The $1.7m Easter colt Hidrix (Extreme Choice) surged into Golden Slipper contention with a dominant debut victory in today’s G3 Canonbury Stakes at Rosehill.
The Chris Waller-trained 2YO produced arguably the most noteworthy performance of any juvenile this season so far and hence firmed into an $8 second favourite with Ladbrokes for the G1 Golden Slipper, to be run at Rosehill on March 21.
Bred by Kate Nivison, Hidrix was purchased by trainer Chris Waller, Guy Mulcaster and Ricky Surace’s B2B Thoroughbreds at last year’s Easter Sale, out of the Coolmore draft.
Nivison, who was in tears at Riverside 10 months ago when the colt (ex Shadow) sold, was stunned with today’s performance.
“I’m a bit in shock, I’m speechless which is unusual for me,’’ Nivison said.
“But you know what? It’s everything I want. I want to breed proper racehorses and be known for breeding proper racehorses.
“I don’t give a sh*t about sale ring prices, my job as a breeder is to produce horses that win, that’s all I want to see, so it’s really satisfying to see a colt like this do what he just did on debut in a key 2YO race.’’
Surace was equally taken aback at the ease of Hidrix’s victory.
“We knew he went pretty good but it was about giving him a run today and see how he ran home,’’ Surace said.
“Chris [Waller] was confident he’d run well and then progress to his next race but he was pretty impressive there, especially at the end, he was eased down that last 50 or 75m and the jockey said post-race that he had plenty left.
“He was a nice colt at the sale, there was obviously plenty on him for us to have to go to $1.7m to get him but he wasn’t always going to be a Slipper type.
“He didn’t look like an early 2YO and it wasn’t until [jockey] James [McDonald] worked him the other morning and said he was really happy with him and really surprised by how well he felt, that we started to get thinking we might have a Slipper horse.’’
Hidrix is part-owned by Henry Field and Newgate Farm, where his sire Extreme Choice stands.
The next eight weeks provides buyers with a number of opportunities to acquire offspring of the freak stallion, with 11 of his progeny to be offered at the Easter Yearling Sale at Riverside on March 29 and 30, nine at the Premier Yearling Sale on March 1-3 at Oaklands and three at next weekend’s Classic Yearling Sale, which starts next Sunday February 8 at Riverside and runs for three days.
“Extreme Choice, what he does so consistently with such limited opportunities is nothing short of extraordinary and he’ll go down as one of the greatest stallions this country has ever seen,’’ Field said.
“I can categorically say there’s never been a better selection of Extreme Choice’s progeny in one sale, ever, as there will be at Easter in 2026.
“Additionally, we have two in the Newgate consignment – in partnership with Gooree – going to Classic next week that were both accepted for Easter, however we wanted to stand them out at Classic.
“Bringing them to Classic really shows that we mean business at Classic this year with the calibre of horses in our draft.’’
Inspections for Classic begin at Riverside on Monday.
To view the Classic catalogue CLICK HERE.
To view the Premier catalogue CLICK HERE.
To view the Easter catalogue CLICK HERE.
Another impressive 2YO winner today was Big Sky (Bivouac) in the G3 Chairman’s Stakes at Caulfield, winning by three lengths to remain undefeated and firm into a $4.20 equal favourite for the G1 Blue Diamond Stakes with Ladbrokes in three weeks.
A Spirit Of Boom half sister (ex Zoom By) is being offered by Eureka Stud as lot 607 at next weekend’s Classic Yearling Sale at Riverside.
Meanwhile two supplementary lots have been confirmed for the Classic Sale.
Newgate Farm will offer an Artorius colt out of American mare Kiss the Daddy (lot 799) while a Home Affairs x Word On The Street colt has been catalogued as lot 800 in the Tyreel draft.
The two supplementaries will be offered in catalogue alphabetical order – lot 799 after lot 111 and lot 800 after lot 586.
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