Phil Ibbotson’s faith in Fath (USA) is paying dividends with his homebred Belmont winner On The Ropes.

Fath sired On The Ropes in his first Sunspeed crop but Ibbotson is unable to build on that success at his Westbury Park property after the stallion succumbed to a snake bite last year.

On The Ropes (4g Fath – Punchelot by Bellotto) had won on debut at Belmont on August 14 and he doubled up with a four length victory in the Irish Day Hcp at Belmont Hcp (1400m) on Saturday.  “He handled the rise in class without any problems and will hopefully go through the classes,” Ibbotson said.  “There might be a nice race in him further down the track.”

Ibbotson has a 2yo brother to On The Ropes by Fath.  Their dam Punchelot won at Kilmore in six starts for David Hayes and she comes from the family of champion filly Lowan Star (Biscay) and her stakes winner brother Kingston Jamaica who also stood in Western Australia.

Fath (Danzig) raced for owner-breeder Sheikh Hamdan and was a Group 3 winner of the Lennox Stakes at Goodwood.  He was originally based at Rathasker Stud in Ireland and sired over 100 winners in Europe before arriving at Westbury Park in Coolup.

Ibbotson has replaced Fath with former Cambridge Stud sire Lucky Unicorn.  He is standing the son of Redoute’s Choice in association with Sir Patrick Hogan for a $4,400 (inc gst) service fee.

Lucky Unicorn started his career with a brilliant win at Sha Tin and was repatriated to Australia to claim a Listed victory in the LR Chester Manifold Stakes (1400m) in Melbourne.

“Sir Patrick feels he will click much better with our speedier mares,” Ibbotson said.  “And his runners will also be better suited on top of the ground in Perth instead of the heavier tracks in New Zealand.”

– Karl Patterson