Rowe On Monday – Ottobre’s Pride and joy, Gstaad appeals as future shuttle stallion, a name for a $2.8 million Snitzel colt

Jenni wants to race, motherhood put on hold 

Earlier this spring, owner Tony Ottobre had the truck ready for the almost 2500km round trip to have Pride Of Jenni served by Australia’s three-time champion sire I Am Invincible.

The vets were constantly checking whether the eight-year-old mare was cycling and ready to be covered, all the while remaining in training at Cranbourne with Ciaron Maher.

Then the mare won a Cranbourne jumpout on September 15, a 1200m hitout that demonstrated to the eye and through data that Pride Of Jenni’s racetrack career wasn’t over.

Ottobre (and Maher) decided to shelve breeding with the daughter of Pride Of Dubai for at least another season and that decision has paid off in spades.

She won the Feehan first-up at Moonee Valley and took out the Group 1 Empire Rose at Flemington on Saturday, her second victory in the fillies and mares’ race in three years.

“She was working towards wanting to be covered, but she shut down at one stage when (she had her) second trial … and she came out and she blitzed in the trial … so she decided that she doesn’t want to get in foal, and she wants to keep racing.

“We let nature take its course and she’s decided that she wants to race.”

Pride Of Jenni is Ottobre’s number one seed of the 20 to 25 horses he has in training and she will eventually join his broodmare band, which numbers 12 to 15.

Ottobre, who lives at his Cape Schank Stud on the Mornington Peninsula where he is surrounded by his young horses, has bought 50 acres nearby where he intends to house his broodmares.

About this time last year, Ottobre went public with an idea to send Pride Of Jenni to Japanese superstar Equinox, but those overseas stud plans appear to be on hold – at least for now.

“The Equinox thing just became a little bit too hard, not only for the cost, but also having her away from us,” he said.

“We’d have to give our horse to another entity to look after, and that was probably the overriding factor that we need to have her with us all the time, and we need to make sure that she’s healthy, happy and safe. When you give her to someone else, you’ve then lost control of that part. 

“I consider that to be the number one priority in the way I go about my business.” 

Pride Of Jenni could back up in Saturday’s Champions Mile, the same Flemington double she completed in 2023 when defeating hardened geldings Mr Brightside and Alligator Blood.

Gstaad almost certainly cements shuttle future

Pride Of Jenni’s sire Pride Of Dubai remains on the Coolmore Australia stallion roster, arguably as an underrated servant by the market, and he may have a new barnmate in the Hunter Valley in the years to come.

Starspangledbanner colt Gstaad produced a startling performance to win the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf over a mile, the Aidan O’Brien-trained two-year-old’s first win at the highest level, by overcoming a slow getaway and a three-wide passage for the entirety of the race at Del Mar.

Gstaad was narrowly defeated in the Prix Morny and France and in the National Stakes at the Curragh earlier in the season but his Breeders’ Cup victory enhances his appeal as a stallion prospect, particularly for Australia, being a half-brother to Arrowfield shuttler Vandeek.

He is also from the family of another former shuttler, Anabaa, who proved successful during his time at Widden Stud.

New Australian Episode for Brit Cunningham

Prominent UK owner Phil Cunningham made a scene at the Magic Millions in January, arriving 10 minutes before shelling out his share of $2.8 million for a Snitzel colt with trainer Ciaron Maher.

Maher reportedly told Cunningham that the Widden Stud-bred colt’s price tag had gone too high, but the entrepreneur insisted that the trainer continue to bid, so who was he to say no to a wealthy client?

That colt, the second foal out of the former John McArdle-trained Group 3 winner Humma Humma, has a name: The Next Episode.

And he’s nominated for Saturday’s $1 million Golden Gift at Rosehill on the back of a barrier trial win at the same track last month.

The principal of Rebel Racing, whose team of British horses are trained by Richard Spencer in Newmarket, Cunningham is also opening up a Dubai stable.

Those horses will also be trained by Spencer.

“Quite frankly, it beats racing around the all-weather in January – the prize-money and experience over there speak for themselves,” Cunningham said in August. 

“The Dubai racing team have been incredibly helpful and made the process very straightforward. We’re really looking forward to the challenge.”