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Switzerland lays down Spring marker with impressive G2 win

12th Oct 2024

A G2 winner of the Todman Stakes as a 2YO - bought from breeders Arrowfield Stud by Coolmore’s Tom Magnier for $1.5 million at last year’s Inglis Easter Yearling sale - Switzerland powered up the inside to score going away by two lengths.

Chris Waller’s handsome son of Snitzel - whose younger full-brother will likely be offered at Inglis Easter in 2025 - drifted to start at $6, possibly reflecting punters’ questions over the 3YO after an underwhelming last-start effort.

But with excuses for both those runs - including needing surgery after the Slipper to remove a bone chip in a fetlock - he was back to his best today in sealing his second G2 victory and setting the scene for higher laurels in the Spring.

Post-race discussion immediately turned to whether Switzerland might in fact be put into Coolmore’s slot for next Saturday’s $20m G1 The Everest.

While connections will hold further discussions on that possibility, Waller may instead opt to steer Switzerland towards the G1 Coolmore Stud Stakes at Flemington on Derby Day.

Switzerland (pictured) is a $15 chance with Ladbrokes for the G1 The Everest and is $7 with the same firm for the G1 Coolmore Stud Stakes.

Magnier was “over the moon” with Switzerland’s powerhouse Roman Consul triumph, and said discussions on his immediate path would be conducted over the next two days.

“We bought him from Arrowfield, Chris always had a big opinion of him, and he’s now a G2 winner as a 2YO and 3YO, with the best yet to come,” Magnier said.

“Full credit to all the team at Chris’s. He had that chip that had to be taken out after the Slipper, and with his last start, he probably shouldn’t have run in hindsight.

“He’s had a bit of bad luck, but Nash Rawiller gave him a great ride today. We came here with belief today.”

Magnier said he could still clearly remember the yearling Switzerland on show at Inglis Easter.

“He was one of those horses you could still picture in your head right now,” the Coolmore boss said. “He’s a horse with a lot of quality.”

Waller was delighted to see Switzerland return to winning ways.

“He’s a good colt and today will give him a lot of confidence,” Waller said.

He’s the first foal of Ms Bad Behavior, who has gone to Snitzel for all four of her covers so far, and threw the fourth in a sequence of full brothers on September 30, a colt Freyer describes as “a real beauty”.

She’s booked for a fifth mating with Snitzel later this Spring, while Freyer says her “outstanding” 2023 colt will likely be going to Inglis Easter next year.

“He was outstanding today,” Freyer said of Switzerland’s Roman Consul win. “He’s built a great record and he’s a really high class colt. There’s a G1 race beckoning for him, whether it’s next week or in three weeks’ time.

Aside from selling Switzerland, Arrowfield bought the top lot at Inglis Easter last year in $1.8m filly Autumn Glow (The Autumn Sun), who’s now a budding superstar unbeaten in three starts.

“It’s fabulous. Here’s another Inglis yearling doing well in Switzerland,” he said.

“Autumn Glow was the top-priced yearling in the sale, and she’s a high class filly, and Switzerland wasn’t far behind her in price.

“He’s now a multiple G2 winner with his career still ahead of him, so that’s great for Inglis and terrific for us.

“He was the highest priced yearling we sold in 2023, and to see him be such a good colt now is gratifying for the whole team.”

Meanwhile, the Mitch Freedman-trained Attrition (Churchill) underscored how much of a bargain buy he was at the Inglis Premier Yearling Sale when he took out the valuable G2 Hill Stakes over 1900m, also on today’s Rosehill card.

Ridden by regular jockey Beau Mertens, the aptly-named Attrition again showed his toughness by travelling in second place from the outside gate of nine, hitting the front at the 300m and staving off a late challenge from Kovalica to score by 0.24 lengths.

The 5YO was bought by Freedman from the draft of South Australia’s Mill Park Stud at Inglis’s Melbourne Premier sale of 2021 for $180,000.

Victory in the $2m Hill Stakes took his earnings past $2.15m.

It was on this raceday last year that Attrition became one of 100 Inglis graduates who have become G1 winners since 2018, when he took out Caulfield’s G1 Toorak Handicap. Appropriately, Attrition was bred by The Toorak Thoroughbred Breeding Trust of South Australia.

“He’s always been a quality animal,” said Chris Watson, General Manager of Mill Park Stud, where Attrition was raised.

“To see him follow up and see him get back to his best again today after last year’s Toorak Handicap was fantastic to see.

“It was a great, tough win. It was a real grinding test, he was exposed from a long way out, and it was good to see him prevail like that.”

Watson said Mill Park had “a terrific ratio of stakes winners to horses sold” at Premier, a more recent example being today’s Caulfield Guineas runner Angel Capital, who’s scored twice at black type level.

“It’s a sale we’ve had tremendous success selling at, not only with some great prices but those yearlings’ subsequent results on the track,” he said. “It’s something we’re very proud of.”

Freedman said it was “fantastic” to see Attrition again in the winner’s circle, saying he’d been able to show his tough, bullish qualities.

“He’s a 5YO stallion now and I think he was just a bit sick of chasing, and those faster tempos; he was just sick of it all,” the accomplished Ballarat trainer said. “We just wanted to flow forward today.

“We’ve just been able to train him nicely going into this run. It’s great to get the result.”

At Caulfield, talented import Herman Hesse (Frankel) provided Peter Reynolds with an immediate return on his investment in the 8YO by winning the G2 Herbert Power Stakes over 2400m.

Reynolds purchased a 5% share in the Ciaron Maher-trainee for just $4,250 in the recently concluded Inglis Digital October (Early) Online Sale which finalised on Wednesday.

Herman Hesse defeated another Inglis Digital graduate, 7YO import Okita Soushi (Galileo) in the $300,000 contest, with both likely to target further staying riches through the Spring.

Inspections are in full swing at Inglis’ Riverside Stables complex for Tuesday’s Inglis Ready2Race Sale, for which 196 2YOs have been catalogued.

The sale includes the progeny of stallions like Too Darn Hot, Zoustar, I Am Invincible, Written Tycoon, Proisir, Deep Field, Ole Kirk, Farnan and many others, who have been prepared by some of the best horse people in Australia and New Zealand.

To view the catalogue for the sale, CLICK HERE.