Trainer Joe Pride will likely keep stable star Ceolwulf to a mile as he looks to round off his spring campaign with a first trip away.
The five-year-old son of Tavistock ran out a ready winner of the Gr.1 King Charles III Stakes (1609m), defending his crown, despite having gone winless in the ensuing 12 months.
“It has been good to us that day. Over the last three years we have won two King Charles and an Everest (Think About It), but our luck will run out eventually on that day. It’s been a good run,” Pride said.
“It’s 12 months ago now that he won that race and, in the period in between, for two preparations, he's put in some runs that have had me scratching my head and thinking was there a chance that that was just him at his absolute best.
“To see him do it again last Saturday gives me great confidence that going forward, we're still working with the same horse, and a horse that is going to win most races that he competes in when he performs to that level.”
Pride will now set his sights on the Gr.1 Champions Mile (1600m) on the final day of the Flemington carnival.
“It is unusual for one of mine to have had this many starts (24) and not had a trip away, but I'd love to bring him down to Flemington,” Pride said.
“I'd say we'll stick to the mile. He's won three Group Ones at a mile now, and although I do need to see him at 2000m again at some stage, I don’t think it needs to be straight away. I'd say we'll be down to Melbourne for the Champions Mile.”
Pride would dearly love to set the gelding for the 2026 Gr.1 Cox Plate (2040m) but given there is only seven days between the King Charles and the Cox Plate, it is a case of one or the other.
“To have a crack at the Cox plate, I'm going to have to forgo the chance to run for a third King Charles,” he said.
“I'm going to have to be convinced in the autumn that he runs a strong 2000m to set him for the Cox Plate, because I'm not going to sacrifice that chance to win that race again for an outside chance of winning a Cox Plate.
“It will probably be in the Gr.1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) in the autumn, but, if he shows me that he's really strong at 2000m, I'll give it a go.”
Ceolwulf was bred by Cambridge Stud owners Sir Brendan and Lady Jo Lindsay and is a son of the Shamardal mare Las Brisas.
The gelding is a graduate of the 2022 New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run Sale, where Pride and part-owner Leighton Howl went to $170,000 to secure him from Riversley Park’s draft.
Ceolwulf has now had 24 starts for six wins, seven placings and A$9.13 million in stakes, plus a one-off $750.000 Emerald bonus for winning both the Gr.1 Epsom Handicap and King Charles last spring. – NZ Racing Desk
