Prominent owner Wilf Mula is counting on friendship to complement his involvement in a commercially driven syndicate in a bid for Golden Slipper glory.
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Mula, a former Sydney Turf Club (STC) director and a founding board member of the Australian Turf Club, will have an interest in two Canonbury Stakes runners as a countdown to the Golden Slipper begins in earnest for Sydney-domiciled two-year-olds.
Under his Aston Bloodstock banner, Mula will be represented as a major owner in the John Thompson-trained Melanite as well in as Tropic, a $440,000 Zoustar colt raced by a Newgate Farm partnership trying to turn potential into stallion prospects.
A retired Sydney businessman who imported laser cartridges into Australia, Mula has enjoyed a consistent run of Group 1 winners over the past decade.
When the Bart Cummings-trained Roman Emperor broke what was considered a Group 1 drought for the legendary trainer in the 2009 AJC Australian Derby, Mula and his wife Rosemary celebrated their first.
The winners at racing’s highest level have continued to flow, including a Royal Ascot triumph with Newgate sire State Of Rest that Mula says only a Golden Slipper victory could match.
“When State Of Rest won the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot I said to my wife this will be the biggest win we’ll have in our lives,” Mula told The Straight.
“I’ve been going to (Royal) Ascot for 20 years and that moment was unbelievable. What a win that was.”
STATE OF REST takes the Prince of Wales's Stakes! A first #RoyalAscot winner for Shane Crosse and Joseph Patrick O'Brien 👏 pic.twitter.com/DBnzMpDh6r
— Ascot Racecourse (@Ascot) June 15, 2022
Mula’s Royal Ascot pilgrimage in 2024 had further significance when Asfoora defeated Europe’s best sprinters in the Group 1 King Charles III Stakes.
Asfoora is a daughter of Flying Artie, a $50,000 yearling purchase for Mula and his close friend Paul Whelan.
Flying Artie was an exceptional young racehorse who clinched his future at stud with his win in the 2016 Coolmore Stud Stakes.
But as a two-year-old, Flying Artie had near-misses in the Blue Diamond Stakes as well as the Golden Slipper where he finished third to Capitalist.
Mula is hoping he can set the record straight this year as Melanite and Tropic step into stakes-level racing for their debuts in Canonbury, a Group 3 race that includes the 2015 Golden Slipper winner when Vancouver on its honour roll.
“I have three third placegetters in the Golden Slipper and we’ll soon know what we’ve got for this year,” he said.
“Hopefully we can do a bit better. From the (Newgate) syndicate we’ve got some promising horses.
“There looks to be two or three really nice colts who I think could be our best chances yet to win the race.
“I’d love to win a Golden Slipper. That would be something very special.”
Mula says Tropic, the second favourite to win the Canonbury, is among them but he is “trusting his eye” that Melanite can continue a profitable association with Thompson that produced Mamaragan, a minor placegetter in the 2020 Slipper.
Melanite comes from the first crop of foals by Dirty Work, a Group 2-winning sprinter who started his career as a Spendthrift stallion before relocation to Widden Stud’s Victorian operation.
Thompson paid $140,000 for Melanite at the Magic Millions Gold Coast sale and Mula has been an incremental investor during each stage of the colt’s progress.
“I’ve been friends with John for a long time and I initially took a 10 per cent share but as the horse developed I thought ‘this is a good-looking horse’ so I increased it by another 10 per cent,” Mula said.
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As Thompson continued to sell down shares, Mula kept buying. Another 10 per cent turned into a further 5 per cent.
“I've been around a long time, so I've trusted my eye and so far at least he's got ability,” Mula said.
“That's one thing which you can't tell when you're just looking at them. So let's hope that he proves that my eye has some depth of knowledge.”
Mula figures he has interests in “70 to 80 horses” spread throughout stables in Australia and Europe and is always looking for an opportunity.
“I’ve been retired for 13 years now and young horses keep a man like me looking forward to next year,” he says.
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The Group 3 Widden Stakes for two-year-old fillies will be run alongside the Canonbury at Rosehill with Godolphin’s unbeaten Tempted, one of two Street Boss fillies in the race for the stable, the horse to beat.
But Tempted is being challenged for Widden favouritism by a $450,000 Snitzel filly from the Chris Waller stable.
A recent Rosehill barrier trial winner, Snitzel Miss is raced by Karaka headline maker Glenn Ritchie.
Ritchie, who made his fortune in the transport business as the owner of a New Zealand bus company, paid NZ$2.4 million for Orchestral’s sister at the New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka Yearling Sale this week.