ONE horse cost a cool million dollars plus when originally sold and another a mere fraction of that at $5000.
Together they provided provincial trainers, Wyong’s Kim Waugh and Newcastle’s Scott Aspery, with book-ends of the Royal Randwick program on Saturday.
Waugh continued the fantastic job she has done with Northern Eyes ($7), who made it four wins in a row in the Midway Benchmark 72 Handicap (1400m), whilst Aspery also was entitled to be proud of himself by producing Uzziah ($26) first-up to trounce his rivals in the Benchmark 78 Handicap (1200m).
Waugh and The Racing League joined forces to purchase now four-year-old Northern Eyes online through Inglis Digital in March for $155,000.
The son of Zoustar had fetched $1.25m when offered at the 2022 Inglis Australian Easter yearling sale.
He raced six times for Sydney’s leading trainer Chris Waller for two seconds at Canterbury and a Randwick third on Boxing Day last year before being put on the market as part of a Coolmore racehorse reduction sale.
“I was given Sidenay (with whom she has won four races) to train for the NSW Tycoons when The Racing League kicked off a few years back,” Waugh said on Sunday.
“We went halves to buy Northern Eyes, and were advised to geld him, which we did.
“He had become a bit cheeky.”
Northern Eyes ran fourth at his first start for Waugh in a Provincial Maiden Plate (1000m) at Wyong on July 20; the impressive debutante winner He’s In Like Flynn was subsequently sold to Hong Kong interests.
He then reeled off provincial victories at Hawkesbury (twice) and Newcastle in August, and proved up to the mark when taken back to town at Randwick on Saturday.
Jay Ford rode Northern Eyes in his first three wins, but unfortunately missed out on continuing his successful association with the gelding, and Tommy Berry stepped in to do the job.
“It was a mix-up because I decided to back up Northern Eyes after he won a Midway Benchmark 68 Handicap (1500m) at Newcastle just over a week ago, and Jay had been booked for another horse (Byron, who ran sixth at $8),” Waugh explained.
“Northern Eyes is a lovely horse, and we’ll see how he does in the next few days before deciding what we do next with him.
“I have won three races in a row with the same horse before, but can’t recall doing it four times in a row, which made this horse’s Randwick victory that much more special.”
Northern Eyes has certainly learnt how to win and gamely held off a luckless Newcastle trainer Nathan Doyle’s Cheerful Legend ($7.50), who was held up for clear running between the 400m and 300m, and then apprentice rider Ben Osmond lost his whip 75m from the finish.
Hobby trainer Aspery had to watch his representative Annulus ($31) travel wide and beat only one home in Northern Eyes’ opening event, then had to hang around for another nine races before saddling Uzziah (apprentice Molly Bourke) for the closer.
Thankfully for him, the long wait was worthwhile.
At his first start since early May, the Outreach six-year-old never looked like losing, leading all the way to easily defeat recent winners Flying Destiny ($9) and Kembla Grange trainer Kerry Parker’s Well Timed ($3.80 favorite).
Uzziah was one of three yearlings (Annulus at $3000 was another) Aspery purchased in Adelaide in 2020, and the gelding has now earned just over $337,000 from six wins (three of them in town) and seven placings.
“He has proven he was up to Midway company before, and I wanted to see where we were at with him going to a Benchmark 78,” Aspery said on Sunday.
“He had trialled well, and I thought he was a Top 4 chance, but didn’t expect him to win in the manner he did.”
Aspery unsuccessfully had a crack at the Provincial-Midway Championships earlier in the year with Uzziah, and learnt a valuable lesson from that campaign.
“Uzziah is a very casual horse, and only does what he has to,” he explained.
“I freshened him after he won a 1600m Midway at Randwick in late January, and he got out the back from a wide alley in the Gosford Qualifier (1200m) at his next run in March and never got in the hunt.
“He ran a terrific race in the Wild Card (1400m) at Newcastle a couple of weeks later when he led and was swamped only in the closing stages and ran a close fifth as a $101 chance.
“I put blinkers on him for the first time that day and feel sure he would have qualified for the Final at Randwick if he had had a harder race at Gosford.
“When I brought him back this time, I wasn’t going to leave anything to chance and made sure his mind was on the job in both his trials at Scone and Newcastle, which he won.
“Uzziah is holding really good condition this time, and will take further benefit from the Randwick race.
“There are options next for either a Benchmark 78 Handicap (1400m) or Benchmark 88 Handicap (1200m) back at Randwick in a fortnight.
“Hopefully we are going to have a bit of fun with him this preparation.”
Understandably, Aspery doesn’t mind racing at headquarters at all. He clinched his maiden stakes success there with Estonian Princess (Brenton Avdulla) in the Group 3 James Carr Stakes (1400m) at $17 in 2014, and Randwick is his most successful city track.
. HOOFNOTE: Aspery has only three horses in work (six-year-old mare Jocund is the other) and has forsaken working as a courier driver in Newcastle to purchase an excavator and start his own business.
Story John Curtis, September 8, 2024 - Pics Bradley Photos
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