Pride and Proven chase more Winter riches at Rosehill
Proven Thoroughbreds and Joe Pride will bid to continue their stunning winter run when consistent gelding Accredited (All Too Hard) lines up in Saturday’s Winter Challenge (Listed, 1500m) at Rosehill.
The in-form partnership landed a tri-state treble last weekend, highlighted by In Flight’s (Flying Artie) victory in the Sir John Monash Stakes (Gr 3, 1100m) at Caulfield, her third consecutive stakes win.
“She looks to be on an upward spiral,” Proven Thoroughbreds director Jamie Walter told ANZ News of In Flight. “Winning three stakes races in succession in different states is a pretty good effort, we are absolutely thrilled with her.
“As Craig Williams said after the race last Saturday, ‘these winning horses that keep improving, you don’t know where their ceiling is’, and that’s absolutely right.”
In Flight is now being aimed at The Shorts (Gr 2, 1100m) in September, with a short let-up planned before a spring campaign.
“Joe is looking towards The Shorts, which is about ten weeks away, so she’ll have a let-up of two or three weeks off,” Walter said.
“It was a real tick that she got round Caulfield. Another important thing is that she has got the constitution and temperament to travel twice in the preparation, once to Brisbane, and then Melbourne and not miss a beat.”
Although the mare appears well placed to continue her momentum into the spring, Walter noted that her preference for winter conditions, both in terms of track and climate, may have factored into her recent success.
“She has got the most magnificent coat on her at the moment, in the middle of winter,” he said. “It’s made me wonder whether, not only wet tracks are favourable to her, but perhaps the cool weather agrees with her. If only they could speak, but that’s a fact that’s worth considering. If she fails when it’s warmer back on top of the ground, then it may be more than just the ground.”
The duo’s successful weekend wasn’t limited to Caulfield. At Randwick, King’s Secret (Shalaa), a half-brother to Group 1 winner Private Eye (Al Maher), extended his strong form with a tough win, his fourth from six starts this campaign.
“It would be nice if he got anywhere near his half–brother. I didn’t think they’d make one as good as him again,” Walter said. “He’s been a revelation this winter because at the beginning of the preparation, he was a maiden, and in six stars, he’s won four, and three of those are on a Saturday in town, which is a pretty tidy effort.
“He doesn’t win by much, he doesn’t show an eye-catching turn of foot, but he pins his ears back and he dead-set has a go. You can’t ask for anything more from any racehorse. He’s defied the figures, he’s been carrying more and more weight and he just keeps winning by the same amount.
“I’m quite excited about him, when they’re improving, you never know when they’re going to stop, and hopefully it’s a fair way in front of us with him.”
This weekend, the in-form team will aim to add more winter stakes-level success to the board, when Accredited takes his place in the Winter Challenge.
The five-year-old finished third last time out in the Winter Stakes (Listed, 1400m) behind stablemate Estadio Mestalla (Galileo Gold) and Bjorn Baker’s Robusto (Churchill), and Walter is hopeful Accredited can turn the tables on the latter and his stablemate when he steps out to 1500 metres for the first time in his 18–start career.
“He’s meeting Robusto on the same terms as last start, and I’m sure a lot of the punters will think Robusto was a good thing beaten in that race, and therefore probably has a better chance than us tomorrow, because we’re not drawn [barrier eight] as favourably,” Walter said.
“However if we don’t get anything worse than a Soft 5, I can see Accredited improving quite sharply, because he didn’t enjoy the Soft 7 the other day, nor has he at any stage of his career.
“Accredited has got some upside. I think he’s a pretty smart horse. But he’s going to have to take that next step, he’s really got to be able to run a strong 1500 metres so we’ll get some sort of insight into that tomorrow.”
Also stepping out for the team on Saturday is Little Cointreau (Contributer), who will line up in the Benchmark 88 Toyota Forklifts Handicap (1300m). The five-year-old gelding has finished third at his past four starts, and Walter is hopeful he can convert that consistency into a deserved win.
“He’s one that we thought would be suited to better ground. He has raced very honestly without winning, which is kind of frustrating, because he’s a model of consistency, but his win record is starting to slip away from him and that’s always worrying, so we’re trying different things with him,” he said.
“We put blinkers on him last start and tomorrow we’re taking off the crossover nose band and we’ve stepped him up in grade to give him some weight relief. He’s not a big horse, so I think he’s going to enjoy the 53 kilograms and being on better ground.”
The recent run of success is the product of a long-standing partnership between Walter and Pride, a relationship that began more than a decade ago and has only strengthened with time. Its pinnacle came in 2023 when they combined to win the $20 million The Everest (1200m) (now a Group 1) with Think About It (So You Think).
“When my late brother Guy died 11 years ago, Joe kindly leased the stables from Guy’s widow whilst loose ends were tied up for 12 months. I’d known Joe for many years before, and Guy had always rated him very highly as a trainer, and so it was a pretty obvious thing for us to go to him,” Walter said.
“Since then, certainly the last four or five years, we’ve had a lot of success. He and I get on very well together. He always buys at the sales in tandem with us, so we’re agreeing on the same horses. That’s a critical part of our relationship, because if you’re going to buy for a trainer, you should really be buying with them fully invested in the purchase. That gives them emotional skin in the game, if not financial.”
Walter believes Pride’s measured approach has also helped drive results, allowing the Warwick Farm trainer to remain hands-on and detail-focused.
“Joe has only got 50 or 60 in work. He could have 150 if he wanted to, such as the success he’s had, but he elects not to because he thinks he’d lose his personal touch,” he said.
“He’s getting horses for Godolphin so the stable will increase a little bit, and he would never let it get out of a size where he wasn’t in control of the numbers – and in this era, it’s a dead-set breath of fresh air.”
On the ownership front, Walter said Proven Thoroughbreds continues to grow, though the process of selling shares in a competitive market remains challenging.
“We buy 35 to 40 horses a year, and we’re not big advertisers. We rely on a database that we’re constantly trying to grow, so it’s mostly word of mouth and existing clients that we’re pitching to. And it’s never easy,” Walter said.
“I’ve been doing this for 25 years, and over the last decade in particular, it’s taken me all year to sell them. Mind you, 35 to 40 horses is a decent number, that’s a lot of two-and-a-half and five per cent shares. We’ve been very fortunate to have had a great few years, and that certainly helps.”
Despite their current momentum, Walter remains mindful of the broader challenges facing ownership and syndication in the industry.
“The auction houses are great to us, but when you consider that probably 90 per cent of horses aren’t viable, that’s a lot of horses and a lot of people you’re losing each year,” he said.
“Like everyone else, we’re constantly looking for new owners, and that’s a challenge for all syndicators, trainers, and anyone trying to put ownership groups together.”
Looking ahead to the spring, Walter is cautiously optimistic about a select group of horses that could target feature races, while acknowledging the stable’s strong winter run may not necessarily translate into a large spring presence.
“In the spring, we will have Private Eye,” he said. “We will give Cosmonova another crack at black type, In Flight will have a go at The Shorts, and Flying Bandit, who’s actually trained by Kerry Parker, he’s a horse we’re hoping runs a strong 2400 [metres] in good company, and will possibly head to the Metropolitan. But these are lofty thoughts at this point, and we’ve had such a great winter. We mightn’t be that active in the spring.”