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Triple threat out to extend Darby’s dominance of the Inglis Series

Leading syndicator hoping for big result in Saturday’s $2 million Inglis Millennium

Darby Racing’s dominance of the lucrative Inglis Series looks set to continue at Randwick on Saturday with the high-flying syndication company sending out a trio of leading contenders for the $2 million Inglis Millennium (RL, 1100m).  

They are led by bargain buy Within The Law (Lucky Vega), who despite drawing wide is still well fancied to complete an Inglis stakes trifecta having become the first horse to win both the Inglis Banner (RL, 1000m) and Inglis Nursery (RL, 1000m), run at Flemington and Randwick respectively.

Recent trial winner Cobra Club (Cool Aza Beel) will be hoping to turn the tables on Within The Law, after chasing home the filly on debut in the Inglis Nursery; while victory for his Waterhouse-Bott stablemate Crown The King (Time To Reign) would be given added sentiment due to the success Darby Racing enjoyed with his Silver Slipper (G2, 1100m)winning sire Time To Reign (Time For War).

The trio, who cost a combined $170,000 at the sales, are all chasing a first prize of $1.155 million but their prospects have been somewhat hampered by the barrier draw, with none of the three assigned a singlefigure gate.  

The unkind draw hasn’t overly dented the confidence of founder Scott Darby, however, particularly as the last two Inglis Millennium winners have jumped from barriers 14 and 15.

Given her record-breaking feats so far and the recent potency of the partnership with the Bjorn Baker stable, $30,000 purchase Within The Law remains Darby’s top seed despite a betting drift to $6 after she was assigned barrier 18.

“She only had a short break after her win in the Inglis Nursery, and she’s come back absolutely super,” said Darby, whose long list of astute purchases from the Inglis Classic Sale is perhaps headlined by $10,000 buy Yankee Rose (All American), a dual Group 1 winner before she was sold as a broodmare prospect to Japanese interests. 

“At first the draw looked disastrous for her, but I could envisage her sitting two pairs back in the three-wide line, and ready to pounce. Provided she gets a little bit of cover, I think she’ll finish off really strongly and hopefully she can keep her unbeaten record going. 

“She’s just kept improving, she’s probably not the sharpest worker in the stables or even at the trials, but she’s just a real raceday horse. We took a bit of a punt on the stallion because she’s from his first Australian crop and we didn’t know much about him, but it’s definitely paid off for us and her owners. We tend to buy more on type than pedigree anyway and she just looked a real athlete, so it’s great that she’s been able to justify the opinion we had of her.  

“We’ve obviously had an amazing run with Bjorn [Baker], so it would be great to keep it going with this filly on Saturday. It’s been freakish what we’ve been able to do recently with the likes of Overpass and Robusto, and now this girl. I’m sure Bjorn will be carrying on again if she can win again on Saturday, but behind the social media persona is a very shrewd operator with a great team around him.”

Should Within The Law preserve the unblemished start to her career, Darby and Baker would give serious consideration to returning to Randwick in April for the Inglis Sires (Gr 1, 1400m) – not least as there is the considerable incentive of a $2 million bonus for completing the Inglis Triple Crown.   

The Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) – which Darby Racing memorably won in 2017 with their $20,000 Inglis Classic purchase She Will Reign (Manhattan Rain) – would inevitably also enter calculations, with their colts Cobra Club and Crown The King also holding nominations for Australia’s pre-eminent contest for juveniles.   

Cobra Club is currently on the fourth line of betting for the Inglis Millennium, but Darby wouldn’t be surprised if he were able to turn the tables on Within The Law – especially from the more favourable draw in barrier ten (before scratchings).

“He probably went into the Inglis Nursery a bit underdone and then he drew wide, so to go within a neck of beating the filly was a terrific effort,” he told ANZ Bloodstock Media.

“He’s a lovely colt and we’re pretty excited about him. Like Within The Law, it’s probably difficult to get a read on him from his trackwork, but he’s another one who seems to save his best for the races.

“We really liked him at the sales so we were very happy to take him home. Cool Aza Beel has made a promising start to his stud career and this colt looked a big, powerful sprinting type. One of our staff has come over from Newhaven, who stand Cool Aza Beel, so she’ll definitely be cheering very loudly for him on Saturday.”

Crown The King would probably need to show the most improvement to figure in the finish, having run second on debut at Doomben last October before heading for a summer spell. 

However the winner, Betterlucknexttime (Zousain), did frank the form by going back-to-back at his next start and having bought back into Time To Reign when he was acquired by the boutique Kingstar Farm, Darby would love nothing more than to help put the stallion on the map.    

“Crown The King is probably a bit of an unknown against this calibre of opposition, but he really rocketed to the line after drawing wide on debut so he’s definitely got ability,” said Darby. 

“I’d love to get a big win on the board for his sire, because he’s a horse that’s obviously very close to our hearts. I think he’s only had five runners so far, but he throws some nice types. Like any new stallion, he just needs that one headline horse to make people sit up and take notice, and hopefully Crown The King can do that for him.” 

Adrian Bott applies the polish to both Cobra Club and Crown The King in partnership with Australian racing’s first lady, whose rich run of juvenile success was embellished last weekend when The Playwright (Written By) produced a pitch-perfect performance in the Widden Stakes (Gr 3, 1100m).

The stable are plotting their secondsuccessive win in the Inglis Millennium, following the victory of Fully Lit (Hellbent) 12 months ago. Regan Bayliss was on board Fully Lit that day and he was also The Playwright’s pilot last Saturday, so connections will be hoping lightning can strike thrice when he rides Cobra Club in Saturday’s feature race.

“Cobra Club had a freshen-up after his excellent run on debut in the Inglis Nursery,” said Bott, who is also sweating on a run for first emergency Bellazaine (Zousain).

“He trialled really sharply at Hawkesbury last month and has done well since then, so he looks in good shape ahead of his second career start and hopefully he can go one better on Saturday.

“Crown The King was in the same trial as North England, who is probably our number one seed for the Golden Slipper, and although he was no match for him I thought he worked nicely to the line. 

“It’s a relatively quick turnaround for him, given that the trial was only on Monday morning, but he came through it well so provided he continues to progress well through the week, he’ll definitely take his place in the line-up.”

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