Ozzmosis the one to stop a Vinnie three-peat in the Coolmore reckons Baker
Connections confident Zoustar colt can return to winning ways after his last-start Roman Consul defeat
Bjorn Baker believes he has the right colt in Ozzmosis to help Zoustar (Northern Meteor) block I Am Invincible’s (Invincible Spirit) chance of a three-peat in one of the country’s most prestigious “stallion-makers” today, the Coolmore Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m).
Lloyd Kennewell, however, is backing a Vinnie hat-trick in the $2 million contest, saying he’s very warm on the chances of his colt I Am Unstoppable, now he’s “finally” drawn away from the inside for a race up the Flemington straight.
I Am Invincible has taken the sire’s honours in the past two editions of the three-year-old feature in emphatic style, with Godolphin filly In Secret’s two-length victory last year, and the three-length romp of Coolmore’s Home Affairs in 2021 giving Yarraman’s super sire three wins in the race in total, having also tasted success with now Darley sire Brazen Beau in 2014.
However, the I Am Invincible assault on today’s edition, which had once shaped as a fearsome threesome, was looking slightly battered yesterday.
Gooree-Newgate’s King’s Gambit, the early co-favourite with the pair who beat him home in the Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) – Shinzo (Snitzel) and Cylinder (Exceed And Excel) – was scratched after a morning spike in temperature.
And the participation of Tiz Invincible, a three-time stakes winner in Sydney who is aiming to become the fourth female victor in six years, is also in doubt. After concern about her demeanour yesterday, co-trainer Ciaron Maher said a decision on a start would likely be made this morning after ordering more blood tests.
While the withdrawals yesterday of King’s Gambit and Steparty (Artie Schiller) reduced the field to 17, the latest running of the time-honoured straight race, first held as the Ascot Vale Stakes in 1863, appears even more open than usual.
With Sydney form shaping the market, betting was headed late yesterday by Everest runners Cylinder ($3.90) and Shinzo ($4.40) – the Slipper-winning Coolmore homebred colt who could give his trainer Chris Waller a stunning six wins in 11 runnings of the race.
Phillip Stokes’s filly Stretan Angel (Harry Angel) led the Melbourne contingent at around $8.40 as one of two runners, along with Arkansaw Kid ($34), seeking to provide her shuttling Darley sire with his second global Group 1 – and in the space of eight days – following Tom Kitten’s ballistic Spring Champion Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) victory at Randwick last Saturday.
But in a field packed with them, Ozzmosis ($12) looms as a definite dark horse as he strives to claim Widden flagbearer Zoustar a third triumph in the event – following his own in 2013 and that of his flying daughter Sunlight in 2018.
A $250,000 Darby Racing purchase at the Magic Millions Gold Coast, out of the three-time New Zealand stakes winner No More Tears (Darci Brahma), Ozzmosis won a Gosford maiden on debut back in May and a Randwick two-year-old handicap second-up the following month before spelling.
He returned with a length win in Rosehill’s Heritage Stakes (Listed, 1100m) in September, before a last-start third, beaten almost two lengths, at the same track on October 7 in the Roman Consul Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) to King’s Gambit and another of today’s rivals, Mexico (Capitalist), after racing outside the leader.
Ozzmosis – who alternately races in Darby’s colours and those of co-owners Newgate/China Horse Club – took out an 800-metre jump-out up the Flemington straight on October 27 under today’s rider Rachel King.
“He’s going really well,” Baker told ANZ Bloodstock News. “He’s had four weeks between runs, and his jump-out at Flemington was excellent. He’s come through well and we’re really happy with him.
“He ran a good race in the Roman Consul. It was only a small field but he had to be used up a bit to go forward, like with his first-up win.
“From his inside barrier [4], he’ll hopefully get every opportunity. Rachel will be able to put him in his comfort zone maybe a bit more than in his first two runs this prep. If anything, he looks better now, and I’m confident he is better and can run a big race.”
Warwick Farm-based Baker famously broke his Flemington straight “duck” twice on one March afternoon last year when Overpass (Vancouver) won the Inglis Sprint (1200m) and Malkovich (Choisir) the Bob Hoysted Handicap (Listed, 1000m).
With that pair also carrying Darby’s colours, as Ozzmosis is today, he’s hoping lightning can strike a third time, though it may not be so random.
“At Warwick Farm, a lot of our jump-outs are from the 1400-metre chute, so they get about a 700-metre straightrun down the outside of the track,” Baker said. “So he’s probably done it a little more up a straight with the rail on his left than a lot of people might think.”
One man who’s had a good look at Ozzmosis doing that and other work is Maher, running his stable’s Sydney team from Warwick Farm. He was quick to nominate Ozzmosis as one of the hardest to beat.
“Ozzmosis is a good horse, and has been good from day one,” Maher, who trains in partnership with David Eustace, told ANZ yesterday. He’s nonetheless keen on his chances, either with his stable’s second-elect Nadal (Xtravagant, $28), or with Tiz Invincible ($15) – if the filly starts.
“We’ll have to take another blood test. Most likely we’ll decide in the morning. But if she takes her place, I think she’s got a great chance.”
Tiz Invincible’s ascent towards four straight wins came to a halt at the top level last start, when sixth in the Flight Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) after travelling three-wide on the pace without cover. Though Maher wasn’t disappointed with the effort, he at least knows there’s no doubt about her coping with today’s trip.
He was equally upbeat about Nadal, despite the colt’s 11th of 12 last start in the Golden Rose (Gr 1, 1400m) at Rosehill. Forced back from gate 12 and blocked for room when momentum was key in the straight, Nadal finished three lengths behind winner Militarize (Dundeel).
“I really like this horse. He’s a bit of a smokey, I reckon,” Maher said of the colt, a $75,000 Inglis Premier purchase who has gate 13 for Ben Allen.
“It was a good run in the Golden Rose. He never really got into a rhythm, and it’s hard to come from the back at Rosehill. Does he run a good 1400 metres? I don’t know. But he’s got a great turn of foot, he had a good look at Flemington in a jump-out last week, and he certainly wouldn’t be a surprise.”
Nadal was second over the line in that jump-out, two lengths behind Ozzmosis.
Just behind him was I Am Unstoppable. He brings consistent Melbourne form into the Coolmore – with narrow seconds up the Flemington straight 1100 metres at his past two starts, behind subsequent Group 3 winner Archo Nacho (Sioux Nation) in the Poseidon Stakes (Listed, 1100m), then behind today’s rival Stretan Angel in the Danehill Stakes (Gr 2, 1100m). Both times I Am Unstoppable came up the inside after drawing on the flat side, but he has gate 10 for Blake Shinn today.
“I’m grateful to the barrier gods to draw out for a change rather than in,” said co-trainer Kennewell, who bought the colt from Newgate’s draft for just $65,000 at Magic Millions Gold Coast.
“It’s not really a grandstand side versus flat side thing, more the suitability for my horse. He needs room, so I didn’t want to draw inside seven or eight.
“Horses naturally sit off horses and come to the outside and finish off in trackwork or trials. But our last few runs, he’s had to go back to the inside to make his run, and hasn’t finished the race as well as I would’ve liked. Now we’re outside we can get that opportunity to drag up on the back of them and get every chance to finish off.”
Contrasting the ruffled plans for King’s Gambit and Tiz Invincible, I Am Unstoppable lines up after being spelled in April with this race in mind, having made it two from two by winning Sandown’s Redoute’s Choice Stakes (Listed, 1200m), proving himself over today’s trip.
“He’s always shown me loads of ability, hence after he won the Redoute’s Choice we put him away,” Kennewell said. “The goal was to get to the Coolmore as a grand final, and we’re lucky enough that that has happened. If we’d won a race or two along the way, it would have been a bonus. We came very close – he could have won all three this prep – but now we’re here to win the one we want.”
Waller is hoping a repeat of his glorious history involving Coolmore – the race and the stud – can bring him Group 1 winner 154.
Shinzo has returned in the spring with two ninths, in the Golden Rose and The Everest (1200m). Waller’s previous star colt trained for the stud, Home Affairs, also ran ninth in The Everest before bolting home with the Coolmore.
“It’s been frustrating that he hasn’t won this prep,” Waller said on social media of Shinzo, who has gate two for James McDonald. “First up, he drew wide and never got into the race as a result. Second-up, The Everest, he just got in a tricky spot after being slightly slow away. There wasn’t the same pressure in The Everest this year. He never had a chance to get into it. But he’s bounced through it, hasn’t missed a beat, and his recovery’s been second to none.
“He’s a proper horse.”
Another son of Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) perhaps less on the radar is Moravia ($17), the $650,000 Gold Coast colt who ran a luckless length-and-half sixth when blocked throughout the straight in the Golden Rose. He is given an undeniable chance by trainer Michael Freedman, who was pleased with the colt’s second in a jump-out up the Flemington straight nine days ago.
Moravia has gate five for a former Freedman Brothers apprentice – Damien Oliver – riding on his last Derby Day before retirement.
“The horse got planted third on the fence in the Golden Rose and never got any room up the straight. The formlines from that stack up so he’s got to be in the mix somewhere. And it sets up well for him with a lot of speed around him, so he should get a nice sit,” said Freedman, who’d “love to win it with Ollie”.
He added: “It’d be fantastic, with the family history, going back as far as we do. You go back to our horses like Doriemus, Schillaci, Naturalism – a lot of our best horses in the 1990s, and he was involved.”