Sagaronne is Edmonds’ big hope
IT’S been a quiet winter carnival for our local horses but Toby Edmonds believes he can finally give the Gold Coast something to cheer about as he eyes off his first Group 1 win with a filly he couldn’t even sell.
Sagaronne firmed into $11 for the J.J. Atkins (1600m) at Doomben next weekend following her eye-catching win in the Listed The Phoenix (1350m) at the same track on Saturday.
She will need to lift to another level to take out the big one next Saturday but Gold Coast trainer Edmonds truly believes the filly can help him claim his first win at the top level. “I’ve won a few Listed races but I haven’t won a Group race yet,” he said.
“We’ve had a stack of winners but we’ve never had the quality to win the big races and we’ve always been around the mark.
“But Sagaronne is a really good filly and she will run a mile on her ear.”
It would be fitting if the 49-year-old Edmonds could claim his first Group 1 with a filly part-owned by NSWbased Segenhoe Stud.
Edmonds bought Sagaronne on behalf of a client at the
Magic Millions March Yearling sale last year but it wasn’t long before he was left with a big bill to pay himself.
“A bloke wanted me to buy him a QTIS horse and he only wanted to spend $50,000 and I ended up buying her for $82,500,” Edmonds said.
“He didn’t take a share in her at all in the end.
“We were treading water for ages and we got 55 per cent of her sold but we still had 45 per cent of her left a few weeks before her first trial.
“So I rang up Kevin Maloney (from Segenhoe) and asked if he wanted the rest.”
Edmonds had his first runner for Segenhoe in August 2013 and the partnership has grown from strength to strength ever since.
He is now getting the support he always craved and the results have followed.
Adding to the stable’s confidence this weekend is the fact top jockey Blake Shinn is set to stick with Sagaronne in the J.J. Atkins.
“She has a bit of quality and she will eat up the mile,” Shinn said.