McArdle’s My Gladiola set to take on the boys in the Coolmore
John McArdle is hoping his star filly My Gladiola (I Am Invincible) can upstage the boys when she lines up as the sole filly in Saturday’s Coolmore Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) at Flemington.
The striking grey will be out to join an illustrious honour roll of fillies to have conquered the ‘stallion-maker’ in recent years, including electric sprinter September Run (Exceed And Excel), Godolphin superstar In Secret (I Am Invincible) and Tony McEvoy’s champion mare Sunlight (Zoustar), and McArdle believes she’s on the right path to add her name to that list.
My Gladiola burst onto the scene in January with an eye-catching debut victory in the Blue Diamond Preview (F) (Gr 3, 1000m) at Sandown, a performance that immediately marked her as one to watch. She went on to finish eighth in the Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) – the only time in her six-start career she has finished outside the top two – before returning this spring with a bang.
She resumed with victory in the Cap D’Antibes Stakes (Listed, 1100m) and was narrowly beaten in the Danehill Stakes (Gr 2, 1100m) by one of Saturday’s opponents, McGaw (I Am Immortal), last time out.
McArdle is confident she can make her presence felt again as she steps up to the elite level for just the second time.
“She ran in the Blue Diamond where the race probably didn’t pan out as we wanted it to, and she was probably coming to the end of it,” McArdle told ANZ News.
“It’s a $2 million Group 1 [the Coolmore], so it’d be the biggest assignment she’s had so far.
“In the Danehill, the race probably didn’t pan out exactly as we wanted it to either. She got a bit of a bump at the start and she ended up probably without cover for a bit longer than what we wanted to, but probably the part that I most liked about the race was that Jamie [Mott] had to produce her earlier than what we’d wanted to and what we had done previously, and she sustained the gallop the whole way, so I was really happy with her.
“Obviously Tentyris will improve fitness-wise and will be in a better part of the track and Legacy Bound and horses like that, but it’s always good to have beaten some of your key rivals.”
The Coolmore has been the plan from the outset for My Gladiola, with the filly’s entire spring campaign built around gaining experience down the Flemington straight.
“The Coolmore has been the plan the whole way along. We aimed at the Cap D’Antibes and the Danehill to give her as much experience down the straight as we possibly could, and she won one of those and got beaten in a lip in the other one. So I am confident that she’s happy down the straight,” McArdle said.
Since the Danehill, it has been business as usual for the filly, who tuned up with a sharp Caulfield jump-out win and a strong track gallop on Tuesday morning.
“She went to Caulfield and had a good, strong trial. She did it on the bit, but she ran a very fast time,” the trainer added.
“She had a nice hit-out over 1000 metres Tuesday morning and she seems to be in good order.”
Come 3:40pm on Saturday, My Gladiola will have to overcome barrier one under regular partner Jamie Mott, a draw that left McArdle less than thrilled.
“It’s terrible,” he said with a laugh. “When we were racing around the corner, we managed to draw pretty much the outside gate all the time, and racing down the straight in the Cap D’Antibes we drew 20, but it put us on the right side of the track. Last start she was second from the outside, which, again, didn’t phase us too much. But barrier one, it’s up to her and Jamie now as to where she heads to.
“Obviously, we would have preferred to draw wider and closer to the speed horses, so we could have gotten on their backs nice and easily, but that’s up to Jamie now and having spoken to him yesterday, after the barrier draw, he was confident to be able to find the right place. So that’s for them to work out.
“Jamie is our stable rider and he rides the majority of our horses and he’s ridden her since she was a two-year-old in track work in jump-outs and stuff like that, so they know each other very well.”
Victory on Saturday would not only add My Gladiola to the history books but confirm her value as one of the elite broodmare prospects of her generation.
By leading sire I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit), she is out of Villa Verde (Not A Single Doubt), who finished fourth behind champion sire Zoustar (Northern Meteor) in the 2013 renewal of the Coolmore.
McArdle’s Redgum Racing purchased the filly for $550,000 from breeders Kia Ora Stud at the Inglis Easter Yearling Sale last year.
“She’ll be a very valuable broodmare when we sell her now. They do love two-year-old speed and she’s a Group winner and Group-placed as a two-year-old. She’s run in Group races all her career and has run worse than second once in her life. So she’s already a valuable broodmare, but if she was to win a classic race like the Coolmore, then she’d be a very, very valuable mare,” McArdle said.
Not only would the win be significant for the filly and her ownership group, it would also bring McArdle’s first Group 1 success in 20 years, since Hollow Bullet (Tayasu Tsuyoshi) captured the Arrowfield Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) in 2005.
“It’d be good. I’ve trained a Group winner every year I’ve had my licence. And I’ve placed in a couple more Group 1s, but to win another one, that’d be great,” he said.