Super talented Farnan gelding Ninja carries the heavy weight of expectation thanks to his legion of MyRacehorse owners, but he made light work of it at Randwick on Saturday when scoring a dazzling first up win in the $300,000 Group II ATC Missile Stakes (1200m).
The race had a short priced favourite in G1 bridesmaid Angel Capital, but as he is want to do, the five year-old stallion settled out the back and found his usual excuses, while Ninja was a man on a mission.
With two brilliant barrier trials to prime him for his return, the Michae Freedman trained gelding was ready to run well albeit with room for improvement and given a positive ride by Tommy Berry Ninja did the rest.
He jumped well, but Berry was in no rush to send him forward and was content to let him coast back in the field until allowing him to stride up to second before the home turn.
With the leader Way to the Stars well and truly in his sights, Ninja set sail for home and galloped clear to win by a length over Napoleonic with Angel Capital in third place. They stopped the clock at a sizzling 1:08.28, a new race record.
Ninja is building a great record with five wins and three placings from nine starts and over $1.2million in prizemoney with plenty of options on the table going forward.
"He is having a decent blow after the race but he had to do it a bit harder than what we were anticipating,'' said Michael Freedman. "But to his credit he is a very exciting horse.
"I told John (Camilleri) early in the week that this horse is going really well. He wasn't screwed right down for today but he looks to have a good spring ahead.
"In the back of my mind, depending on how he goes in this race and more importantly how he pulls up, I've been thinking of going to the Winx Stakes,
"I think we can pick our way a little bit now, there's also a couple of nice races in Melbourne, too.''
A $380,000 Magic Millions purchase from Segenhoe Stud for MyRacehorse Pty Ltd/Michael Freedman Racing/Gandharvi Pty Ltd/Belmont Bloodstock Agency, Ninja was bred by John Camilleri of Fairway Thoroughbreds, who retain a share in his ownership.
Camilleri has an Everest slot, so the world’s richest turf sprint will now be on the radar for Ninja.
"Any trainer with a half-decent sprinter dreams of going to The Everest at this time of year and why not!'' Freedman said
"He seems to have come back in great order and his form has been so consistent.
"If he continues to take the next step then we have got to dream big.''
Tommy Berry has been on Ninja at his past five starts winning three of them and has become an expert on this up and coming sprinter.
Ninja is the best of three winners from four foals to race from Impulsive, a metro winning half-sister by So You Think to Group I winner Laisserfaire, Group III winner A Time for Julia and stakes-winners Time Thief, Foreplay and Personify, the dam of Group I VRC Oaks winner Personal.
Impulsive is the last foal of Group winning blue hen Procrastinate and was given a trip to the Northern Hemisphere in 2023 to be covered by champion French sire Siyouni so has a two year-old colt that sold for $400,000 at Inglis Easter this year to Busuttin Racing Pty Ltd.
Impulsive has a yearling filly by Anamoe to follow and will be ready for an early cover this spring after missing last year.
Ninja is the first stakes-winner of a new season for Golden Slipper winning sire Farnan, who is now based at Vinery after starting off at Kia Ora, who are still involved with the stallion having joined forces with Vinery.
Farnan stands this spring at a fee of $77,000.
