Brother opts out on Randwick experience
It’s not often you find the owner of a Group III winner at Royal Randwick happily ensconced on his tractor in Woodlands, Southland, cutting grass less than 24 hours after such a notable victory.
Howewer, that was the scenario for Southlander Tony Dennis, who along with brothers Ray, Kevin (Joe) and Martin, bred and are members of the syndicate who race Frank Packer Plate (2000m) winner, The Chosen One.
‘‘I’m just on the tractor getting some baleage cut while the weather holds,’’ Tony said yesterday morning.
‘‘You don’t often get a few days in a row of good weather at this time of the year, so you have to make the most of it when you do.’’
The on-farm commitments meant Dennis didn’t travel to Sydney with his brothers and other syndicate members to witness the victory, although he seriously considered it given the team were bullish about The Chosen One’s chances in the race.
‘‘Most of them went over on Thursday but I wanted to get the baleage done,’’ he said. ‘‘I had intended to go and was looking at flights on Friday but in the end, I stayed back home.
‘‘I went to the local meeting at Riverton instead and saw the race on television there.
‘‘We were pretty confident he could win given the way he went in the Australian Derby (Group I, 2400m) when he ran fourth. We thought he backs up pretty well in his races so as long as he got some luck, he would be hard to beat.
‘‘He was very impressive as he sprinted from the 600m and won pretty comfortably in the end.’’
Dennis confirmed that plans for The Chosen One would see him return home for a break before being set for the Melbourne spring carnival later this year.
‘‘He’s a pretty exciting prospect as we think he will only get better as he matures so it’s a good time for him to have a break now,’’ he said.
‘‘I believe the plan is to get him to Melbourne next spring so he might not be seen here if the tracks are no good as Murray and Andrew will take him straight over there.
‘‘He looks like a 2000-2400m type so there are plenty of opportunities there for him.’’
Still a colt, the son of champion sire Savabeel has enhanced any future stallion prospects with Saturday’s victory and joins a long list of top performers the Dennis brothers have raced or bred.
Recognised in 2015 with the Outstanding contribution to New Zealand thoroughbred racing award, their list of top-quality gallopers produced includes Cox Plate (2040m) winner, The Phantom Chance, along with The Twinkle, The Phantom, The Diamond One and The Chosen One’s grand-dam, The Jewel.
Dennis admits that the current state of the local industry has seen them reduce their breeding and racing numbers as the costs involved in breeding and racing haven’t been matched by the resulting benefits in recent years.
‘‘We’ve dropped our numbers a fair bit of late as it’s a pretty expensive game to be in when the returns don’t stack up,’’ he said. NZ Racing Desk