Rowe On Monday – A silver lining with Golden Slipper potential, blue riband result for Windsor Park, Black Opal shines brightest for All Too Hard

Singapore-based Koh sizes for Australian riches

Soon after James McDonald guided Chayan to a dominant victory in the Reisling Stakes at Randwick, the two-year-old filly’s owner Eric Koh was booking flights.

All being well, the Singaporean owner, who enjoyed a trans-Tasman stakes double on Saturday after Sweynesday won the Group 3 King’s Plate at Ellerslie, will be in Sydney for the Golden Slipper.

And it’s because of the demise of Singapore racing that Koh is in the running to claim Australia’s premier two-year-old race with Chayan, a daughter of I Am Invincible who is the $6.50 second favourite for the $5 million race at Rosehill on March 21.

“Most of the time I’ve been buying colts and geldings, but without Singapore, I thought, ‘you know, it’s time to get into some fillies’,” Koh says. 

“In the past, I’ve had shares in a few fillies and mares with (Yulong’s) Mr Zhang, and I’ve had one or two broodmares in Ireland, but this time around, I thought, without Singapore, I decided to go into some better type of fillies with the plan of eventually keeping them as broodmares.”

Chayan, who is trained by Rob and Annabel Archibald, is now worth far more than her $250,000 purchase price and another big winner out of her Group 2 victory is Victorian agent Sheamus Mills and his client Heath Newton.

Mills’ foresight led him to Perth for last month’s Magic Millions sale with the agent buying Chayan’s Zoustar half-sister for $525,000 and her value has also increased as a result of the Reisling.

Meanwhile, Koh could be booking flights to Queensland for the winter carnival with the Roger James and Robert Wellwood-trained Sweynesday potentially being aimed at the Group 1 Stradbroke following his King’s Plate win.

One of two horses Koh has with the Cambridge trainers – the other, December, has won four of his 13 starts – Sweynesday was the beneficiary of favourite Alabama Lass falling after running into the rail when heading for certain victory on Champions Day.

“Nobody wants that to happen in the race, but fortunately the filly and the jockey are fine, so that’s good, and we were able to get the win,” Koh says.

“Roger said the horse ate up well, and was trotting up free as a bird (on Sunday), so everything is good. He’s looking at some races in Australia (including the Stradbroke), but then one step at a time.”

Sweynesday and December were destined for Singapore but as rumours swirled about the industry’s future, having purchased the pair from the New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run Sale in 2022, Koh decided to race them with James and Wellwood. 

History on Windsor Park’s side with Derby winner Road To Paris

Twenty-four hours after Windsor Park Stud inked a deal for New Zealand 2000 Guineas winner Savaglee to stand at the Schick family’s stallion operation, they were celebrating maiden Group 1 success for his new rostermate Circus Maximus.

Bred and raced by Ron and Judi Wanless, and trained by Roger James and Robert Wellwood, Road To Paris landed the signature race in front of stablemate Autumn Glory, an Ocean Park filly who is soon to join Mick Price and Mick Kent Jr’s Sydney stable. 

Windsor Park general manager Steve Till was rapt that Circus Maximus had joined elite company with his Derby win.

“It was a wonderful day for us and pretty special to get a blue riband winner sired from the first crop of one of our stallions,” Till told the NZ Racing Desk.

“Back in the spring when Robert Wellwood was here at the farm, he said they had a horse they were setting on a Derby path and Roger’s now won it seven times and Robert has got his second in partnership.

“This is by design and a massive compliment to them and their abilities as trainers.”

Standing in partnership with Coolmore, Circus Maximus is a son of champion European sire Galileo. 

“It’s pretty rare to have a New Zealand-based stallion win a New Zealand Derby from their first crop,” Till said.

“We were lucky enough to have Thorn Park win it with Jimmy Choux. Group 1 races are hard enough to win, let alone a Derby.

“We also had High Chaparral, who trifectaed an AJC Derby (Shoot Out, Descarado, Monaco Consul) from his first crop and to now to get one in your back yard is tremendous.”

Opinions about stallions vary, often guided by personal experience, but there was an interesting insight provided by one noted industry figure recently and that was the horses by Circus Maximuses seem to possess a determination to try.

The majority, the suggestion was, don’t throw in the towel when under pressure and they keep trying to find the line when other perhaps more talented horses wilt under duress. It’s an admirable trait that wins races.

The Australian and Queensland Derbies are now possibly on the agenda for Road To Paris.

He is out of the four-time winning Savabeel mare Spirit Of Heaven, who is a three-quarter sister to Australasian Oaks (2000m) winner Lights Of Heaven.

All Too Hard keeps producing

This column has mentioned the exploits of stallion All Too Hard previously, but the Vinery Stud sire is having quite the run.

Not since All Too Hard’s fourth crop has he sired multiple two-year-old stakes winners, with the talented Gratz Vella-trained Music Time winning Sunday’s Group 3 Black Opal Stakes at Canberra.

The gelding followed on from Hard Kick’s Talindert Stakes victory at Flemington last month for Lindsay Park.

In 2019/20, Hard Landing won the Maribyrnong Plate and Hard Rock Girl won the Listed Cinderella Stakes but he hadn’t sired a juvenile black-type winner in five successive crops.

However, All Too Hard has fought back from that inevitable lull with breeders continuing to support the half-brother to Black Caviar. He covered 154 mares in 2025, his 13th season at stud in what was his biggest book since 2020 and second biggest since 2016.

That was his fourth season when his first crop were just early two-year-olds.