‘Remarkable’ Melbourne Cup winner Gold Trip seeks new legacy at stud
In what is possibly the Australian bloodstock industry’s ultimate leap of faith, a new venture is taking up one of breeding’s greatest commercial challenges in standing the 2022 Melbourne Cup winner Gold Trip.
Gold Trip, retired from racing after a tendon injury cut short autumn ambitions, has found at home at Lovatsville, a joint venture operation between Leneva Park and Seymour Bloodstock.
He will easily be the best-known horse on the Lovatsville roster but that doesn’t mean his service fee will be the most expensive.
In an acknowledgement of how difficult it is for a stallion with a stayer’s profile to gain traction in a speed-obsessed Australian market, Gold Trip will stand at an introductory fee of $8800 – the cheapest among the four sires on duty at Lovatsville in 2024.
But at that fee, it’s hard to find a reason why Gold Trip won’t be supported despite becoming just the eighth Melbourne Cup winner in more than 50 years to go to stud in Australia or New Zealand.
And with that, Gold Trip will be one of only two Melbourne Cup winners to be active as a sire in the southern hemisphere.
Since the deaths of the 2010 winner Americain and the 2013 hero Fiorente, it has been left to Shocking to fly the flag for Melbourne Cup winners in this part of the world as he plies his trade at Rich Hill Stud in New Zealand.
History says the odds will be stacked against Gold Trip becoming a runaway success at stud.
The last time a Melbourne Cup winner, Spearfelt (1926), progressed to be Australia’s champion stallion was in 1942/43.
And that journey from Melbourne Cup winner to champion stallion has only happened four times with Comedy King (1910), Grand Flaneur (1880) and Chester (1877) being the others to have completed the double.
But Gold Trip has one significant attribute in his favour as he embarks on the next phase of a career that started in Europe where he was good enough to run fourth in the Prix de l’Arc De Triomphe en route to his Melbourne Cup win and a last-to-first victory in the Turnbull Stakes over 2000m at Group 1 level last October.
He possessed the type of acceleration reserved for only the best stayers, an element of his racing no doubt helped by his sire line as a grandson of Australia’s recently retired champion stallion Exceed And Excel.
Trained by the all-conquering partnership of Ciaron Maher and David Eustace during a 16-start Australian career for leading syndicator Australian Bloodstock, Gold Trip will become the fifth stallion standing across Australasia who contested an Arc during their racing careers.
The others are So You Think, Ghaiyyath, Spiritjim and Reliable Man.
A son of Outstrip, Gold Trip injured a tendon in March. While the decision to retire him was not immediate, it soon became apparent that it would be in the rising eight-year-old’s best interests.
Maher said he was sad Gold Trip was leaving his stable but pleased that he had found a home at stud.
“This horse has just been remarkable,” Maher said.
“He delivered our first Melbourne Cup, and for that, he will always have a special place in my heart.
“But his Turnbull Stakes win was arguably a better performance, given the field he beat that day.
“He delivered our first Melbourne Cup, and for that, he will always have a special place in my heart.” – Ciaron Maher
“The ownership group deserved all the success given the patience they showed in his first 12 months in Australia and I’m thrilled that we will get to see his progeny given he is such a beautiful horse.”
Bred in France, Gold Trip was imported to Australia as the winner of only one race but with a lot more to offer than his record suggested as a three-time Group 1 placegetter in Europe.
His Melbourne Cup triumph came at the backend of a spring that was a busy one by modern-day standards after running second in the Caulfield Cup and finishing less than three lengths behind Anamoe in the Cox Plate.
Staff Writer
He bows out after finishing third in the Group 2 Peter Young Stakes (1800m) at Caulfield in March.
“There aren’t many horses that can front up in three of the biggest races in the country in consecutive weeks and perform like he did,” Australian Bloodstock’s Jamie Lovett said.
“He gave us the thrill of a lifetime in the spring of 2022 and we’re thankful that he retires as a healthy horse whose progeny will be seen on racetracks in Australia again.”
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