Champagne and Caviar – the omens surrounding Nepotism’s Group 1 bid

An anniversary of significance will coincide with a moment of high anticipation when Nepotism is given his chance to become the latest Group 1 winner to emerge from bloodlines belonging to Australian racing royalty.

Nepotism is one of the favourites to claim the $1 million Champagne Stakes and continue a legacy left by Black Caviar, the unbeaten and undisputed champion of the world sprinting ranks over five seasons of perfection.

It was on April 18, 2009 that Black Caviar announced her racetrack arrival but there was little fanfare and barely a hint of what would unfold before her retirement after the 2013 TJ Smith Stakes.

The stage was Flemington. There is none bigger in Australian racing but it was off-season fare for Melbourne and the opposition was modest.

As she did for most of her career, Black Caviar won in a canter.

The task is unlikely to be as simple for Nepotism at Randwick on Saturday but if omens can provide an advantage, the colt’s connection to the Black Caviar story might be the difference.

Nepotism is the first stakes winner for the unraced Casino Prince mare Brigite – a half-sister to Black Caviar who is a full sister to All Too Hard and closely related to Ole Kirk, two outstanding three-year-olds of their generation.

But the link to the wonder mare doesn’t stop there.

Neil Werrett, a co-owner of Black Caviar, races Nepotism in a partnership that also includes Rick Jamieson of Gilgai Farm fame who bred and sold the champion as a yearling.

Another part-owner, Brett Bradley, who is the chief financial officer of Werrett’s Galileo Group, a high-profile real estate funds management business, best explains why the Black Caviar connection will always be an enduring one.

“Neil and I worked together and we raced horses together,” he told The Straight.

“So Neil and I are a bit tragic as far as horse sales go with the pedigrees that we love. He loves the Black Caviar family and I love the Sin Sin Sin pedigrees.

“Whenever there’s anything going through the sales from one of those two pedigrees, we’re both looking at them. 

“And most of the time, we end up with them and then we end up racing them together and then getting a few other people to come in.”

Texas-raised, Bradley has become enamoured with Australian racing to the point where he keeps a small band of broodmares to breed commercially.

Sin Sin Sin, a Fantastic Light mare, gave Bradley an introduction to quintessential bush racing in winning the Wellington Boot, a NSW country race for two-year-olds better known in 2008 for its quirky trophy rather than the $200,000 purse that exists today.

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The StraightBren O’Brien

She won another two races but it is as a broodmare that she has left her mark as the dam of the 2019 Everest winner Yes Yes Yes who Bradley sold as a Magic Millions yearling for $200,000.

“We thought we had something special but she just had a few niggling problems as a racehorse. She always had ability,” Bradley said.

“And so she was the one I thought, ‘well this is going to be my first mare that I spend a bit of money on and send to a commercial stallion’.

“I’ve always loved the Encosta de Lago (sire) line. Even though he’s probably known more for his role as a broodmare sire than a sire.

“But he’s got a lot of good sire sons and he was a fast racehorse. And so we went to Rubick and ended up with Yes Yes Yes so it was a good result with him.”

Nepotism is also going the right way as a profitable venture after selling for $160,000 as an Inglis Premier Sale yearling in 2024.

He is a son of the 2019 Doncaster Mile winner Brutal and already has a stakes success alongside his name after winning the Baillieu Handicap at Group 3 level at just his second start.

A Group 1 win in a race that has consistently turned colts into stallions since the turn of the century would see Nepotism’s value skyrocket.

Bradley, who also raced Group 1 winner Foreteller with Werrett, says Nepotism is in the right stable to deliver on his early promise.

“It’s great to have him in a Group 1 Saturday and a lot of that comes from the  confidence that we get from the Team Hawkes trainers,” he said.

“Those guys, they’re the best in the business. And when you have a colt that’s only had two starts running in a Group 1, you know that they’ve got confidence in his ability.”