Becoming the sixth first crop winner for G1 Golden Slipper hero Stay Inside, the Tom Charlton trained Lord Horatio could have bigger goals on the horizon off the back of his handy debut victory, winning Warwick Farm’s Drinkwise Plate (1000m) on Wednesday.
Coming into the race off a Rosehill barrier trial victory, the 2yo colt was well regarded in the betting, one of four runners under double figure odds behind Godolphin’s race favourite Portico.
With the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott trained Celtic Spy having his first run since finishing fifth on debut in the Magic Millions Wyong 2YO Classic back in December, the Farnan colt took up the running while Dylan Gibbons was content to sit on the outside of the leader aboard Lord Horatio.
Swinging into the home turn in front, Celtic Spy was under hard riding and Gibbons started to make a contest of it, while Portico had come off the back of the leaders to put himself into a challenge position.
Hitting the lead at the 200m mark, Lord Horatio held off the late charge of Portico to win by just under three parts of a length, with Celtic Spy weakening to finish third.
Having seen his race favourite lose out in the opening race of the day, trainer Tom Charlton was pleased to see his juvenile take the prize in the second.
“Yeah, he did. And then he had a horse come around him three wide, so I was a bit concerned when he got to the front, he might have a look around, which I think he probably did.
“Credit to the horse, he's obviously got a good level of ability to do that on debut.
“Big, gross, horse and um, there'll be on this improvement. You think going forward. And he's not just a two-year-old type we feel.
“Full credit to the whole staff and everyone who's educated him throughout the whole process.
As for where he may head next, Charlton indicated that he could target the $1m Magic Millions National 2YO Classic at the Gold Coast Turf CLub on May 18.
“I don't see any reason why we need to stop. There is a valuable Magic Millions race in two or three weeks, three weeks I think, that we can consider. But I think I saw a good two-year-old win on Saturday that might be heading that way. So these are all good problems to have.”
With Dylan Gibbons having ridden him in two of his three trials, it was good to see the jockey stick strong on race day.
“He was (professional), and look, he had to be because he obviously broke well and thought it was just going to be simple,” said Gibbons. “We're just going to roll across the outside lead and obviously, some didn't want to give away spots, so they gave him a little bit more of a squeeze.”
“Then, when I got there and went to get my breather, one whizzed up three deep. So, if he didn't have any brains about him, he could have easily lost the plot today and not gone on with the job. So he conducted himself brilliantly and got a well-deserved win.
“Seeing how easy he'd come around the corner, and I thought I was going to put him away a bit quicker but it just took him a good 50 metres to work out what I asked of him, but when I did, you know - he's just a colt with a really good attitude and I'm excited to see where he goes now.”
Purchased for $300,000 by O'Shea-Charlton Racing, James Bester Bloodstock and Eric Lucas from the Highgrove Stud draft at the Magic Millions yearling sale, Lord Horatio is the first winner out of the More Than Ready mare Murchinson, herself a half-sister to G1 Coolmore Classic winner Steps In Time.
From the family of G1 winners Espiona, Vision And Power and Glamour Puss, Murchinson has since foaled a filly followed by a colt, both by Snitzel, before being covered in the spring by Extreme Choice.
Set to stand the upcoming covering season at a fee of $66,000 (inc. GST) at Newgate Farm, Stay Inside’s first crop runners have been represented by G3 winners Blue Door and Incognito as well as the Listed winner Lassified and the G2 runner up Eviction Notice.
.jpg)
