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| Royal Ascot News 2007 |
Australians
in Good Heart Before Royal Ascot 13/06/07
Australia’s exciting and powerful four-strong challenge for next week’s two Royal Ascot sprints involved in the Global Sprint Challenge was unveiled this morning at Newmarket.
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Last year’s King’s Stand Stakes winner Takeover Target,
trained by Joe Janiak, Bentley Biscuit, from Gai Waterhouse’s stable,
Magnus, who will be saddled by Peter Moody, and the Lee Freedman-trained
Miss Andretti were all put through their paces yesterday morning.
Takeover Target, Magnus and Miss Andretti all worked early on the Limekilns
gallop, while Bentley Biscuit came up the July Course in a solo spin
under big-race pilot Nash Rawiller.
"That was his main hit before (the Group Two £200,000 King’s
Stand Stakes five furlongs) next Tuesday and it’s great to come
out of a gallop like that so well," said Rawiller. "There’s
only a couple of lengths between the four of us but my bloke’s
coming into it having won his last three and if you watch him beating
Takeover Target last time that was one of his best performances.
"The more pace the better at Ascot and I missed the kick on him
last time - I wouldn’t want to do that again. The horse has a will
to win and an amazing ability to find the winning post.
"The experience from having come over here two years ago with Elvstroem will be a big help. He ran some terrific races for us then and, from that point on, I’ve just wanted to come back here and win a Group One - winning at Ascot would mean everything. I’ve been privileged to win a Caulfield Cup but to win a race at Royal Ascot would be a chance in a lifetime."
For trainer Gai Waterhouse - known as the ‘First Lady of Australian
Racing’ - it is a dream come true to be heading to Royal Ascot
with a leading contender.
"I lived in England for three years in the 1970s and I think I’ve only missed Royal Ascot five times since then," she said. "Ascot is probably the premier meeting in the world, I don’t know where else you’d find a better track now it has been done up.
"But it’s expensive to travel and you’re not just going to come over for the sake of it, you’ve got to have the right horse. We’ve come a long way and we are not over just for the nice breakfast we had this morning!
"I was delighted with Bentley Biscuit’s work this morning,
I wanted him to fold into it over six furlongs, going faster over each
furlong and we were very privileged to have the use of the July Course
- it’s a wonderful track.
"I’m biased but my horse has really pleased me. Takeover
Target had beaten the best horses here last year and then we beat him
on our last run. Takeover Target then went on to beat Gold Edition, the
best filly we’ve seen since Sunline.
"Miss Andretti has shown brilliant speed at home and is the best
we have, Takeover Target is proven at Ascot and Magnus beat us in the
Galaxy but we also have the local horses and jockeys, who have the home
advantage, to think about.
"They are four different types of horses and we’ve constantly
been up against each other and there’s a great camaraderie between
all the connections."
Waterhouse hopes to contest both Tuesday’s King’s Stand Stakes
and Saturday’s Golden Jubilee Stakes (June 23, Group One & worth £350,000)
with the six-year-old.
"I think the Golden Jubilee trip of six furlongs will suit mine better and if he pulls up well after Tuesday’s race he’ll be back on Saturday - but, if he’s not going to be competitive, I won’t run him," she added. "We’ll take each race as it comes and if he continues running well we’ll be at Newmarket for the Darley July Cup. He’s a very competitive animal and hates to be beaten, he’s a real cool dude."
Freedman, whose Miss Andretti is disputing favouritism for both legs
of the Global Sprint Challenge at Royal Ascot next week, has learnt from
his experience of bringing over Falkirk last year.
The 50-year-old commented: "This mare is different to the horse
we brought last year. Falkirk was a weak big thing although he was an
entire - he had foot trouble nearly all the time he was here and it was
a case of trying to hold him together rather than carry on as normal
and train.
"Miss Andretti has done very, very well so we can train her a bit
more which should be an advantage and she is a 119-rated at home while
he was 109. She is a significantly better horse. I am always disappointed
if I don’t win but it won’t shock me.
"I think she has travelled very well - it is always a risk when
you travel a mare. She is very adaptable - she has had a bit of racing
and had a bit of travelling. Once she got here and settled into the surroundings
- she has a paddock like she does at home - she was pretty happy.
"She is a very good mare - particularly when fresh and has won
all her starts first up from breaks. She is probably best around a corner
when she can kick off a bend but she won down the straight at Flemington
last May in a Listed race - her first run for me - and finished third
in a straight Group One. So I don’t think the straight course is
going to worry her too much.
"Even though she has won big sprints, she is not what I call a speed horse - she doesn’t come out and lead them or sit right by them. She will probably sit off them and she is always very strong in the last furlong. We will play it by ear - our jockey (Craig Newitt) is used to her. He has never been here but he rides in a lot of big sprints at home so he understands about speed.
"The only horse we have not met since I have had her is Takeover Target and he is the one I worry about because I just don’t know how she will measure up against him. He has been here, done it, is very hard to see off and a brave horse.
"The Australians are getting all the attention but that is not
always what you want and it is not going to be a four-horse race with
20 runners in it. We have to keep our guard up.
"As you get older you tend to compare horses with those who went
before which you shouldn’t do. Miss Andretti is good at the moment
but she has a bit of a way to go to be as good as Alinghi (a top two-year-old
in 2004 and winner of the six-furlong Newmarket Handicap the following
year before being sold to America).
"Miss Andretti has shown Group One ability since we had her - the trend is still going upwards. I want her to run in the King’s Stand Stakes over five furlongs because it will suit her. I think she has a better chance in that than in the six-furlong Golden Jubilee. She is used to climbing a gradient in her work."
Caulfield-based Peter Moody is paying his first visit to Britain and
he hopes that the five-year-old Magnus will enhance his stud value with
a good performance at Ascot.
"The horse’s long-term value is really why we’re here.
He’s been offered places at stud in Australia but he would be worth
far more if he won at Ascot," said Moody. "There’s nothing
definite about which races we go for and we could even go home after
Tuesday if we thought we we’re hurting his value by continuing
to run him here. There are a lot of variables and if he wins one and
the oil wells come calling then they can have him.
"I’ve had it in mind to bring one over here ever since Choisir’s wins at Ascot in 2003 - that gave me the confidence to have a crack if I had the right horse. I’ve had Group One sprinters for the past four years but they’ve tended to be mares at the end of their career but this fellow is improving - although he needs to. I think he has more improvement than any of my fellow travellers as he’s a baby. It’s my first time here and, if it works out, I might bring a longer distance horse over in the future and shake a few people up!
"Mark Wallace is a good friend of mine and he’s going to
show me some of the races that have been run over here. I watched his
horse Benbaun work this morning and he went very well. Horses like that
have to be at an advantage if they don’t need to travel.
"Ascot will not be dissimilar to the major sprints we have at Flemington,
the pressure and speed are on the whole way and we’re used to the
pressure cooker situation.
"Damien Oliver has just successfully delayed a suspension so he’ll be able to ride and hopefully be on a plane over here later today."
Joe Janiak, who has seen it all before, is pleased with Takeover Target’s
condition. He said: "He weighs at the moment 512 and has won weighing
530. I have trimmed him off a little bit and he seems better for it.
"I think as he has got older he has lost a bit of his early speed and when we get home I may try him over a mile. I think the six-furlong Golden Jubilee is gong to suit him better than the five of the King Stand’s Stakes this year.
"He will be nice and fresh for Tuesday and that should top him up for the six-furlong race. He will go home after Royal Ascot."
Chris Stickels, Ascot’s Clerk of the Course, reported this morning
that the going at Ascot is good to firm.
He explained: "We are currently good to firm and on the fast side
of that. We had a dry weekend and it was quite hot. The forecast is for
the weather to turn wet and we could see up to an inch of rain before
Saturday which will save me having to water at least.
"Following that, the forecast is for high pressure to come in so we are looking at a generally more settled week from Sunday. There is the chance of an odd light shower with temperatures between 20 and 21 degrees Celsius."
Royal Ascot takes place on five days between Tuesday, June 19 and Saturday, June 23.
AUSTRALIAN HORSE FACTFILES
BENTLEY BISCUIT (AUS) FACTFILE
6yo ch g Peintre Celebre (USA) - Tycoon Joy (AUS) (Last Tycoon)
Owner: Gai Waterhouse & George Mooratoff Trainer: Gai Waterhouse
Jockey: Nash Rawiller Breeder: Davilora Lodge
Form in 2007: -4111
Bentley Biscuit
Bentley Biscuit has emerged as one of the leading Australian sprinters
in 2007, with his last three outings all resulting in wins at the very
highest level. Having scored at Group Three level in 2006, the son
of Peintre Celebre began this year by finishing fourth to fellow Royal
Ascot contender Magnus in the Galaxy Handicap over five and a half
furlongs at Warwick Farm on March 25. On April 7 he showed he had progressed
from that outing by taking the Group One T J Smith Stakes over six
furlongs at Randwick, scoring by a length and a quarter from Black
Ink. Just a week later he handled the step up to seven furlongs with
ease when successful in the Group One All-Aged Stakes at Randwick,
again defeating Black Ink by a length and a quarter. His most recent
outing came in the BTC Cup at Doomben on May 12, when he recorded his
most significant success to date in defeating last year’s Royal
Ascot victor Takeover Target by a short-neck in the six-furlong contest.
Bentley Biscuit is currently housed at James Fanshawe’s stable
in Newmarket and the plan is for him to run in both the King’s
Stand Stakes and the Golden Jubilee Stakes.
Gai Waterhouse & George Mooratoff
Gai Waterhouse once had a role alongside Tom Baker in Dr Who during the
1970s and starred in the Australian soap opera The Young Doctors,.
Born on September 2, 1954, she is ‘the First Lady of Racing in
Australia’. She has a massive training establishment at Randwick
and is without a doubt one of the finest trainers ever to grace the
Australian turf. Her father Tommy Smith was champion trainer in Sydney
for 33 seasons over four decades before his death in 1998. After serving
as assistant to her father for 15 years, she took out her own licence
on January 3, 1992. Her licence had been initially rejected due to
her marriage to then disqualified bookmaker, Robbie Waterhouse. Her
first winner was Gifted Poet at Hawkesbury on March 15, 1992 and her
first Group win came soon after when Moods took the Group Three Gosford
Cup the following month. By the end of her first season, she had also
won her first Group One race with Te Akau Nick in the AJC Metropolitan
Handicap. Te Akua Nick was subsequently second to Vintage Crop in the
1993 Melbourne Cup. Nothin’ Leica Dane became her first Classic
winner in 1995 when landing the Victoria Derby and almost created history
when second in the Melbourne Cup three days later. In 2002 she matched
her father’s record of training 156 metropolitan winners in a
season. Her best horses have included Juggler, Grand Armee, Dance Hero,
Assertive Lad, Fashions Afield, Al Maher, All Our Mob, Shamekha, Lotteria,
Hasna, Pharaoh, Excellerator and Desert War. She has been a regular
visitor to Royal Ascot for many years. Waterhouse and her husband Robbie
have two children - Katie (the 2003 Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival
ambassador) and Tom, who has followed his father into bookmaking. 73-year-old
George Mooratoff lives in Surrey, where he retired to 15 years ago,
having been born in Shanghai to Russian parents. He lived in Sydney
for a long time and worked in the media industry for Australia’s
2CH and Channel Seven and America’s MCA Television and Paramount
Studios. His previous trainers include Albert McKenna and Bill Mitchell,
who trained Victoria Derby winner Stylish Century. The owner shares
Bentley Biscuit with Gai Waterhouse. Mooratoff wanted to name the horse
plain Bentley after the famous car marque - he currently drives green
one - but this was unavailable, so his wife Jill suggested Bentley
Biscuit after the duo had watched the film Seabiscuit.
Nash Rawiller
Born on December 8, 1974, Nash Rawiller’s father was an outstanding
trainer and driver of harness horses before becoming a jump jockey. Rawiller
served his apprenticeship with his father and rode his first winner on
Mac’s Cheval at St Arnaud in 1989. In 1995 he became stable jockey
to Tony Noonan and rode his first Group One winner on Bulta in the 1998
South Australian Derby at Morphettville. As well as Bentley Biscuit,
Rawiller was also associated with another of Australia’s best horses
in recent years - Elvstroem, who defeated the mighty mare Makybe Diva
in the 2004 Caulfield Cup, won the Dubai Duty Free at Nad Al Sheba the
following year and campaignerd in Europe, finishing third with Rawiller
up in the in the 2005 Prince Of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot at
York.
MAGNUS (AUS) FACTFILE
5 b h Flying Spur (AUS) - Scandinavia (AUS) (Snippets (AUS))
Owner: R Crabtree Trainer: Peter Moody
Jockey: Damien Oliver Breeder: C Fleming & R Crabtree
Form in 2007: 2341
Magnus
Magnus opened his account in a three-year-old maiden over five furlongs
at Werribee on October 8, 2005. The colt progressed through the ranks
and posted some decent placed efforts in Listed class before making
his Group One debut in the Cleanevent Manikato Stakes at Moonee Valley
in September, 2006. The son of Flying Spur ran with credit to finish
three and a half lengths fifth of 13 in the six-furlong contest behind
the victorious Miss Andretti. A runner-up finish to Bentley Biscuit
in the Group Three Short Stakes came the following month, as did a
second placing in the Group Two Caulfield Sprint. A second tilt at
Group One company resulted in Magnus finishing 10th to Dance Hero in
the six-furlong Seppelt Salinger Stakes at Flemington on November 4,
2006, but he returned to the course and distance seven days later to
secure the Group Two AGE Classic from Undue. Peter Moody’s charge
again found Miss Andretti too good when a length and a half runner-up
to the mare in Group One Coolmore Lightning Stakes over five furlongs
at Moonee Valley in February. Undue gained revenge at Caulfield later
that month when relegating Magnus to a close third in the Group One
Ultra Tune Oakleigh Plate over five and a half furlongs. He was again
behind that rival on March 10, when fourth in the six-furlong Group
One Seppelt Wines Newmarket Handicap at Caulfield won by Miss Andretti.
Magnus gained a deserved first Group One triumph when taking the Bisley
Workwear Galaxy Handicap by a neck from Fast ‘N’ Famous.
Ridden by Damien Oliver, the five-year-old had Bentley Biscuit just
over a length back in fourth in the extended five-furlong Warwick Farm
contest on March 25.
Peter Moody
Raised in Charleville, Queensland, Peter Moody worked for legendary trainers
T. J. Smith and Colin Hayes, and spent 10 years as foreman to Bill
Mitchell before being granted a trainer’s licence in his own
name. Initially based in Queensland, his first Group One success came
in November 2001 when Amalfi took the VRC Derby. In 2003, Moody moved
his operation to Caulfield racetrack in Melbourne, Victoria. His first
full season in Victoria saw him win the Victoria Country Trainers premiership
and finish second in the Victorian Premiership. His most successful
season to date was the 2005/2006 season when he saddled 160 winners
to finish third in the Metropolitan premiership with over 50 winners,
second in the Victorian and Victorian Country premierships and fifth
nationally. Sky Cuddle took the 2004 Group One Emirates Classic for
Moody and his longstanding patrons and friends Stuart and Trish Ramsey.
The Ramseys teamed up again with Moody for a poignant victory in the
Group One Doomben Cup on May 19, which Moody described as "the
greatest moment of my racing life". Cinque Cento’s success
in the Doomben contest came two weeks after the Ramseys’ 18-year-old
daughter Sherilee died in her sleep of natural causes. Further Group
One successes have come with Ancient Song in the 2003 Salinger Stakes,
Testifiable in the 2006 SA Derby and Magnus in this year’s Galaxy
Handicap. Magnus is Moody’s first overseas runner. The trainer
arrived in Newmarket on June 7, to oversee his charge’s preparation
for Royal Ascot.
Damien Oliver
Born July 22, 1972 in Perth, Western Australia, Damien Oliver rode his
first winner aboard Mr Gudbud at Bunbury, Western Australia in March
1988, and is one of Australia’s top riders. His father Ray, a
former champion apprentice, died in a fall at Kalgoorlie in 1975 and
his brother Jason died in October, 2002 during a race trial at Belmont
racetrack in Perth. He himself suffered a horror fall at Moonee Valley
in March, 2005, which left him with two broken vertebrae. He returned
to action at Flemington in June, 2006. He was raised by his mother
Pat and her partner, Perth trainer Lindsay Rudland. A leading apprentice
in Perth in 1988-89 with 66 winners, Oliver is Melbourne’s seven-time
champion jockey and six-time winner of the coveted Scobie Breasley
medal for excellence in riding. After securing the Perth apprentice
title despite riding for only six months of the season, he was invited
to join Lee Freedman’s stable. He won his first Group One on
the Bart Cummings-trained Submariner in the 1990 Vic Health Cup and,
at the age of 19, became the first Australian apprentice to win the
Australian Derby. His 71 city winners in the 1990-91 season clinched
the Victorian Metropolitan premiership as an apprentice and he finished
his apprenticeship with a record 19 Group One wins. With over 1,700
wins on the board, including more than 400 black type contests and
70 Group One prizes, he is currently behind only George Moore on the
Australian all-time winning-most riders’ list. He rode in Ireland
for a three-month period in 2000, based at trainer Aidan O’Brien’s
Ballydoyle stables, during which time he partnered Alluring to victory
in the Irish 1,000 Guineas. His big-race successes include Melbourne
Cup wins aboard Doriemus (1995) and the Dermot Weld-trained Media Puzzle
(2002). His victory on Doriemus clinched the coveted Caulfield Cup/Melbourne
Cup double that season. He also partnered Northerly to win three Group
One races including the 2001 Cox Plate, while he enjoyed four Group
One successes on 2004 Vinery Stud 1,000 Guineas heroine Alinghi.
MISS ANDRETTI (AUS) FACTFILE
6 b m Ihtiram (IRE) - Peggie’s Bid (AUS) (Marooned)
Owner: Sean Buckley Trainer: Lee Freedman
Jockey: Craig Newitt Breeder: Keith & Peggy Beauglehole
Form in 2007: -111
Miss Andretti
With three straight victories in 2007 - all at Group One level - Miss
Andretti is undoubtedly one of the classiest sprinters on the planet.
The six-year-old mare captured the Lightning Stakes, the first leg
of the 2007 Global Sprint Challenge, over five furlongs at Moonee Valley
on February 3, breaking the course record as she blitzed to a length
and a half success over Magnus. Miss Andretti returned to the Melbourne
track two weeks later for the second leg of the Global Sprint Challenge,
the six-furlong Australia Stakes, and showed blistering acceleration
to account for Any Suggestion by a length and a quarter. On her most
recent outing in the Newmarket Handicap at Caulfield over six furlongs
on March 10, Miss Andretti cracked another course record as she held
off Gold Edition by a head, conceding 8lb to the runner-up, with Magnus
close up in fourth place. After her latest triumph, trainer Lee Freedman
compared Miss Andretti with the great three-time Melbourne Cup heroine
Makybe Diva, who he also trained.
Lee Freedman
Born August 12, 1956, Lee Freedman is one of the most successful Australian
racehorse trainers of the past 25 years. Having sent out his first
winner, Sitting Bull, at Canberra in 1983, Freedman has gone on to
land a total of 119 Group One races. His Interest in racing developed
when his father, Tony, retired as a property developer to concentrate
on training and breeding. Freedman dropped out of university to run
the family stud farm in Yass, NSW, before setting up as a trainer with
his brothers Anthony, Richard and Michael, initially at Warwick Farm,
Sydney and later at Avenel and Caulfield. He enjoyed phenomenal success
in the late 1980s through to the mid-1990s with a host of big race
wins. Suspended for four months in 1995 after substituting a horse
at a barrier trial, Freedman was subsequently embroiled in the Encosta
de Lago affair, in which the top three-year-old he trained tested positive
for a prohibited substance but was allowed to run in the 1996 Bill
Stutt Stakes, which he won. His fortunes declined between the 1997/98
and 2002/2003 seasons as he saddled only 15 Group One winners compared
to 13 in the 1995/1996 season alone. However, he radically changed
his training set-up after the 2000 Melbourne Cup, moving to ‘Markdel’,
Rye, his purpose built training establishment named after his intellectually
handicapped brother Mark and mother Del. More recently, Freedman acquired
a two-year-old training facility at Tuerong, Denistoun Park. He trained
the phenomenal mare Makybe Diva to land the second and third legs of
her Melbourne Cup treble (2004 & 2005), a contest he also took
with Tawrrific (1989), Subzero (1992) and Doriemus (1995). Freedman
has also won the Caulfield Cup four times (1992 Mannerism, 1994 Paris
Lane, 1995 Doriemus, 2003 Mummify), the Golden Slipper four times(1993
Bint Marscay, 1994 Danzero, 1995 Flying Spur, 1996 Merlene) and the
Cox Plate twice (1992 Super Impose, 2005 Makybe Diva). He trained his
100th Group One winner with Mummify in the Yalumba Stakes at Caulfield
on October 9, 2004, and paid his first visit to Royal Ascot last year
with Falkirk, who finished a fine fourth behind compatriot Takeover
Target in the King’s Stand Stakes. Miss Andretti’s success
in the 2007 Australia Stakes gave Freedman the full set of Victoria
Group One races (27 in total). He is married to Janelle and has two
daughters, Emma and Georgia.
Craig Newitt
Born March 10, 1985, Craig Newitt was always destined to become a jockey
- his parents, Guy Newitt and Virginia Wells, were both jockeys, as
were their fathers, Geoff Newitt and Tas Wells. From the age of nine,
he mixed the pony club and riding track-work. After being granted an
apprenticeship in 2000, Newittt rode his first winner on Kimbra’s
Way at Elwick, Hobart, Tasmania, in November 2000, and quickly established
himself as a fine rider, landing the Tasmanian jockeys’ premiership
in 2000/01. In 2002, he was offered the chance to ride in Melbourne
and joined Lee Freedman’s stable, taking the 2002/03 Victorian
apprentices’ premiership. His first Group win was on the Freedman-trained
True Glo in the 2003 Queensland Guineas at Eagle Farm. In June, 2004,
Newitt’s career took a nosedive when he was disqualified by the
Racing Victoria stewards for 18 months, after giving false evidence
at the Leone Chiara enquiry, which stemmed from an enquiry into Newitt’s
ride on the horse seven months earlier. However, he was soon back in
the big time after returning to ride in November, 2005, ending the
season with four Group One winners, including the Australian Cup with
50/1 chance Roman Arch.
TAKEOVER TARGET (AUS) FACTFILE
8 b g Celtic Swing - Shady Stream (AUS) (Archregent (CAN))
Owner: Joe & Ben Janiak Trainer: Joe Janiak
Jockey: Jay Ford Breeder: Meringo Stud Farm
Form in 2007: 521
Takeover Target
Joe Janiak bought the broken down and unraced Takeover Target for less
than AUS$1,500 (£600) - variously AUS$1,450, AUS$1,400, AUS$1,350
and AUS$1,250 have been put on the value of the purchase. The gelding
made a resounding early impression on his trainer/owner, leaving Janiak
with 30 stitches to a head wound after flooring him before a barrier
trial. He was put out to grass for six months after that incident but
went on to secure seven straight victories when finally making it to
the track. The first of those came in a maiden over six furlongs at
Queanbeyaan on April 23, 2004, and the last in the sequence was the
Group One Seppelt Salinger Stakes at Flemington on October 30 of that
year. He continued to run respectably in top events without winning
until securing the Group Three Summer Stakes at Doomben on December
10, 2005. He proceeded to rattle off a hat-trick, adding a Listed contest
14 days later and then taking his second Group One prize, the five-furlong
Lightning Stakes at Flemington in February 2006. Two further starts,
including victory in the Group One Newmarket Stakes at Flemington the
following month, preceded a trip to Britain. Takeover Target made a
stunning British debut when taking the Group Two King’s Stand
Stakes at Ascot by a short-head from Benbaun and finished a creditable
third to Les Arcs in the Group One Golden Jubilee Stakes four days
later. The gelding failed to fire when two lengths seventh to Les Arcs
in the Group One July Cup at Newmarket in July. Takeover Target left
for Japan and ran second in the Grade Two Centaur Stakes in September
before landing the Group One Sprinters Stakes at Nakayama on October
1, by two and a half lengths from Meisho Bowler. The gelding was controversially
prevented from competing in Hong Kong in December after medication
was found in his system. He was crowned Global Sprint Challenge champion
for 2006. His return to Australia brought a fifth to Bentley Biscuit
in the Group One All-Aged Stakes at Randwick on April 14, and that
was followed by a close second to the same rival over six furlongs
at Doomben in the TBC Cup. He returned to top form in the seven-furlong
Group One Carlton Draught Doomben 10,000 on May 26, when he swept aside
star filly Gold Edition for a half-length verdict.
Joe Janiak
Joe Janiak is now based at Coffs Harbour in New South Wales, where he
moved his 10-strong string of racehorses to after success with Takeover
Target in last year’s Group Two King’s Stand Stakes at
Royal Ascot. He said after that success: "This is a big dream
that’s come true - I would never have thought that I would train
a winner at Royal Ascot." Born to Polish parents on a boat travelling
to Australia, the 60-year-old is a former baker and taxi driver who
shovelled manure at stables as a child to pay for school. He trained
a couple of racehorses in a part-time capacity and lived for over 12
years a caravan at Queanbeyaan, a country racetrack outside Canberra.
During this time, he bought the broken down and unraced Takeover Target
for less than AUS$1,500 (£600). He suffered 30 stitches to a
head wound when the gelding floored him before a barrier trial but
Takeover Target has since done him proud round the world.. He owns
Takeover Target in partnership with his sons Ben and Scott and has
trained around 100 winners.
Jay Ford
Based in Sydney, New South Wales, Jay Ford began riding Takeover Target
as a 20-year-old apprentice in 2004 and has partnered the gelding to
all of his 14 wins to date and 25 of his 26 starts. The star sprinter’s
trainer Joe Janiak gave Ford his first career win. He was New South
Wales Champion Apprentice in 2003/2004 and, on July 10, 2004, became
the first junior in over 25 years to ride five winners in a day at
a Sydney Metropolitan meeting. He began riding in 2001 and spent the
latter part of his apprenticeship with Rosehill trainer Kim Waugh.
Takeover Target provided him with his first Group One win when taking
the Seppelt Salinger Stakes at Flemington on October 30, 2004. As well
as his global exploits on Takeover Target, Ford’s big-race wins
also include the 2005 Spring Champion Stakes and the 2006 Randwick
Guineas aboard Hotel Grand.
