Having taken the yearling sales by storm, Brazen Beau's first crop will mark a milestone on Saturday when the Godolphin colt Mercury becomes the first one of them to hit the track in the Listed Maribyrnong Trial S. at Flemington.
Brazen Beau was the leading first-season sire at this year's sales, with 52 lots selling for an average of just under $156,000. Expectations are high for the son of I Am Invincible, who stands at Darley's Northwood Park for $38,500.
Darley's Victorian General Manager Andy Makiv expects the first crop to mirror to racetrack career of the stallion, with improvement expected into their 3-year-old year.
Brazen Beau
"He was very good 2-year-old, a G2-winning two-year-old in Queensland, but he was an elite 3-year-old," Makiv said.
"It was his 3-year-old year which really announced him as the best sprinter of his generation. He won the Coolmore in the spring and returned to win the Newmarket in the autumn."
"If you take a line through I am Invincible, who is obviously his sire, and one of the leading stallions in Australia, he gets 2-year-olds, but they seem to be more elite at three and even four."
"He's just done everything right. The 2-year-olds at this time of year, a lot of it is attitude," - Andy Makiv on Mercury.
Brazen Beau winning the G1 Coolmore S.
Makiv said that what made Mercury a little different was his mentality from a very young age.
"He's just done everything right. The 2-year-olds at this time of year, a lot of it is attitude. They have to have ability and they have to have speed, but they have to have sensible minds, great attitudes and willingness to want to do it at this stage of their lives."
Mercury is a horse trainer James Cummings has plenty of time for.
"He's tightened up nicely from his jumpout last week," Cummings told RSN. "He's the first Brazen Beau to get to the races, and he's a lovely yearling, so we’re excited to see what sort of finish he's got."
He is out of Stakes-winning mare Jerezana, making him a half-brother to talented Osborne Bulls.
Mercury is out of the Stakes-winning mare, Jerezano
"He's done everything right to this point and fingers crossed it works out on Saturday, " Makiv said.
"I think whatever the progeny of Brazen Beau do, they will be even better at three." - Andy Makiv
Interestingly, Cummings will only prepare a handful of Brazen Beau's first crop.
"We didn’t end up with as many as we would have liked in his first crop. We did send him ten mares but because of circumstance didn’t get as many as we would have liked," Makiv said.
"We looked at all of them at the sales and we bid on quite a few and we ended up buying one in Sydney."
That was a colt called Muiron out of Listed winner Veuvelicious which Godolphin paid $400,000 for.
"He has very good foals, they grow into yearlings and horses which are not dissimilar to him. He's a 15.3 compact, powerfully-built, strong horse and that’s his stock. They certainly look like that," he said.
"I think whatever the progeny of Brazen Beau do, they will be even better at three."
