So You Think reigns supreme with extraordinary Group 1 treble at Randwick
Think It Over, Knights Order and Nimalee headline fantastic day in Sydney for Coolmore Stud-based sire
Coolmore Stud resident So You Think (High Chaparral) enjoyed a host of memorable days on the racetrack, but yesterday the son of High Chaparral (Sadler’s Wells) went some way to eclipsing even his own extraordinary talents as a racehorse when he sired an historic Group 1 treble at Randwick and in the process propelled himself to the top of Australia’s leading sires’ championship.
The stallion’s stunning hour and a half was kicked off by Knights Order’s triumph in the Sydney Cup (Gr 1, 3200m), which Think It Over followed-up in the next race on the card, the time-honoured Queen Elizabeth Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) and the hat-trick was rounded off by Nimalee’s victory in the Queen Of The Turf (Gr 1, 1600m).
After his unbelievable day, So You Think was sitting in pole position in the race to be crowned Australia’s champion sire by earnings with $15,706,346 in prize-money, while I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) is just off the pace in second with $15,446,952 and Nature Strip’s sire Nicconi (Bianconi) – who was leading at the beginning of the day – is now in third with $15,095,779.
So You Think understandably stole the show, but it was a successful day for Coolmore Stud overall, with the stallion’s barnmates Pierro (Lonhro) and Pride Of Dubai (Street Cry) also siring stakes winners on the card, meaning 50 per cent of the races run at Randwick yesterday were won by sires standing at the breeding powerhouses’ Jerrys Plains base.
Having landed last season’s George Ryder Stakes (Gr 1, 1500m), Think It Over brought up his second elite-level win, with the maiden top-flight successes for both Nimalee and Knights Order, meaning So You Think is now the sire of nine individual Group 1 winners and Coolmore Australia’s farm manager John Kennedy was effusive in his praise for the ‘often underrated’ stallion.
“It was unbelievable. He is some sire isn’t he? He is just such a consistently good and versatile sire. Every weekend when we go through the races we never have to worry about So You Think, he is always producing the goods for us at the farm and he is always keeping the flag up high in the air and today he really showed what an incredible stallion he really is.
“They say the cream rises to the top and that is exactly what So You Think has done today. It’s just been incredible. He proves it is not just about the speed horses over here, a lot of the prize-money is gravitating towards those middle distance races and I think the breeders are starting to latch on to that and it just goes to show that when you breed a mare to a good middle distance stallion like So You Think you will get the rewards on the race track.”
A ten-time Group 1 winner, landing five in Australia, headlined by two victories in the Cox Plate (Gr 1, 2040m), So You Think also won five in Europe, including the 2012 edition of the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes (Gr 1, 1m 2f) at Royal Ascot, to prove himself a top-class racehorse on both sides of the planet and Kennedy said the secret to his success in the breeding barn is that he instils many of his best qualities in his progeny.
“He puts soundness into his progeny, which is very important when you are breeding horses, everyone wants them to be sound,” he said. “They have great temperaments and they love their work, as he did himself, and they are very versatile animals, they can run over different distances on a variety of grounds and they really cope well with training regimes over here.
“So You Think himself was an incredible racehorse, a ten-time Group 1 winner and proved to be top-class in both hemispheres and he has got an unbelievable engine in him.
“Aidan O’Brien and Joseph always ask after him, he has a worldwide following and he is really after cementing himself here now and I believe the best is yet to come.
“He is a really good-looking horse with unbelievable quality and he really catches your eye. There are not many people who come through the gates of Coolmore who don’t ask to see him and I think everyday one of the guys in the barn, who looks after him, comments on how lucky they are to be involved with a horse like So You Think.”
Perhaps sharing a fragment of the limelight with So You Think yesterday was jockey Nash Rawiller, whose move in steering the Kerry Parker-trained Think It Over to the outside fence in the straight in search of better ground proved a masterstroke, when he ground down the brave front-running Zaaki (Leroidesanimaux), eventually beating him by half a length in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes, leaving some onlookers to describe it as ‘the ride of the century.’
Mount Popa (Maxios) ran well to finish three and three-quarter lengths away in third, while multiple Group 1 winner Verry Elleegant (Zed) never looked comfortable and came home a well beaten fifth. Group 1-winning colt Anamoe (Street Boss) failed to beat another rival, finishing last of the nine runners.
Rawiller’s inspired ride that will be remembered and recounted for years to come, but the jockey said the win wasn’t about him and was quick to pay tribute to the hard work done by Parker and his team.
“You know those good ones can find a way to win, can’t they?” Rawiller said.
“I trotted down the outside fence going to the barriers on one of them earlier in the day and thought ‘I’ll keep this up my sleeve for later’.”
“I don’t want to carry on about what I did, it’s all about Kerry Parker and his team down at Kembla Grange.
“To come around and win this big race, it’s one in a million and he’s pulled it off today. It was unreal.”
Despite being a previous Group 1 winner, the enormous depth of the race showed in the betting, with Think It Over sent off at unfancied odds of $41 and Parker admitted he did think the gelding had the guts to outrun his odds.
“I kept saying, I’m not giving up the fight,” the winning trainer said. “It’s sensational. When everyone writes him off that’s when he is at his best. Him and I both.
“None of us came here thinking we couldn’t win. You don’t pull the pin in your grand final. If I did, no-one would have seen that today.”
However, the sweet taste of victory may have been ever so slightly soured for Rawiller, with the Racing NSW stewards slapping him with a $40,000 fine and suspending him for two weeks for excessive whip use.
Now a winner of 12 of his 25 starts, Think It Over (6 g ex Personal Service by Zabeel) has accrued $7,144,570 in career prize-money and he is one of four winners out of the unraced Zabeel (Sir Tristram) mare Personal Service, who is herself a half-sister to multiple Group 1-winning champion Universal Prince (Scenic) and fellow elite-level winner Universal Queen (Scenic).
Being out of the Zabeel mare Personal Service, Think It Over is bred on the same cross as Nimalee, who went on to land the Queen Of The Turf in the next race on the card. Personal Service herself is back in foal to So You Think.
Earlier in the afternoon, the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained Knights Order ran his rivals ragged in the Sydney Cup and his trainers are now planning to set the gelding on the path towards the Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) in November.
Ridden by Rachel King, Knights Order had the big field strung out, upping the ante before the home corner and then extending their advantage to score by two lengths over Sheraz (Sea The Stars) with Daqiansweet Junior (Sweet Orange) another two and a half lengths away.
Co-trainer Adrian Bott said the stable had been confident Knights Order, who landed the Brisbane Cup (Gr 2, 3200m) last June, was building towards a peak performance, having finished a narrow second on his previous appearance in the Chairman’s Handicap (Gr 2, 2600m) seven days earlier.
“I was confident on a lot of fronts there, we just needed things to go our way in the race,” Bott said.
“When Rachel (King) was able to dictate in the way that she did, it was a really calculated ride by her, so she has got to take a lot of the credit for that. ”
Knights Order was bred by owners Bylong Park in Ireland, where So You Think shuttled to Coolmore’s Irish base for four seasons between 2013-2016 and in winning yesterday’s Group 1 the gelding – known as Knight Errant when trained by William Jarvis in Britain – becomes the first northern hemisphere-bred Group 1 winner for his sire.
Knights Order was purchased by Redbarn Farm and Stud for €5,000 at the 2016 Goffs Ireland February Sale, before being purchased by Jarvis for 6,000gns at Book 3 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale the following year.
The gelding landed four races in the UK and was then purchased by McKeever Bloodstock and Gai Waterhouse Racing for 250,000gns at the 2018 edition of the Tattersalls Autumn Horses-In-Training Sale, winning the City Tattersalls Club Cup (Listed, 2400m) at Randwick on his second start for Waterhouse and Bott.
The six-year-old is out of winning Woodman (Mr. Prospector) mare Lamanka Lass, making him a half-brother to US Grade 2 winner Dark Islander (Singspiel).
So You Think’s third and final Group 1 winner of the day at Randwick came when the Matthew Smith-trained Nimalee put her rivals to the sword with an impressive triumph in the Queen Of The Turf and in doing so provided Damien Oliver with Group 1 victory number 127, which saw him overtake legendary jockey George Moore.
The five-year-old mare came into the race having failed to defend her 2021 Emancipation Stakes (Gr 2, 1500m) crown on March 28, but she bounced back from that lacklustre display to beat Annavisto (Reliable Man) by two and a quarter lengths, with Icebath (Sacred Falls) finishing another head away in third.
“I didn’t think about that actually, but it’s pretty good,” said Oliver after the historic triumph.
“They haven’t been making up a lot of ground, so I wanted to be a bit more productive from the start from the good draw (2), hold a position.
“This mare, she’s always very consistent around the place but found it hard to win. But she loved the conditions today, travelled really well in the box seat and gave me a great kick.
“Coming to the turn I knew I was going pretty good. I was hoping it just transitioned into what I was feeling.”
Meanwhile, Smith was relieved to see Nimalee get back to winning ways.
“Finally. Not for lack of trying mind you, we’ve had a few swings,” Smith said
“She raced really well in Melbourne last prep, fourth in a Group 1 there and wasn’t beaten far.
“We knew she was right up with these mares, it was just a matter of getting the conditions right and she handled the track well today. It’s a good win.”
Purchased by the Randwick Bloodstock Agency for $270,000 at the Inglis Premier Yearling Sale from the Millford Thoroughbreds draft in 2018, Nimalee is one of four winners out of the unraced Zabeel mare Dezign, making him a three-quarter brother to Group 3-placed The Chairman (High Chaparral).
Dezign herself is out of multiple Group 2 winner Elegant Fashion (Danewin) and she is also the dam of Group 3 scorer and Group 1-placed Star Fashion (Street Cry).
Having missed to The Autumn Sun (Redoute’s Choice) in 2021, Dezign is now back in foal to So You Think.
In the fourth race on the card, the Peter and Paul Snowden-trained Paris Dior (Pierro) showed a glimpse of what was to come for Coolmore Stud-based stallions when she landed the Percy Sykes Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) and provide Pierro (Lonhro) with his 28th individual stakes winner.
Having broken her maiden on the second attempt at Canterbury back in January, the filly was next seen finishing second behind Xtravagant Star (Xtravagant) in the Inglis Millennium (RL, 1100m) and she showed yesterday’s Heavy 10 conditions were no impediment to her class, coming home a neck ahead of Willinga Beast (Snitzel). Lady Laguna (Overshare) was another three and a three-quarter lengths away in third.
Breeders Steve Wilde and Bill Hilton believed Paris Dior was a special filly, setting a reserve of $300,000 on her for last year’s Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale. When she failed to meet that mark, they decided to race her themselves, a move that looks shrewd now after she topped $1 million in earnings following her win in the 1200-metre contest.
“She really deserved it,” said co-trainer Paul Snowden. “She had been quite dominant early on and knowing the fact we couldn’t go to the well too many times leading up to the (Golden) Slipper we decided to give her that little break and come here today with fresh legs. She stood up today. She’s a Group 2 winner now so a little bit of the pressure is off.”
The co-trainers decision to bypass the Golden Slipper Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) in favour of the Group 2 was rewarded when the two-year-old filly, who could now head to Brisbane in hunt of further riches, but alternatively the Princess Series in the spring – featuring the Silver Shadow Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m), the Furious Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m), the Tea Rose Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m) and the Flight Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) – could be right up her alley.
“We’ve probably got to sit down with the owners and have a look, see what we want to do in the spring now because she doesn’t have to go to Brisbane,” Snowden said.
“I’d really like to see her over seven furlongs myself because I really think she’s got a little bit more to offer over a little bit more ground because she relaxes so well in her races.”
Kennedy said the Paris Dior was a great endorsement for the talents of her stallion Pierro.
“Pierro flies under the radar, again like So You Think, I think the best is yet to come,” he said. “This crop of two-year-olds going forward is his best bred crop to date.
“Paris Dior is out of an Exceed And Excel mare, so when you are looking for that outcross Pierro is going to be a big factor in that equation in the next couple of seasons and I think the breeders who have used him over the last couple of seasons are going to get well-rewarded with Pierro.”
Paris Dior (2 f ex Entrancing by Exceed And Excel) is out of the five time-winning Exceed And Excel (Danehill) mare Entrancing, who is herself a daughter of Listed-placed Coast To The Post (Anabaa) – the dam of Group 2-placed Miss West Coast (Safeguard).
The two-year-old’s sister was purchased by Trilogy Racing and CB Bloodstock for $330,000 at the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale earlier this year, while in 2021 she produced a colt by Lonhro (Octagonal) and she has most recently been covered by Kitchwin Hills-based sire Graff (Star Witness).
Coolmore’s brilliant day was rounded off by the Ciaron Maher and David Eustace-trained Bella Nipotina – a daughter of Pride Of Dubai – who added a third stakes success to her CV in the final race of the day, the Sapphire Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m).