A look at the first-starters who will make up the Breeders’ Plate at Randwick
The highly-anticipated first two-year-old races of the season in Sydney will be run at Randwick on Saturday, including the Breeders' Plate for colts and geldings.
This year's $250,000 Group 3 over 1000m is down to a field of 10 following the early scratching of Gambler and contains a couple of seven-figure yearlings and a $4000 weanling.
Below is a look at the background of the each of this year's field and how they have performed at the trials.
1 – Crown The King (Time To Reign x Shamurt): The first of five runners for reigning Golden Slipper winners Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott was a $70,000 Inglis Classic buy and finished third in the 850m trial won by stablemate King Kirk in 49.57secs. Crown The King travelled midfield and wide but stuck to his guns in the straight to be beaten just under two lengths.
2 – Gambler: Scratched.
3 – Hidden Motive (Capitalist x Secret Agenda): Beat home Crown The King by just over a length in that September 23 trial, when travelled outside the leader and was only run over late by King Kirk. The Nathan Doyle-trained $120,000 Magic Millions Gold Coast buy is the only product of a G1-winning mare in the race, being out of the 2017 Sangster Stakes winner.
4 – King Kirk (Ole Kirk x Oxford Angel): The $300,000 Gold Coast buy was held up for parts of his trial, but unleashed a strong finish to win his trial. The Bjorn Baker-trained colt - who, as an October 15 foal, is the youngest horse in the race – will become the first to race from a Nicconi mare and a member of the first crop of Vinery's Ole Kirk, the son of Written Tycoon who won a Golden Rose and Caulfield Guineas.
5 – North England (Farnan x Our Belisa): Another by a first-season sire, the 2020 Golden Slipper winner, and cost $280,000 at Inglis Classic. The Waterhouse/Bott youngster didn't clock the fastest time at the Sept 23 trials, but was a soft all-the-way winner by 2-1/2 lengths in 49.43secs.
6 – Ozimozzi (Strasbourg x Sweeter Than Honey): The Gary Nickson-trained colt, a $4000 Great Southern Sale weanling, didn't trial on Sept 23 but stepped out at Warwick Farm on Monday, when he led an 821m trial but was run over late after being ridden out, beaten narrowly by Bombay Boom.
7 – Raging Force (Cosmic Force x Miss Loren): Trainer Peter Snowden spoke highly of the $150,000 Classic graduate after his Sept 23 trial, which he won by half-a-length in 49.44secs after travelling behind the speed and finishing powerfully alongside the inside under only moderate riding.
8 – Ripley (Too Darn Hot x Duvessa): He finished third in Raging Force's trial but his sectionals would have stacked up nicely after being forced to plot a wider path than the winner and was only beaten around 1-1/2 lengths. The $625,000 Gold Coast yearling raced greenly at stages as well, so is likely to be improved by that experience. Trained by Ciaron Maher, Ripley is by the same sire as boom colt Broadsiding out of a daughter of Sister Madly, a sister to Silent Witness, who was a G2 winner and three times placed at the highest level.
9 – Tempestuous (Extreme Choice x Windradyne): The $375,000 Gold Coast yearling split Raging Force and Ripley and although run down late, the Waterhouse/Bott chestnut was not knocked around late by Nash Rawiller who retains the ride on Saturday.
10 – Tuscany (Zoustar x Summer Sham: $1,550,000 Inglis Easter youngster who is a brother to Schwarz. The Waterhouse/Bott colt showed a slick turn-of-foot to score an off-speed trial win in 49.11secs, which was the equal-best time of the day, at the big Randwick trial session on September 23. Significantly, James McDonald there and retains the ride on Saturday.
11 – Valedictorian (Zoustar x Lady Cosmology): The other seven-figure yearling in the race, a $1.3m Gold Coast buy for James Harron, was always rearward in the trial won by King Kirk in a performance that suggested the Michael Freedman-trained colt might be at his best over a little further than this race. An August 5 foal, Valedictorian is the oldest horse in the race, born one day before Ozimozzi.
On Thursday morning, North England and Tuscany shared the top line of betting at $4, just in advance of King Kirk ($4.60) with Ripley ($6.50) and Raging Force ($7) next in line.
