprise how easily she won.”
Ratings have also given Olive a confidence boost looking ahead to Spicy Lu’s next assignment – and beyond.
It would be difficult not to seek comparisons to the outstanding and versatile mare who put the 52-year-old Olive on the map – Single Gaze (Not A Single Doubt). The winner of four black type races including the Vinery Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m), she was also second three times at the top level including in the 2017 Caulfield Cup (Gr 1, 2400m) and the following autumn’s CF Orr Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m).
Single Gaze had a more advanced start than Spicy Lu. Rather than Cowra or its like, she made a winning debut at Rosehill as a two-year-old in November before thirds in the Magic Millions’ Wyong 2YO (RL, 1100m) and its rich Gold Coast 2YO Classic (RL, 1200m). She then ran a length second in Canberra’s Black Opal Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) before a tenth in the Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m).
Olive says there are similarities between Spicy Lu and Single Gaze – but his current filly compares favourably by one marker.
“My ratings guys tell me Spicy Lu rated 104 for winning on Saturday, whereas Single Gaze rated 102 at her third run, at the Gold Coast,” he said.
“She’s got a lot of similarities to Single Gaze. She’s an easy horse to deal with, she’s tough and she eats well. I also think she’ll get over ground, maybe 2000 metres or 2400 metres.
“And her temperament is similar. She’s calm and relaxed, but when it’s time to get things done, she’s a bit of a bulldog – she wants to get the job done. And she’s tough, including tough in a race.
“She’s tracking pretty well, but Single Gaze was a bloody good horse. If Spicy Lu can be a quarter as good as her, I’ll be happy.”
Single Gaze earned $2.36 million on the track before a multi-million dollar private sale to Japanese racing and breeding giant Katsumi Yoshida. In Japan, the 12-year-old has had two fillies and one colt race, for two placegetters.
Aside from being by an unproven first-crop sire in Tagaloa – who’s also had two Listed placegetters either side of the Tasman – Spicy Lu is the fifth foal of All Salsa (Charge Forward), a Canterbury winner who ran a Listed fourth for trainer Ron Quinton. She’s thrown two other winners, including Super Norwest (Rich Enuff), who’s won a Highway Handicap (1400m) at Rosehill.
“I was open to Tagaloa. I looked at a hundred horses and I was open to him,” Olive said.
“Obviously, being from the bush I haven’t got the money to spend like some of the other trainers, so I’ve got to budget. You look at stallions in that budget and he was definitely one of them.
“The mare had done a pretty good job as a broodmare, and had a couple of good racehorses in the country, and I was happy to get the filly for $30,000. It was just the way she moved. I’m big on how horses move at the yearling sales, and she ticked a lot of those boxes, with a nice energetic, athletic walk.
“She did look chunky as a yearling, but not any more. She’s got a really deep girth, which is great, and while she’s not overly big, she’s just got such a beautiful stride on her.
“She looks nice but not sensational, but when she moves and when people ride her, they say, ‘Holy hell, she’s got a beautiful action and she covers the ground so effortlessly’.”
Spicy Lu’s value as a broodmare will skyrocket if she can win the Champagne, which has been won by seven fillies in the past 20 years, but only one in the past six. That would present a huge potential windfall to the team of 12 owners, including Olive, who split her modest purchase price.
“It’s a big step up in class again, but I know our horse will race well,” Olive said. “It’s just how she lines up against the Sires Produce Stakes form – that’s the A1 form.
“She needs to improve a little bit again, but she does look like she’s gone forward off the run, and I’m confident she’ll race well again.”
Noting Spicy Lu had “pulled up super” from a Fernhill win which, importantly for a quick back-up, had not taken too much out of his “tough” filly, Olive said to win his second Group 1 would be “bloody amazing”.
“It would mean a lot for the stable, and her value as a broodmare would go through the roof. That would be great for her owners. They’re just normal mums and dads, and some have been long-term clients for the stable,” he said.
“Most of them were there on Saturday. I couldn’t stick around to celebrate because I had to get back to Queanbeyan for trials after the races.
“It’ll be a different story if she wins on Saturday though.”