Pariah filly to break the ice for freshmen crop at Flemington

The Darley Spring Preview was added by the Victoria Racing Club to its Preview Day program in 2019 and has assumed the honour as the Australian season's first 2-year-old race from the Pat O'Shea Plate at Toowoomba, which will be held this Saturday.

It has proven a launching pad for some talented juveniles in its two editions. Last year the race was won by subsequent dual stakes winner General Beau (Brazen Beau) from Finance Tycoon (Written Tycoon), who would later go on to win the G3 Maribyrnong Plate and also the VOBIS Showdown.

In 2019, it was won by Mildred (Hinchinbrook), who would later claim a pair of juvenile stakes races, while Lunar Fox (Foxwedge), who won this year's G1 Australian Guineas at monster odds, was fifth.

Major stables, in particular Lindsay Park, have supported the concept of the race, and Wednesday's edition is no exception, with Ben and JD Hayes debuting Flying Artie colt Excel And Fly.

Godolphin and James Cummings have Contemporary (Exceed And Excel) engaged, while Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott present Zoustar colt Nominator, Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young, Eltanin (Zoustar) and Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr, the Nicconi filly Cavalla.

Darley's Street Boss (USA) and Newgate's Capitalist both sired 2-year-old Group 1 winners last season and so it is no surprise to see Clayton Douglas debut his Street Boss filly, Little Strawberry, and Lloyd Kennewell debut Yakutsk, who is by Capitalist.

Table: Some of the entrants for the Darley Spring Preview Wednesday at Flemington

Belle hits the ground running

Stokes' Pariah filly Runaway Belle is the only one of the eight runners to have trialled publicly, and she is, as mentioned, the only one by a first-season stallion.

She was a $100,000 purchase for her trainer through the Magic Millions Adelaide Yearling Sale from the draft of her breeders at Longwood Thoroughbred Farm.

Stokes told TDN AusNZ that Runaway Belle didn't always loom as a logical early 2-year-old, but she has handled everything he has asked of her, including her trial at Cranbourne, where she finished third behind Rampant Lion (Frankel {GB}) and Millane (Zoustar), to get her to the racetrack.

"You just have to look at her trial. She trialled against some quite smart horses that day, who are being held back to race over the Flemington week," he said.

"We thought she came through it well and she ate up. She's got a lot of maturing to do but I can't find a reason not to run her. She will go around and she will then go to the paddock. I think she’ll give a good account of herself."

Stokes isn't renowned for racing horses as 2-year-olds and has only had four juvenile winners in each of his past two seasons but said the attitude of this filly told him she was ready.

"From the day she came into our stable, she has always wanted to please and she gave the indication she would run early. Looking at her physically, you probably wouldn't think so, but her trackwork has told me otherwise," he said.

Her pedigree also points to precocity. Her dam, Jessej (Sepoy) didn't race at two, but her grandam, Jesse's Girl (Choisir) was a winner and multiple stakes-placed in her 2-year-old season. Jesse's Girl's sister, Eloping (Choisir) was a stakes-winning juvenile, as was her three-quarter brother Of The Brave (Starspangledbanner).

On the sire side, Pariah won a G3 Canonbury S. on debut and was narrowly beaten in the G1 Blue Diamond S. as a 2-year-old.

Runaway Belle is the first progeny of the Arrowfield Stud stallion who Stokes has had in the stable but is unlikely to be the last.

"She's the only one I have but I like what I see with his stock," Stokes said.

She is one of 31 of the 91 foals from the first crop of Pariah to be named, while just three have trialled. The other triallers are the Gary Portelli-trained Belriah, who led up in his trial before finishing fifth at Randwick on Monday, and Berava, who won a trial for Natalie McCall at Deagon earlier this month.

First crops on their way

The freshman sire with the highest number of triallers to date is Aquis' The Mission, with five, three of them having won trials. Four 2-year-olds by The Mission, all under the ownership of Mike Crooks' Mishani Enterprises, are nominated for the 2-year-old race at Toowoomba this Saturday. Of his 59 foals in his first crop, 24 have already been named.

Aquis' barnmate Spieth (NZ) has had four triallers so far, with two of them, Victory Moments and Wild Botanica, impressing with wins at Randwick on Monday. The Kacy Fogden-trained pair are respectively headed to the G3 Breeders' Plate and G3 Gimcrack S. at Randwick on October 2, while another Spieth youngster, Acotango, is nominated for the Toowoomba race. Spieth has 103 foals in that first crop, 36 of which have been named.

Coolmore Australia's Merchant Navy had four triallers at Randwick earlier this week, with the Peter and Paul Snowden-trained filly Drisana an impressive winner. Of his big crop of 133 foals, 41 have already been named.

Table: Freshmen stallions sorted by named 2-year-olds

Newgate's Russian Revolution has the biggest crop of 2-year-olds, with 163 foals in his first crop. Of those, 63 have already been named and three trialled on Monday, with all three finishing fourth.

Yarraman Park's freshman Hellbent has a crop of 119 2-year-olds, 39 of which have been named but none of which have publicly trialled, while Darley's Impending has a crop of 117, 35 named, and just the one trialler.

The other Australian-based stallions of that crop with over 100 foals is Swettenham Stud's Highland Reel (Ire) (105), who has had 22 of those named and none to publicly trial.

In New Zealand, Cambridge Stud's Almanzor (Fr), who has a first Southern Hemisphere crop of 101 to call on this season, has already had his first runner with Gibraltar Rising (NZ) finishing third on debut at Wanganui earlier this month.