Beating home a Cox Plate winner last start should give you a fair idea of why there is so much excitement – and concern from bookmakers – about what European raider Light Infantry might do in Saturday week’s $10m Golden Eagle.
The chestnut colt stretched his legs for the first time on Tuesday morning while in quarantine at Canterbury.
Trainer Ciaron Maher ditched the Breakfast With The Stars at Moonee Valley to make the hit-and-run trip to Sydney to run his eye over the youngster he purchased 50 per cent of midway through the year.
Light Infantry will have a one-off run on Saturday week, return to Europe and trainer David Simcock for next year’s Royal Ascot campaign, then board a flight Down Under again to be with Maher.
Just how much a half stake in Light Infantry cost Maher and prominent owner Colin McKenna remains a mystery, but Maher said it would have been much more had they brokered a deal after his last-start second in a group 1 race in France.
That same August race featured several group 1 winners, including last year’s Cox Plate winner State Of Play, while the winner, Inspiral, is considered the best filly in Europe.
Golden Eagle favourite Light Infantry has a look around Canterbury.
Maher told the Herald class would go a long way to helping Light Infantry win his only Sydney start, but they had also gone to great lengths to keep everything as normal as possible, including shipping the same feed the horse ate at home.
“The biggest thing is having the right horse,” Maher said.
“If you’ve got the best horse in the race, you’re three-quarters of the way there. Jamie Spencer is his usual jockey and he’s coming out to ride him [on Saturday week], and he has his same groom [Samuel Tomas], the same feed, so we’ve kept everything the same.
“All you need is a bit of luck in running, but the good horses make their own luck.
“They need to travel and settle in. He’s only here for a short window but looking at him right now, I couldn’t be happier.”
Light Infantry will be the only overseas runner with Australian Turf Club executive chief of racing and wagering James Ross confirming a lack of suitable flights was the only reason Japanese ace Serifos could not make the journey.
The money on offer in the Golden Eagle was bound to attract the topline horses from overseas, said Maher, and potentially lead to similar deals between owners on both sides of the globe.
“We bought half of the horse, it was quite a bit of money. I looked at a couple of other horses, but he was relatively untapped, and David is a very good trainer who had really looked after him,” Maher said.
“I was just on the phone to David then. I’m very much leaning on him because he knows this horse inside out.
“He’s still a colt, and watching his last run, they could have sold him for a lot more than we paid for him given how much he had improved.”
Maher chasing Cox Plate gold
Ciaron Maher flips out his phone and begins to rattle off horses who carried decent weight in the Caulfield Cup and backed up in the Cox Plate.
Maher’s Gold Trip will do just that this weekend after being mowed down on the line by late call-up Durston.
“Humidor was beaten just over two lengths in the [2017] Caulfield Cup, then backed up and gave Winx a scare,” Maher said.
“Sky Heights won the Cup [1999] in carrying 56.5kg and then ran third to Sunline. Northerly carried a lot of weight and then won the Cox Plate [in 2002].
“I knew it had been done, so I asked someone to find out for me what the record was.
“I was toying whether to go straight to the Cox Plate and not go to the Caulfield Cup.
Gold Trip will run in the Cox Plate.Credit:Getty Images
“Then when the weather came, I know he had a fair bit of weight but I thought his class would shine through.
“I always thought a high-intensity 2000m would suit him. There are probably a few horses in the race [on Saturday] that are questionable at that high-intensity 2000m.
“I might put some head gear on him, but he’s just a fit, strong, quality horse.
“Anamoe is the best of them, but I don’t think there’s any great gap between them. I’m confident he’s bounced through the run – he’s come through the run better than his Turnbull run.”
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