Straight Up – One in 13,000 – Scott Darby’s Golden Slipper obsession
In this edition:
- ‘There’s something about the two-year-olds’ – Scott Darby and the magic of the Golden Slipper
- Bella Nipotina to hold court at Chairman’s Sale – Everest winner’s owners choose Inglis to sell their prized seven-year-old
- BoomBet fined over licence breach, but punter fails to recover $40,000 in losses
- ‘It’s not rocket science’ – How a chance Melbourne meeting with John Messara sparked Haggas’ Sydney raids
- Straight Shorts – Thursday March 20 – Coolmore Classic winner off to paddock, Mr Brightside nommed for HK, Vic expands jumpouts coverage
- Straight Talk Podcast – Rosehill, Peter McGauran and the unanswered questions, plus Bella Nipotina and selling the farm
In 2022, the Australian Stud Book received more than 13,000 registrations for thoroughbred foals born during the southern hemisphere breeding season.
From an industry perspective, the number represented a small increase from the previous year.
To a wider audience, of the 13,096 newborns on the ground during that spring, there were only eyes for one foal: one born into racing royalty.
A much-anticipated Pierro filly as the first foal of the champion mare Winx generated headlines like few before her – $10 million worth to be exact.
On the eve of this year’s Golden Slipper, the filly who has been named Quinceanera, is yet to show her wares in public as a racehorse.
And even though her sire won the 2012 Golden Slipper, Quinceanera is another example of how bloodlines can’t always fast-track a horse to greatness.
For prominent syndicator Scott Darby, pedigree is rarely a major consideration when he goes shopping during Australia’s yearling sales.
Darby spent $20,000 to buy She Will Reign and she delivered him a coveted Golden Slipper victory in 2017 – 12 months after the syndicator’s $10,000 filly Yankee Rose finished second in the race.
Of the 2022 foal crop, 808 – or 6 per cent – were catalogued for last year’s Inglis Classic Yearling Sale. Darby Racing bought eight horses and found Within The Law.
A daughter of Yulong’s first-season sire Lucky Vega, Within The Law was a $30,000 purchase but she presents as a bona fide chance in the $5 million Golden Slipper at Rosehill on Saturday.
In our Golden Slipper preview, Darby explains what the Golden Slipper means to him and why he will be forever grateful for the time he spent working for Clarry Conners, a pre-eminent conditioner of two-year-olds.
At the other end of the yearling sale spectrum, early this week Tim Rowe swung the Slipper spotlight on Devil Night, the Yulong colt by Newgate’s outstanding sire Extreme Choice who came with a $1.4 million price tag out of the 2024 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
Devil Night has already secured his stud future as the winner of the Blue Diamond Stakes but as Yulong’s Vin Cox told The Straight, there are high hopes the colt’s career can be developed further with the Slipper an obvious starting point.
Symmetry for Devil Night
Yulong colt aims to avenge his great grandsire’s Golden Slipper misfortune
For most Slipper winners, the race turns out to be their “moment”. During the past decade, few have been given the chance to train on, especially a colt.
But defeat is not the end of the world from a stud perspective, as our 2024 story on the Slipper also-rans confirmed.
Appropriately, She Will Reign is an exception to Slipper winners falling off the cliff as racehorses later in life. She claimed the Group 1 Moir Stakes against older horses at her first run as a three-year-old.
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She Will Reign was a quality sprinter, precisely the type of horse UK trainer William Haggas likes to avoid when planning “his little raids” on Sydney’s autumn carnival.
As Haggas told The Straight’s Matt Stewart, it is pointless travelling a sprinter from the UK because they are simply not fast enough.
Middle and extended-distance horses are another matter and Haggas is happy for Frankel entire Al Mubhir to take on Via Sistina in the Group 1 Ranvet Stakes while leaving Dubai Honour, proven in Australian conditions, on ice for the Tancred Stakes.
‘It’s not rocket science’
How a chance Melbourne meeting with John Messara sparked Haggas’ Sydney raids
There will be five Group 1 races on offer at Rosehill, putting it among the pantheon of the best day’s racing in the world.
But with the Australian Turf Club’s vote on the future of Rosehill looming, the quality of racing will possibly be a secondary piece of conversation for racegoers.
After a week of accusations over “dirty-tricks” campaigning in the online space, it’s odds-on the Rosehill issue will be the hottest topic in the members’ area on Saturday in the countdown to the April 3 vote.
For a detailed discussion of Rosehill, including an interview with ATC chairman Peter McGauran, plus a host of other racing topics, check out this week’s Straight Talk podcast. Watch below or subscribe or listen on You Tube, Apple, Spotify or Podbean.
ICYMI this week:
- An informed decision? The questions ATC members still want answered ahead of the Rosehill vote
- Bookies dodge racing data fees bullet
- TBA/Aushorse appoints Andrew Hore-Lacy as new CEO
- Run The Numbers – Snitzel and his daughters
- Rowe On Monday – Canning Downs dispersal ‘a difficult decision’, Memo highlights Capitalist haul, wagering on yearling auctions, sales boom in South Africa
A heads up, the three editions of The Straight Up newsletter sent each week will now be split into the three different areas we cover.
Tuesday’s edition will be focused on news and features regarding breeding and bloodstock, Thursday’s edition on analysis and news from the wagering industry and Friday’s Straight Up will concentrate on the racing industry.
This will be complemented by a new daily newsletter, which will provide up-to-date coverage of all the relevant news in all three areas. We are trialling this newsletter among a select audience this week, but you can expect to have us in your inbox from Monday to Friday in the very near future.
Too much of a good thing? You can change your membership preferences easily.
If you have any feedback for us or any story suggestions, feel free to email editor@thestraight.com.au.
Regards
Warwick Barr
Senior Editor
The Straight
