Australian racegoers are about to see a lot more of the progeny of exciting Coolmore shuttler Wootton Bassett (GB), whose first Aussie bred offspring will race this season and today we saw a taste of what’s to come when his talented imported son Royal Patronage (Fr) scored an impressive first up win in the Group II ATC Tramway Stakes (1400m) at Randwick.
A gorgeous looking stallion that won the Group II Newmarket Royal Lodge Stakes at two, Royal Patronage was transferred to North America after his three year-old season and spent last year campaigning there before returning to the UK to be offered at the Tattersalls Horse in Training Sale in October where he was bought by McKeever Bloodstock / Waterhouse / Bott for 300,000 guineas.
Given a good spell after he arrived here last year, the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott trained Royal Patronage shaped well in a couple of recent trials and showed his best form to account for Group I winners Amelia’s Jewel and Kovalica when powering clear for Tim Clark to win by a length and a half,
“We were just a bit open minded whether he may find the 1,400m a bit too sharp for him., but the way the race panned out was excellent. There was good pressure on from the outset. He really put himself in the race from the gates,” said Adrian Bott.
"Tim [Clark] allowed him to find a nice rhythm and he was fully running at the top of the straight. I guess that was one thing in the back of my mind with the conditions that they may well suit him, it was just the distance, but he's a quality horse.
“He's put in an excellent performance today, and I'm sure there's still plenty of improvement to come."
The Group I ATC Epsom Handicap could be on the cards for Royal Patronage, who has the overall record of five wins and two seconds from 16 starts.
"He could well be an Epsom horse. Tim [Clark] and I were discussing that off the back of his last trial. We thought that might be a really nice race to target, but in the back of our mind, we thought there could be some targets over further, so we wanted to see what we got today, and I think that could definitely be on the cards off the back of today's run,” Bott said.
Tim Clark was in agreement believing there is more to come for Royal Patronage.
"He'll continue to improve, how far he gets, even in distance, still a bit of an unknown as well, I think he's got plenty of options going forward, anyway, I'm sure Gai [Waterhouse] has got the calendar out looking through them,” he said.
Purchased originally for 62,000 guineas from the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale by Jake and John Warren for Highclere Racing, Royal Patronage is the first winner for Shaloushka, a winning three-quarter-sister by Dalakhani to Irish Derby place-getter Shalapour from the family of champion 3YO Shahrastani.
He is the second stakes-winner in Australia for Wootton Bassett joining another import Protagonist (Fr), who won the Group III ATC Sky High Stakes last year.
Wootton Bassett is back in Australia for Coolmore this spring standing at a fee of $192,500.
