Monsieur a rare breed
WHEN it comes to his racehorses, it is all in the breeding for Cairns’ Peter Piccone.
This approach has led the FNQ businessman into a number of quality horses over the journey, including Cleveland Bay winner Grey Missile, multiple Brisbane winner Magnufighter and the consistent Divine Service.
And it is the same when it comes to Monsieur Gustave, a winner of almost 25 per cent of his career starts and one of the top fancies in Friday’s Cleveland Bay Handicap (1300m).
Trained by Darryl Hansen out of the Sunshine Coast, the gelding has been slowly making his way north and looks to be at his peak this week for the time-honoured $65,000 northern feature.
Monsieur Gustave’s mother is a full sister to Lankan Rupee’s mother, which was a driving force behind Piccone buying into the horse.
Lankan Rupee won five Group 1s and collected $4,129,510 across his career, so it was a no-brainer for the local horse lover.
“I like following the breeding more than anything. This horse was picked accidentally by former trainer Jason McLachlan, but once I saw the breeding I said I wanted to be in,” Piccone said.
“We could not believe how cheap he was.”
Piccone has been thrilled and amazed by what the $34,000 purchase has produced across his career, winning $625,900 in prize money from 40 starts.
The eight-year-old drew a wide gate on Wednesday morning, which connections were worried may occur, but a Soft 5 rating of the Cluden track will play into their hands.
Piccone has a small share in Grey Missile, who won the Cleveland Bay crown in 2018, and is hopeful of getting his second on Friday.
“He has got the weight, hopefully with this weight, down to just 60kg this week after carrying more in Mackay the other day, he will acquit himself well,” Piccone said.
“We would love to bring him to Cairns for the Newmarket as well, following this week.”
Monsieur Gustave won four straight races through middle to late 2017, which included Listed and Group 3 races.