NEWCASTLE’S exciting young sprinter Private Harry is back home, with Royal
Randwick’s $20m The Everest his ultimate goal this year.
The unbeaten three-year-old returned to trainer Nathan Doyle’s stables at 4am today en route to Kurrinda Bloodstock’s farm at Fordwich near Broke in the Hunter Valley.
Private Harry set the racing world alight at the Sunshine Coast last Saturday night when he trounced his rivals, including runner-up and last year’s Golden Slipper Stakes winner Lady Of Camelot, in the $3m Sunlight (1100m) in record time.
TAB.com.au after the colt’s stunning victory listed him at $18 for The Everest (1200m) on October 18, and he is now at $15, and as short as $12 with some other corporate bookmakers. Boom Hong Kong sprinter Ka Ying Rising is the current $3.50 favorite.
“Private Harry was floated back to Newcastle overnight from the Gold Coast, and arrived safely,” Kurrinda principal Sean Driver said this morning from the Gold Coast.
“We’ll let him be a horse again on the farm for a few weeks. I’ll sit down with Nathan tomorrow and work out a program for the colt, but certainly The Everest is
our ultimate goal. Lady Of Camelot ran fourth to Bella Nipotina last year, beaten just under one and a half lengths, and we beat her by nearly two and a half lengths on Saturday night carrying 2kg more than the filly. I’m sure there will be a slot for him in The Everest. He deserves to be there. In choosing the right Group 1 races for Private Harry this year, we have to be mindful of the fact that he is a colt and obviously a great stallion prospect. He has a great page as a stallion."
“Races such as The Galaxy (1100m) at Randwick in April during The Championships, and the
Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) at Eagle Farm in June will come under consideration.”
Kurrinda Bloodstock and Doyle Racing purchased the son of Harry Angel for $115,000 at the 2023 Inglis Classic yearling sale, and did not race him as a two-year-old.
“I buy principally on type, not so much on pedigree,” Driver explained.
“Private Harry wasn’t ready as a two-year-old, and that’s why we didn’t rush him. We had him x-rayed after his first three trials, and it showed his bones were still maturing and we
gave him nine weeks off.”
Private Harry has now won four races, starting off at Newcastle (900m) on November 2, then
Hawkesbury (1100m) on November 21 and Rosehill Gardens (1200m) on December 7 before
romping home with the Sunlight, a new slot race for three-year-olds, boosting his earnings to just over $1.37m.
He raced in the slot of B2B Thoroughbreds, one of his many syndicate owners.
“We were really confident going into the Sunlight,” Driver said. “All his data indicated he would be very hard to beat.”
Knowing Private Harry had ability but hadn’t raced, Kurrinda Bloodstock and Doyle Racing went back to last year’s Inglis Classic sale and secured the colt’s half-brother (by Anders) for $100,000. He will race as Lance Corporal, but as with his brother, there is no hurry to get him to the races.
“Lance Corporal goes okay, and has shown us enough,” Driver said.
“We took him to Rosehill just before Christmas for a 900m 2yo trial (won by fellow Newcastle
youngster and subsequent impressive debut winner Rivellino at Randwick last Saturday), but he displaced his palate and also pulled up shin sore and is spelling.”
HOOFNOTE: Private Harry races in the white, pale blue star, and striped sleeves colours carried by the war horse Carael Boy, who was owned by Driver’s grandfather Ken Silverside, who passed away nine years ago.
Carael Boy started 86 times for the late Taree trainer Bob Milligan, and won 20 races (including the Group 2 Villiers (now The Ingham) at Randwick, Group 3 Hawkesbury Cup, Liverpool Cup at Warwick Farm, BTC Sprint at Doomben, and dead-heated with Bart Cummings’ High Cee in the Newcastle Gold Cup), and earned nearly $1m before being retired in 2008.
Sadly, he passed away last November at 27 years of age and has been buried at Kurrinda’s farm. “It was a very tough day,” Driver said. “I was there as a young lad when Carael Boy was born, and followed him closely right throughout his career.
“He will always have a special place in our hearts.”
Story by John Curtis, 6 January, 2025. Photo by Bradley Photos.