Newgate boss Henry Field is used to playing at the sharp end of the yearling market, where million-dollar colts abound, but he had never paid $650,000 for a weanling before Don Corleone.
The Extreme Choice colt showed he was worth every cent when he romped to a debut victory at Randwick on Saturday in a race that Stay Inside and Estijaab used to start their Golden Slipper-winning campaigns in recent times.
Don Corleone sweeps to the front at Randwick on Saturday.Credit:Getty
“He is by Extreme Choice, who is a special stallion, and he is in the image, physically, of Stay Inside. He is like a doppelganger,” Field said.
“I have never paid anything like that for a weanling, but we just had to have him when we saw him.
“Stay Inside won this race and Don Corleone will probably follow a pretty similar preparation from here.”
Field wasn’t the only one impressed by Don Corleone. He had been in the top echelon of Peter and Paul Snowden’s two-year-olds since he won the first juvenile barrier trial of the season.
Don Corleone ($6.50) had another fan in premier jockey James McDonald, who kept him happy back in the field and three wide for the first half of the race before peeling four wide and to win by three-quarters of a length from Kundalini ($11), with Coincide ($3.90 fav) another three lengths away in third.
“He’s got a beautiful action, just a great mover,” McDonald said. “He is just a proper horse.
“He did a marvellous job sitting wide, and he felt like he idled when I got there.
“He probably hit the front too early, but he had a bit left there.”
Peter Snowden had been worried Don Corleone wasn’t the same horse he had seen at his two official barrier trials, including a third to Golden Slipper favourite King’s Gambit at his most recent outing. So he put the blinkers on for the debut.
“I thought his trials this time have just been OK; that’s why we put the blinkers on today.” Snowden said.
“I wanted to make a statement with the horse and to make sure he was the horse I thought he was going to be.
“I was giggling to myself when James was three-deep midfield and popped out four deep on the turn. I thought ‘gee he must be trucking to be doing that’.
“He needed to show us he had the ability to go all the way, or whether he was just a pretender. It was good to see him do that.”
Don Corleone shortened to $11 for the Golden Slipper, but the runner-up might also be one to follow.
Jason Collett said there was an improvement from Kundalini in her race craft and fitness.
“She had only had the one trial and didn’t know how to let down when the colt came up outside her,” Collett said. “She is real good and will get better.”
Prices on the money
Kembla Grange trainer Luke Price had to convince owners Keith and Jen Meadows to run Cuban Royale in the Carrington Stakes, but he got his way and it gave them their biggest thrill in racing at Randwick on Saturday.
Jockey Brock Ryan was always confident and came with a late charge through the field on Cuban Royale ($14) to beat Vreneli ($4.40) and Titanium Power ($4.20 fav) in a photo finish.
Cuban Royale (right) gathers the leaders in to snatch the Carrington Stakes.Credit:Getty
“I was millions if I went around them, so I just backed him to find the runs, and even when they skipped clear in the straight I always felt I was going to get them,” Ryan said.
Price watched with Meadows and was just as confident as his jockey coming to the turn.
“He was just travelling and I thought, ‘all you need old boy is to get a run’,” Price said. “These guys [the Meadows] have been with us for a long time and before the race they told me that this was their first stakes runner. It’s great it’s their first stakes winner.
“They didn’t want to run him during the week because he might go up to far in the benchmark, but it just looked like being a small field and the right race.
“I said to them, ‘he’s eight and he might not get a chance like this again’.”
Irish Legend makes it two wins for the week
Twice in a week Brock Ryan has given Irish Legend perfect steers from the front for wins at Rosehill and Randwick.
Like he did seven days earlier, Ryan took up the lead on Irish Legend from the barriers as he stepped up 2000m on Saturday. Ryan lifted the tempo just before the 800m mark and that won him the race.
“I just let him be comfortable, and when I wanted to go at the 800m he just lengthened really well,” Ryan said. “He was getting tired on the line, but he really fights and was strong enough to win.”
Irish Legend ($6.50) had skipped a couple of lengths clear coming up the Randwick rise, a margin which was cut to a half head by Tony Be ($5) at the post with Mahagoni ($6.50) a neck away in third.
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