Rowe On Monday – BRC Sires’ winner ‘a proper horse’, final curtain for Penang racing

In today’s Rowe On Monday, Tim Rowe examines the emergence of Brisbane two-year-old Cool Archie, a $100,000 yearling by Newhaven Park’s Cool Aza Beel while an era in Malaysian racing has come to an end.

Malone’s Cool colt has Group 1 ambitions

In the sales arena, perception can often overrule reality and it’s easy to get caught up in the hype, particularly when the buyer such as a trainer or syndicator has taken on the risk of being able to on-sell the horse to owners.

That market dynamic is witnessed, regularly to the chagrin of breeders and vendors, at yearling sales across the country.

Industry allrounder Mick Malone, who buys horses for some of the biggest investors in the game, tries to put market perceptions to one side when assessing a yearling on their merits.

And with the support of people like Max Whitby, Malone has the freedom to be able to buy horses on type, a practice that has netted in-form juvenile Cool Archie, a son of New Zealand Group 1-winning two-year-old Cool Aza Beel.

“I try not to let it because they can come from anywhere and you only have to go to these race filly and mares sales like last week (at the Magic Millions) and have a look at what becomes a stakes horse and what the pedigrees are like,” says Malone, who also runs stud farm North in the Hunter Valley. 

“If they’re good enough they’ll make their own page. Buying off good farms like Newhaven, they’re a terrific farm and a great bunch of people. 

“They stand stallions like Cool Aza Beel because he has a pedigree they believe suits Australian horses and they just might have a proper stallion on their hands.”

On Saturday, the Chris and Corey Munce-trained Cool Archie, wearing Whitby’s emerald green silks, made it four straight this campaign, his past two at Group 2 level, the Champagne Classic and BRC Sires.

He has now banked $1 million in prize money – 10 times his purchase price – with a black eye out of the BRC Sires unlikely to curtail a shot at the Group 1 JJ Atkins Stakes on Saturday week for the grandson of Savabeel.

Malone says: “He’s a proper horse, you just don’t know where these sort of colts finish up and the fact that he’s won on a good four and he’s won now on a heavy, I don’t know what you want to call it (on Saturday), it says it was a nine, but it was so wet. 

“I’ve never seen rain just like in that 20 minutes leading in, so, who knows what the track was, but he’s proved he cops the wet.”

With or without the Group 1 on his CV – he is $5 favourite for the JJ Atkins – does Cool Archie, unbeaten in four starts this campaign, have appeal as a stallion prospect?

“I know there’s a farm called North that would stand him,” Malone quipped.

“But it’s a long road, and he definitely has stallion potential. It’s something that we’ve talked about, but Max loves racing them and he’s going to enjoy that part for the next, hopefully, year or two.” 

While the Group 1 JJ Atkins would complete a masterful autumn-winter preparation for Munce, Whitby and Cool Archie, the BRC Sires has a history of producing stallions – and good ones at that.

A barnstorming win by Cool Archie in the G2 BRC Sires' Produce Stakes, and that's four in a row to the @munceracing galloper! @BrisRacingClub pic.twitter.com/lIjGc5tTiN

— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) May 31, 2025

Darley’s new pin-up stallion Broadsiding won last year’s edition, Zoustar won it in 2013, Sizzling took it out the year before that, while more recently sires Lean Mean Machine (2018), Strasbourg (2019) and Tiger Of Malay (2021) have the Queensland Group 2 on their CV.

Malone, who was trackside at Eagle Farm on Saturday alongside Whitby, is relishing the rise of Cool Archie and, by extension, Cool Aza Beel.

“We’ve spent a lot more (on horses than the $100,000 we paid for Cool Archie) and got a lot less in the past,” he says. 

“It’s great to be able to put your hand up and buy a nice horse like that, but there’s plenty of dry gullies in this game, so you’ve got to really enjoy them when you get them right.”

Kiwis shine on final day at Penang

The curtain came down on racing in the Malaysian coastal city of Penang on Saturday after 160 years and the seven-race finale was a reminder of the dominance of Australasian-bred horses in the country.

New Zealand-bred or performed horses won five races while the other two were Australian-bred.

HY Cheng, who worked in New Zealand for a number of years before returning to Malaysia to train, won the last race to be run at Penang with Lucky Magic and an earlier race with Belardo gelding Graphjet Express.

Fly-in Australian jockey Blaike McDougall rode two winners at Penang – and another at Selangor in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday – for expatriate Kiwi trainer Simon Dunderdale. 

Final Race ever at Penang Turf Club goes to ⁦@KarakaChat⁩ RTR 2022 graduate Lucky Magic (Mendelssohn) @prima_park⁩ .
5 of the 7 races to NZ graduates. Sad day for the “Pearl of the Orient” Farewell Penang pic.twitter.com/fQ255zvEJ4

— Mike Kneebone (@mike_kneebone) May 31, 2025

Sacred Falls gelding Sacred Buddy, who initially raced in Singapore, overcame trouble to win his 1100m race.

“We got a check but he (Sacred Buddy) refused to be beaten and came home strongly,” McDougall said. “It is a lovely track and it’s sad that racing has to end here.”

Without the influx of Singapore-raced horses to Malaysia, the country’s owners and trainers will have to source stock directly from other countries such as Australia and New Zealand.