Royal Ascot Australian Horse Factfiles 2007
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.
END
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.
END
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