Sunspeed champion Blackfriars sired his second winner of the G3 WA Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m) on Saturday but it wasn’t the one pre-post punters had banked on.
Blackfriars filly Big Caroline was right in the market but was injured on the eve of the race.
Her stablemate Prentice was one of the outsiders paying $86 in the Sires’ Produce but he stepped up to the plate to emulate 2009 winner God Has Spoken.
Prentice (2g Blackfriars – Stella Vision by Scenic) is trained by Simon Foster for owners Dan and Julie Love and the result was a windfall for his connections. Unplaced in four previous starts, he powered home to defeat Dancing Express (Oratorio) by a head with G2 Karrakatta Plate winner Hobart Jones (So Secret) close up in third place.
“We were disappointed Big Caroline couldn’t make it here but we’ve always had faith in this horse,” Foster said. “He was three deep but had cover and really hit the line. He’s only just been warming up in those shorter races over 1100m. He’s been looking for 1400m and the further we stretch him out, the better.”
Prentice is the 25th stakes winner for Scenic Lodge champion Blackfriars and the third out of a Scenic mare following Eclair Surprise and Rosie Rocket.
His dam Stella Vision is a three-quarter sister to Shame, a Scenic winner of the G1 QTC Sires’ Produce Stakes and G1 VATC Thousand Guineas. She has a yearling colt and a weanling colt by Blackfriars and was bred back to him last year.
Forster issued a positive progress report on Big Caroline. “She nicked her off-foreleg and we weren’t 100% happy this morning,” he said. “But watch her go places as a three year-old.”
Big Caroline (2f Blackfriars – Crimson Centre by Royal Academy) won a Bunbury maiden in February and was then beaten a half-head in the LR Supremacy Stakes at Ascot. She closed quickly for a close-up fifth in the G2 Karrakatta Plate before being sidelined.