Irish Bet Cashes In Inglis Nursery

Irish Bet (Aus) (Smart Missile {Aus}), a A$55,000 purchase at this year's Inglis Easter sale, gave China Horse Club a nice payday at Randwick on Saturday when taking home the A$287,000 winner's share of the A$500,000 Inglis Nursery on debut. The 5-1 favourite off a winning trial at Warwick Farm on Dec. 5, Irish Bet was ridden from the barriers by Brenton Avdulla to keep pace with the leaders and eventually settled about three lengths off the pace and on the fence as they ran into the bend of the 1000 metre contest. Moving off the rail for racing room and turning into the stretch five wide, Irish Bet cruised his way into contention and, when shaken up by Avdulla, got to the lead and was good enough to win by 1 1/4 lengths under hand urging (video).

Irish-based Mick Flanagan, advisor to China Horse Club, signed the sales ticket on Irish Bet in April, and he explained he was acting in partnership with Michael Wallace, China Horse Club's head of bloodstock and racing. Flanagan said it was Wallace's decision to send the horse to trainer John O'Shea, who is rebuilding his public stable after leaving his post as private trainer to Godolphin in April.

“Michael Wallace manages them down there and has done a great job and John O'Shea has done a great job training the horse,” Flanagan said.

“The vibes have been fairly good on him from an early stage. He trialed well and showed a good turn of foot, and he proved what John O'Shea said he could do so we hope he steps up and progresses a bit. That's up to Michael Wallace and John O'Shea, where they go with him, but at least he's got the win on the board and it was a A$500,000 race.”

Flanagan has had luck previously shopping at the lower end of the market at the Easter sale. In 2014 be bought Vanbrugh (Aus) (Encosta de Lago {Aus}) for A$100,000 for Merriebelle Stable, and that one went on to win the G1 Spring Champion S.

“Irish Bet was a cheap, good-looking horse and the other cheap one I bought at that sale a few years ago was Vanbrugh,” Flanagan said. “Irish Bet is an exciting horse. The sire is young but he's by Fastnet Rock, who goes really well down in Australia. It's all exciting so let's hope he's a real one.”

Flanagan said that Irish Bet, who is out of the unraced Dublin Me Bet (NZ) (O'Reilly {NZ}) and a half-brother to the Listed Gimcrack S. winner Fuld's Bet (Aus) (I Am Invincible {Aus}), is part of a strategy taken on by the China Horse Club shopping at a lower level.

“We bought a couple of those cheaper ones last year in New Zealand and Australia,” he said. “He wasn't the only one, and we've done that in America and Europe a bit as well. We bought eight or nine yearlings in Europe and they didn't really go more than 300,000, and there were a few in there for less than 100,000 as well.”

Irish Bet is the latest of China Horse Club's exciting juvenile contingent in Australia to deliver on his promise, following the likes of 'TDN Rising Star' Neutrality (Aus) (Sebring {Aus}) and the promising placed Bondi (Aus) (Snitzel {Aus}). China Horse Club's 2-year-old arsenal in the U.S. includes 'TDN Rising Stars' Quip (Distorted Humor), Copper Town (Speightstown) and New York Central (Tapit), while its flagbearer in that country this year has been Abel Tasman (Quality Road), winner of three Grade Is this year. In Ireland, stakes winners Goldrush (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) and Elizabeth Browning (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) have flown the flag.

“We've had a very, very good year between Australia, America, and Europe, which is the smaller division, but we've had some good results there too,” said Flanagan. “We shopped the market in Europe very aggressively this year and we bought some very nice broodmares. It's been a good year and we just need to keep the momentum going for the years to come.”