High-priced European recruit wins Randwick trial ahead of The Championships
Multi-million-dollar mare Alcohol Free made her first Australian public appearance on Monday, winning a 1200-metre trial a Randwick.
The Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained five-year-old jumped midfield and sat three-wide under James Mcdonald before edging away in the second half of the straight to score a 2-1/4-length win over Snitzel colt Lehndorff.
The trial was Alcohol Free's most serious hit-out since landing in Australia over summer and Bott was pleased with what he saw.
"A nice pleasing bit of work there this morning, I think that should bring her on nicely for where she is at in her campaign," he said on Sky Sports Radio.
"Obviously we've got The Championships there in sight, so it was just a nice little hit-out there just to stimulate her and bring her along nicely for us."
The daughter of No Nay Never has four Group 1 wins from 1207m to 1609m in the UK – the most recent being last year's July Cup (1207m), in which Artorius finished third – and came to Australia after Yulong paid a tick over AU$10 million for her at last year's Tattersalls December Mares Sale.
She will join the host of Group 1 mares who reside at Yulong's Victorian base when her racing career is done, but Yulong and Tulloch Lodge have some major Australian targets in mind before that.
Alcohol Free was among the long-range entries for the TJ Smith Stakes (1200m), Doncaster Mile (1600m), Queen Of The Turf (1600m) and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) with Bott suggesting she would most likely kick-off over 1600m.
"It's yet to be finalised, but I would say the main options that we've had her entered for are the Doncaster, All Aged Stakes (1400m) or the Coolmore, the mares' race," he said.
"We're probably looking at kicking off over the mile, I would say."
Alcohol Free was one of a number of quality performers to win 1045m trials at Randwick on Monday.
Challenge Stakes winner Passive Aggressive continued her march towards the T J Smith Stakes with a slick win, speeding out with a big early lead before being idled down late by jockey Jordan Childs to score narrowly from Bunker Hut.
Classy three-year-old Aft Cabin edged out Kementari and Mazu in Trial 3, while Saltaire won the two-year-old trial in which ATC Sires' fancy Cafe Millenium took a while to wind up but hit the line well to finish fifth.
