Two colts on different Group One paths have opened their spring accounts with encouraging wins at Warwick Farm, headlined by Private Life who is on a march towards the Golden Rose.
The Written Tycoon three-year-old responded to the urgings of Nash Rawiller to lift under his 61.5kg topweight and land his second win in three starts in Wednesday’s All Too Hard @ Vinery Stud Handicap (1200m).
The effort confirmed plans to steer him towards the Golden Rose (1400m) on September 28, either via The Run To The Rose (1200m) on Saturday week or straight off his first-up run.
“We’ll try to get him to a Golden Rose because that’s why the likes of these Coolmore syndicates try to buy these horses, to get to those stallion-making races,” trainer Chris Waller’s stable representative Charlie Duckworth said.
“It’s just plotting the path there.
“He’s run a smart time, he’s been tested to do it, but that will strip him fitter and he’ll come on from it.
“He’s a beautifully bred three-year-old colt and he’s going to make himself felt during the whole spring carnival.”
Private Life gets up late to take out the first at Warwick Farm for @cwallerracing!
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— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) September 4, 2024
Anthony Cummings was also rapt with the winning return of El Castello in the TAB Handicap (1400m), franking the trainer’s intentions to set him for the Spring Champion Stakes (1600m) in October.
By Castelvecchio out of a half-sister to Cummings’ 2012 Victoria Derby winner Fiveandahalfstar, El Castello is already a stakes placegetter, finishing runner-up to subsequent dual Group 1 winner Broadsiding in the autumn.
He will head to the Spring Champion via the Gloaming Stakes (1800m) with a trip to Melbourne also on the radar.
“He’s got a really bright future and if he lives up to anything like the relations we’ve had through the stable he will be very effective right through the campaign,” Cummings said.
“He will make his way towards the Gloaming, the (Spring) Champion Stakes and we’ll see what his form looks like then.”
Despite his strong form references, El Castello started at $13 and while Cummings was surprised to see him settle handy to the speed, the result wasn’t unexpected by the stable.
“Not a surprise. I said to connections that he was more than capable of winning if the race worked out in his favour,” he said.
“He made it his favour as he showed the adaptability to be on speed without effort and then the tenacity to stick his head out and have a go.”
Waller’s leading Golden Rose contender Switzerland had a solo gallop between races at Warwick Farm with Jason Collett in the saddle and the stable confirmed the colt remained on track to resume in The Run To The Rose on Saturday week.
El Castello holds out the favourite to win the second at Warwick Farm for @acummingsracing!
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— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) September 4, 2024
