Darren Beadman will soon go back to the position of assistant trainer when James Cummings takes over as Godolphin's head trainer, but the Hall of Fame jockey will go down in history as a Group 1-winning trainer as well after Impending took out Saturday's A$1.5-million Stradbroke H.
The lead-up to the race had been a dramatic one for both horse and trainer. While Impending's participation was in doubt after he threw a shoe the day before the race and pricked his hoof, Beadman watched the race from home after having spent two days in hospital with fluid around his heart. It is likely that watching the Stradbroke got his heart racing.
“The lounge chair copped a flogging when I watched the Stradbroke,” Beadman told Racenet.com.au. “But [stable employee Brett Killion] deserves all the accolades. The horse shifted a plate yesterday and pricked himself and [Killion] worked overtime on him all last night. He was there icing the horse all last night.”
Indeed, Impending showed no ill effects come race time. Traveling in the second half of the field down the backstretch, the dark bay had to swing widest of all into the stretch but that proved only a minor inconvenience. He charged down the middle of the track to nip the troubled In Her Time on the wire, with favoured Clearly Innocent running on late after coming from far out of it.
A maiden winner and Group 3-placed in two starts at two, Impending proved among the best of his generation last spring, finishing third behind stablemate Astern (Aus) (Medaglia d'Oro) in the G1 Golden Rose before besting next-out G1 Caulfield Guineas winner Divine Prophet (Aus) (Choisir {Aus}) in the G2 Stan Fox S. Impending was shelved for the season after finishing fourth in the Guineas, and had failed to notch a victory this term prior to Saturday. He finished fourth in the G1 The BMW before thirds in the G3 Star Kingdom S. and G2 Arrowfield 3YO Sprint, and entered this off a well-beaten fourth in the G1 Kingsford-Smith Cup at Eagle Farm on May 27.
Pedigree Notes…
It seems fitting that Impending should be the one to hand Beadman a top-level success, as he rode both the horse's sire and dam to Group 1 wins. For Mnemosyne that was the G1 Thousand Guineas and the G1 Queen of the Turf S. Mnemosyne has gone on to be a handy producer for Godolphin, her second foal being the G3 Cameron H. winner Forget and her fourth the G2 Silver Shadow S. second Memorial. She has a 2-year-old full-sister to Impending, and her 2016 foal by Sepoy (Aus) died.
Saturday, Doomben, Australia
STRADBROKE H.-G1, A$1,526,000, BRC, 6-10, Open Handicap, 1350mT, 1:17.93, Good.
1-&IMPENDING, 52.5, c, 3, by Lonhro
1st Dam: Mnemosyne (MG1SW-Aus, A$1,371,975), by Encosta de Lago
2nd Dam: My Juliet, by Canny Lad
3rd Dam: Perfect Draw, by Whiskey Road (USA)
O-Godolphin; B-Darley NSW; T-Darren Beadman; J-C W Brown;
A$1,026,000. Lifetime Record: 12-3-0-5, A$1,518,000. *1/2 to
Forget (Exceed and Excel), GSW-Aus, A$414,675; and
Memorial (Street Cry {Ire}), GSP-Aus, A$337,250. Werk Nick
Rating: A+. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–In Her Time, 53.5, m, 4, Time Thief–Hell It's Hot, by Zeditave.
O-P J Brown, R G Dan, S Rippon, Ms D Childs, Mrs H Childs, G G
O'Connell, Mrs H J O'Connell, P Brock, Mrs C A McDonald, D W
Higgins & S Flaherty; B-Est D Cobcroft NSW; T-Benjamin Smith;
J-D Yendall; A$280,000.
3–Clearly Innocent, 57.0, g, 5, Not a Single Doubt–No Penalty
(NZ), by Zabeel (NZ). O/B-Cressfield (Mgr: B W Neill); T-K A
Lees; J-J Bowman; A$130,000.
Margins: 0.3 len, 1.3 len, 1.5 len. Odds: 19.00, 19.00, 3.80.
Also Ran: Counterattack, Good Project, Gold Symphony, Egyptian Symbol, Derryn, Burning Front, Kaepernick, Ulmann, Mackintosh (NZ), Hopfgarten, Hooked, Jungle Edge, Rageese.
Click for the Racing Post result or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
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