The Next Episode delivers third chapter of Widden’s Coolmore Stud Stakes trilogy
The Next Episode’s Coolmore Stud Stakes victory gave Widden Stud its third success in the Flemington race in 13 years, rewarding Antony Thompson and his co-breeders’ decision to retain a share in the $2.8 million colt.
The Next Episode’s explosive victory in the Coolmore Stud Stakes has not only delivered part-owner Widden Stud its third success in the famous stallion-making Flemington race in 13 years, but also anointed the next marquee stallion for the historic Thompson family-run operation.
Zoustar delivered a defining career performance in this race in 2013, while in 2018, the Widden part-owned filly Sunlight led home a trifecta for the then-emerging sire, setting him on his way to a future as a champion stallion.
On Saturday, The Next Episode suitably delivered the third act of the story, with the Ciaron Maher-trained colt, once a $2.8 million yearling and now a stallion prospect potentially worth $30 million, sweeping into the lead and holding off the late challenges from St Gotthard and Mbube to win the $2 million three-year-old race.
“We’ve had enormous days, and our most important days have been here at Flemington with Zoustar winning the Coolmore and, of course, Sunlight leading home that amazing trifecta, which Katie and I were involved in the ownership of. So, to win a third Coolmore and be involved in a third Coolmore winner is a dream come true,” Widden principal Antony Thompson told The Straight.
The victory rewarded the decision of Thompson and co-breeders Bill Betar and Paul Frampton to retain 25 per cent of the colt, having forked out $1 million for his dam Humma Humma.
The Coolmore was the culmination of a career that had already delivered the Dalrello Stakes, Magic Millions National 2YO Classic and Group 2 Danehill Stakes, taking his record to five wins and a second from seven starts and $2,178,600 in prize money.
Mark Zahra, riding two weeks after his fall in the Caulfield Cup, said the colt travelled more strongly than he had in the Danehill.
“They took me nowhere, the ones in front, but I was in a spot where I had to go; he was just travelling so sweetly,” Zahra said. “When I came out and he sprinted really quick and James sort of challenged him, he put him away late. What a win.”
Zahra compared him with Tentyris, last year’s winner: “Geez, they’re very similar horses. He’s a real dude now, this horse. He’s so relaxed, lobs along, but when you want him he just goes bang.”
Tentyris now stands at $88,000 at Darley.
Maher said he never thought about finding a replacement rider. “You can’t get a bigger race than this – colt’s running for the Coolmore. It’s a stallion-making race. He’s a proper, proper colt,” he said.
The colt races in the colours of Phil Cunningham, principal of Newmarket-based Rebel Racing.
Cunningham later said Maher began questioning the price once bidding passed $2 million, and he told him to keep going. The pitched battle left Maher looking for more owners, including contacting Thompson to stay involved.
“He was always just a stunning horse from day one, an X-factor horse. When he sold so well, I was really blown away. And luckily for us, Ciaron asked us if we wanted to stay involved, which we were able to do,” Thompson said.
“He had stallion written all over him. And I know how hard it is to get these type of horses and to be involved with them.”
Of Cunningham, Thompson said: “Fortune favours the brave, and certainly he was brave in the ring.”
Before Cunningham’s bid and the breeders’ decision to stay in, there had been another expensive call to make.
At the 2021 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale, Widden paid $1 million for Humma Humma, a Denman mare whose six wins between 955 and 1200 metres included the Group 3 Proud Miss Stakes and the Listed Alinghi and Redelva Stakes.
Thompson saw enough in her appearance, pedigree and speed to pay a price that, he recalled, drew some scepticism.
“She was a million-dollar mare. John McArdle, the trainer, and everyone sniggered a bit and said, ‘You’re bonkers paying that much for a little stakes mare by Denman.’ But she was just gorgeous and there was plenty to her pedigree. She had a heap of speed,” Thompson said.
The Next Episode is her second foal. Her following I Am Invincible colt sold for $600,000 at Inglis Easter this year.
Thompson said the Coolmore puts the colt in a different bracket at stud. Before the race, he estimated the colt’s fee at $20,000 to $25,000 without a Group 1.
“It really sort of cements him as the most exciting young stallion in the land. Similar service fees for Coolmore winners in recent years, those colts between $60,000 and $80,000, so you can certainly do the sums and see the income they can generate in their time at stud,” Thompson said.
“If we can put Next Episode at the barn at Widden one day, that would just be an epic full-circle moment and something we’d really be proud of.”
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