The Three Hundred proves too good in Winx Guineas
The Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained The Three Hundred (I Am Invincible) broke through at stakes level for the first time when he produced an impressive performance to take out Saturday’s Winx Guineas (Gr 3, 1600m) at the Sunshine Coast.
Known for playing up in the barriers, the son of I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) appeared on his best behaviour under Angela Jones, coming home strongly to beat Ramp It Up (Love Conquers All) by 1.5 lengths. Apuntar (The Mission) came home a further 2.3 lengths away in third.
The victory also meant that Jones put the Brisbane jockeys’ premiership within touching distance, having gone into the final meeting of the Queensland winter carnival on 62 metropolitan victories – three ahead of her nearest rival Emily Lang.
She extended her healthy lead to five wins after saluting aboard King Yoshi (Supido) in an earlier Benchmark 80 (1200m).
Jones will serve a ten-day suspension following Saturday’s meeting for careless riding, which stemmed from last weekend’s Tattersall’s Tiara (Gr 1, 1400m) on Floozie (Zoustar), but she will appeal the severity of the ban at a Queensland Racing Appeals Panel hearing on Monday.
The Three Hundred’s task in the Group 3 was made easier with Paul Shailer forced to scratch pre-race favourite Mister Bianco (Zousain) after his intended rider Ryan Maloney injured his back when steering Caspernova (Spirit Of Boom) to a runner-up finish in the race won by Jones aboard King Yoshi and the trainer was unable to find a replacement.
Jones said she was grateful to receive support from the powerful Tulloch Lodge stable.
“You know their horses are fit,” she said.
“Maybe he wasn’t putting it all into his races when he gets back so we really made a point that if we can get him away cleanly, we’d send him to the front and he’d be winning.
“We were able to do that – lovely and relaxed – and he is a different horse when he doesn’t have other horses to look around at.
“It was a super dominant win today. It has been a good season and hopefully I get a few more [wins] before I serve my suspension next week.”
Waterhouse and Bott’s representative Neil Paine described The Three Hundred as having a ‘split personality’.
“The problem with this horse is that he’s a bugger at the machines,” Paine said. “We told Ange to keep him warmed up and if he jumps to put him right into the race.
“Over the last one or two starts, he was slowly away and he gets back and starts to lose interest. I was really happy when he jumped and Ang kept pushing forward.
“The pace was a little bit fast early but she pushed him forward and got him balanced once she got him to the lead.
“Gee he surprised me when he kicked away. He is a horse with promise but there’s two of them.”
A $400,000 buy for his trainers and Trilogy Racing from the draft of Yarraman Park, The Three Hundred was bred by the Allam Racing Syndicate, who retained a share in the gelding. He is out of the Listed-winning mare Sassy ‘N’ Smart (Smart Missile), herself a half-sister to Group 3 winner Mallory (Not A Single Doubt).
Trilogy Racing reinvested in the family again this year, teaming up with Bjorn Baker and Suman Hedge to purchase The Three Hundred’s Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt) half-sister for $200,000 at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in January. Last season Sassy ‘N’ Smart produced a colt by I Am Invincible’s Coolmore Stud-based son, Home Affairs.
I Am Invincible will stand the upcoming breeding season at Yarraman Park for a reduced fee of $220,000 (inc GST).