‘We just want to focus on the grand final’
Star juveniles make early season reappearance at Sydney barrier trial session
An imposing array of three-year-old talent from Coolmore was on show at Canterbury’s barrier trials yesterday, as a quartet headed by Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Shinzo (Snitzel) and $3 million stablemate Kandinsky Abstract (Zoustar) returned for their spring campaigns on the first day of the season.
On a 16-heat card packed with bluebloods, Shinzo kicked off his preparation – aimed initially at the Golden Rose (Gr 1, 1400m) – with an unextended four-length fourth in an open class trial over 902 metres.
Kandinsky Abstract, the brother to triple Group 1 winner Sunlight, also took his first steps of his second preparation, while the Coolmore foursome were rounded out by another promising runner for the stud’s shuttler Justify (Scat Daddy) in the form of the Bjorn Baker-trained Laurents, as well as Artorius’s half-brother Oistrach (Written Tycoon).
Bred and retained by Coolmore, the priceless Shinzo caused a minor scare on his third birthday when he dipped straight after the start. But the current Golden Rose favourite subsequently gave James McDonald a smooth ride as he strolled home under no pressure to finish four lengths off the pace.
With Chris Waller-trained runners the first four home, the high–quality trial was won impressively by Lindermann (Lonhro), the now four-year-old entire, who appears to have come back formidably from his Rosehill Guineas (Gr 1, 2000m)-winning autumn. Multiple stakes-winning US Import Princess Grace (Karakontie) led before finishing a half-length second, with Thousand Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) winner Madame Pommery (No Nay Never) third and Ciaron Maher and David Eustace’s JJ Atkins Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) victor King Colorado (Kingman) fifth.
Shinzo, afforded a luxurious 19-week spell after the Slipper rather than pursue Sydney’s two-year-old Triple Crown, was still “five or six weeks off a race”, according to Coolmore’s racing and bloodstock manager John Kennedy.
“He’s come back very well. He wasn’t screwed down by any means today, and we just wanted to see that he got through the trial OK and that he was content with himself,” said Kennedy, noting that Lindermann and Madame Pommery were having their second trials of their campaigns.
“James McDonald said he wasn’t out to push him today, just give him a good experience, so we’re sure we’ll see improvement out of what happened this morning. I suppose the key to him is that he doesn’t get up and running too quickly. We just want to focus on a grand final campaign for him and this is just the starting point today.
“We know he’s a very, very good horse, and we’re very excited about him.”
Kennedy said Shinzo, who won the Slipper at his fourth start, had returned in great order from his lengthy break, adding that the Caulfield Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) “could be a consideration” for Waller after the Golden Rose.
“He was lightly-campaigned leading into the Slipper, and now the break has done him the world of good,” Kennedy said.
“There was no real reason we didn’t push on to the Sires’ Produce [Stakes] after the Slipper. We were just happy with the way things were going with him, so decided to spell him.
“He’s filled out a good bit. He’s a very kind horse with a great temperament. He’s got a lot of presence about him, which he always had as a foal at the farm, which helped our decision not to offer him at a sale.”
Shinzo is currently a $5 favourite for the Golden Rose at Rosehill on September 23, ahead of $7 shot Militarize (Dundeel), the China Horse Club-Newgate colt who completed the Triple Crown for the Waller stable by taking the ATC Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) and Champagne Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) after a luckless run in the Slipper when hit by severe interference.
Militarize, the current Caulfield Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) favourite at $4.50, ahead of King Colarado at $6, also returned yesterday with a loping fifth of six in the third trial of the day, also over 902 metres, behind Bjorn Baker’s four-year-old mare Wingardium (Vancouver). Five-year-old Extremely Lucky (Extreme Choice), a Listed sprint winner in Adelaide, was an eye-catching third in his second trial since being transferred to Waller.
Much focus yesterday fell upon Kandinsky Abstract, the brother to multiple Group 1 winner Sunlight, whose $3 million purchase from Widden Stud by Coolmore’s Tom Magnier made him top lot at last year’s Inglis Easter sale.
Fresh from his debut maiden win at Canterbury on May 3, the Waller-trained colt was fifth in the day’s ninth trial, over 899 metres. Kandinsky Abstract travelled on the fence three-back for McDonald, before working home fairly behind horses in the straight to finish one and three-quarter lengths behind Star Thoroughbreds’ Group 3-winning four-year-old mare Olentia (Zoustar). Godolphin’s promising Blue Diamond Prelude (C&G) (Gr 3, 1100m) winner Barber (Exceed And Excel) was full of running inside Kandinsky Abstract, bottled up behind rivals, in the colt’s second trial back after winning over 800 metres at Hawkesbury.
Kennedy said there was no firm plan yet set for Kandinsky Abstract.
“He’s in a similar boat to Shinzo, in that he’s only starting to get up and running,” he said. “He’s an exciting horse, who broke his maiden in fine style at Canterbury, and we know he’s well regarded at Chris’s stable.
“James said he gave him a nice feel. He was probably a bit unlucky that he didn’t get a bit more fresh air in the trial. He was held up behind horses a bit but was definitely doing his best work late on, and he ran away from the line very well, too. It took a while to pull him up, and his fitness will come on a lot.”
The last two – yet to race – runners of Coolmore’s quartet came in the final two trials, over 896 metres, with a third Waller-trained colt in Oistrach and the Baker-trained gelding Laurents.
The Coolmore-bred Laurents followed a debut Kembla Grange trial success with another win, sitting outside the leader before easing away under Rachel King to score by a length from Peter and Paul Snowden’s Mateo (Russian Revolution).
“He looks like he’s got a very good turn of foot,” Kennedy said. “Rachel King said she got a lovely feel off him and that he had plenty under the bonnet.
“He might go to a maiden race now, off the back of his two trial wins.”
Oistrach, a $1.4 million buy for Magnier from Vinery at Easter last year, came second by a half-head under McDonald, behind Richard and Will Freedman’s Navy Blood (Merchant Navy).
“James said he gave him a good feel,” Kennedy said. “He didn’t start at two because the two-year-old year came up a bit too soon for him, but the stable knew they had a nice horse on their hands.”
Other noteworthy runners yesterday included the Waller-trained Carrazana (Almanzor), a three-year-old gelding who looked most impressive flashing home to win an 1100-metre maiden heat from fifth of the eight on the home bend. A $440,000 Magic Millions Gold Coast purchase, Carrazana was having his second public appearance following a Rosehill trial second to Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott colt Introducing (Trapeze Artist), who won again in yesterday’s tenth heat.
A $380,000 Easter buy for James Harron, Introducing won a Warwick Farm maiden on debut in February before running fourth and fifth in two-year-old Group 3 class prior to spelling.
High-priced Waller-trained colt Vermeer (Zoustar) was the starter of interest in the eighth trial, over 1100 metres. The three-year-old – the third foal of Group 3 winner Vergara (Snippetson) – topped last year’s Inglis Great Southern Weanling Sale at $360,000 for Blue Gum Farm when bought by BBT Breeding and Racing. He then kicked off the Easter Sale impressively as Lot 5, selling from the Newhaven Park draft for $900,000, bought by China Horse Club, Newgate and Trilogy Racing.
Having his third trial, Vermeer bowled along under no pressure and came in third behind stablemate Yet He Moves (Adelaide), a gelding who failed twice on wet tracks in his first two starts in the autumn, but who’s now taken his two Sydney trials this campaign.
Percy Sykes Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) winner Kristili (Hellbent) looked to have come back well, running a narrow third in her open trial.
Most impressive of the day was the Bjorn Baker-trained four-year-old gelding Iknowastar (Star Witness), the winner of four of his past five starts in the bush. He won by eight lengths from Brad Widdup’s Jedibeel (Savabeel), with Chris Waller’s star mare Fangirl (I Am Invincible) running a no-pressure fourth in her second trial of the campaign.