The Waterhouse Bott stable is known for it’s fast front running juveniles, but a Written Tycoon colt that didn’t get the memo found a different way to win on debut at Randwick on Wednesday.
Easy in the market for the 1150m maiden for two and three year-olds, Duke of Arrakis jumped well and settled third on the fence for Regan Bayliss and was happy follow the leaders until well into the straight.
He warmed to the task with 100m to run and surged between runners to power clear and win by nearly two lengths running away.
“I'm excited about him going forward from today. He’s just been a little bit raw at home as we saw that in the run today, so no doubt there's a lot of improvement to come,” said Adrian Bott.
“Physically, he's still got a bit of maturing to do and he'll continue to fill out. He's going to be a much better three-year-old. So I don't think we'll push too far into the winter campaign, but I just want to do enough to just get him a bit seasoned because I think there are some big races for him there in the spring.”
Regan Bayliss was also full of praise for Duke of Arrakis and knows him well having ridden him in two of his three previous trials.
“It was just a bonus for him winning today, because he was always going to improve massively with the run, mentally, just to switch him on a bit and things are going to be better once he gets up over 1,400 and he's just going to keep on improving,” he said.
“It's good for a young horse like him to be able to take a tight gap and be able to sprint away like that. And as I say, he's only going to keep improving.”
A $360,000 Inglis Classic purchase from Yulong for Gai Waterhouse / Adrian Bott / Kestrel Thoroughbreds / Cunningham Thoroughbreds / Clarke Bloodstock, Duke of Arrakis runs for a big ownership group of stable clients that includes Cunningham Thoroughbreds in whose colours he runs, Reg Inglis, who was in attendance, and also Yulong have retained an interest in the promising colt.
Duke of Arrakis is a half-brother to fast Group placed performer Shangri La Express, who was also trained by Waterhouse and Bott and won the $1million ATC Golden Gift at two.
He is the second winner from Sent From Above, a winning Lonhro daughter of Group III winner Gamble Me.
Yulong sold a yearling filly at Inglis Easter this year by Alabama Express from Sent from Above for $200,000 to The Oaks Stud.
