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It's back-to-back G1 wins for superstar Think About It

10th Jun 2023

Inglis graduate Think About It confirmed his status as Australia’s newest sprinting superstar by sealing back-to-back Group 1s with another imperious victory in today’s $3m Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) at Eagle Farm.

Ridden superbly by Sam Clipperton, the Joe Pride-trained gelding settled eighth from barrier eight, three-wide but with cover, eased to the outside around the turn and surged down the centre of the track to win going away by a length and a half.

In so doing, the outstanding four-year-old sealed his seventh straight win - his ninth from 10 starts overall - capped a stunning rise from winning a Warwick Farm benchmark 72 at the start of this preparation in January, and assured his place among the key chances in the market for a mouth-watering edition of the $20 million The Everest in October.

Bought for just $70,000 by Pride and Proven Thoroughbreds’ Jamie Walter from the Newgate Farm draft at the 2020 Inglis Premier Yearling Sale, the son of So You Think has now earned more than $2.8 million - in little more than 10 months of racing.

Think About It is the 81st individual G1-winning Inglis graduate since 2018 and the 37th in that time that could have been purchased for $100,000 or less.

The second foal of provincial-winning Flying Spur mare Tiare, Think About It was bred by Sydney-based Lightning Thoroughbreds’ Greg and Donna Kolivos - who raced the outstanding five-time Group 1 winner Pierro - and was born and raised at Newgate Farm.

After his last-start G1 breakthrough in the Kingsford Smith Cup over 1300m, also at Eagle Farm, Newgate secured a majority share of Greg Ingham’s GPI Racing’s Everest slot and locked in Think About It as their runner for the world’s richest turf race.

“He looks amazing,” said Newgate’s Henry Field. “He’s clearly among the very best horses in the country, and he just keeps improving.

“It’s a wonderful result for Greg and Donna Kolivos who bred him, and we’re honoured to be in partnership with Proven Thoroughbreds to parter in him in The Everest.

“Greg and Donna raced an extraordinary horse in Pierro, and it’s a credit to them to have bred Think About It, and it’s a privilege for us to have raised such a phenomenal athlete on the fields of Newgate.

“He was always a nice horse - very well put together and beautifully proportioned, but he was very immature, which was probably reflected in his price tag. But as he matured, he filling into his frame and now he’s looking very special indeed.”

A $15 chance for The Everest after taking his first G1 in the Kingsford Smith Cup two weeks ago, Think About It has now firmed into $8 for what’s shaping as a cracking edition of Randwick’s big sprint in October, behind Giga Kick at $3.50 and I Wish I Win at $5.

Walter said Think About It was “clearly an outstanding racehorse” and another representation of the value and quality possible at Inglis Premier - the sale that also hatched Australia’s last great sprinting hero in Nature Strip.

“We just don’t know how good he is. We don’t know what his distance range is. He just keeps raising the bar,” Walter said.

“Sam Clipperton said he was better today than when he won the Kingsford Smith, and that was probably evident by the winning margin and the manner in which he won today.

“It’s been proven over a number of years that a lot of quality horses come out of the Melbourne Premier sale. He wasn’t such a stand-out yearling; he looked like he might need a bit of time. But he’s a classic example of how at Premier you can often buy a good horse who might just need a bit of time because he perhaps wasn’t ready for an earlier sale.”

Pride said he was thrilled with what was “a really special win” for Think About It, the $3.60 favourite.

“That was amazing,” he said. “He’s just been able to keep climbing. This is the first time I haven’t had to put him up in grade from one run to the next - going from a Group 1 to a Group 1. I’m lost for words.

“Bring on anything for this horse. I just don’t know where his ceiling is. He’s amazing. I’d love to see how far he can run. He’s ticked off a strong 1400m today, so he should easily run a mile.

“But first things first. The Everest slot is there for us in the spring and it’s hard to imagine him not running well.”

Think About It is So You Think’s 10th G1 winner, most of whom have shone over middle distances or longer, as the dual Cox Plate winner did himself on the track.

“I think he’s a fantastic stallion, to state the obvious,” Pride said. “But he’s quite a versatile stallion, and while I’ve treated Think About It as a sprinter so far, that’s not to say that he can’t win over further.”

It was deja vu for Inglis Graduates on Eagle Farm’s biggest day of the year, with Comrade Rosa (Capitalist) again following a G1 victory by Think About It with a stakes victory of her own one race later.

Having claimed her first black type in the Listed Helen Coughlan Stakes on Kingsford Smith Cup day, the Tony Gollan-trained four-year-old went two rungs better today by landing the G2 Dane Ripper Stakes (1300m) for fillies and mares.

Comrade Rosa, a $100,000 Easter Yearling Sale buy from her breeders Kitchwin Hills by owners Linda and Graham Huddy of Peachester Lodge, Comrade Rosa travelled just off the pace for jockey Ryan Maloney, muscled her way clear inside the 200m and powered to the line to win by a neck.

Providing a strong return for her backers as well as her connections at a starting price of $17, Comrade Rosa has now won more than four times her yearling price, at $462,000.

Second home was another star Inglis graduate who’s recouped her yearling price many more times over in Opal Ridge (Rubick), the $20,000 Inglis Classic purchase who’s now won more than $700,000 including two stakes victories.

Comrade Rosa will now take her own tilt at Group 1 glory by contesting the Tatts Tiara (1400m) at Eagle Farm on June 24.

“Gee she’s going well, isn’t she?” Gollan said.

“She’s racing so well. She used to want to dawdle out of the barriers but today she began beautifully and she was able to hold the position on what was a very tardy speed, so that was basically the winning move.

“I didn’t know whether we were going to be at this level yet. I thought in the summer she’s really well placed here but she’s going to blow that summer rating away now.

“So onwards and upwards to the Tatts Tiara.”

Eagle Farm’s other Group 1 today - the $1 million JJ Atkins (1600m) for two-year-olds - was won by a son of a mare sold under the Inglis banner in King Colorado (Kingman), trained by Ciaron Maher and Dave Eustace.

The progressive colt - whose top-level win at only his third start followed a humble Kembla Grange maiden victory - is out of American mare More Aspen, who was sold at the via Inglis Digital in 2021 by Segenhoe Stud to Perth-based owner and breeder Kim Doak for just $42,500.

Maher and Eustace reaped another stakes victory through another Inglis graduate in Eagle Farm’s first race today - the Listed Oxlade Stakes (1300m) for two-year-olds, when Namesake (Maurice) scored in a thrilling finish.

The colt was bought by Ciaron Maher bloodstock for $100,000 from the Arrowfield Stud draft at the 2022 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale, and has now won two of his four starts for more than $165,000 in earnings.