A highly progressive gelding that has taken giant strides in the last month, Leicester was a good fourth in the Listed SAJC Port Adelaide Guineas before winning the Group III SAJC Chairmans Stakes two weeks ago.
He continued the upward spiral in his first attempt at 2500 metres, travelling
smoothly for Damian Lane in transit before powering clear to win by a length
and a half over Sebring gelding Rezealient."They way Damian rode him was perfect," said an elated Weir, who has trained the last two SA Derby winners in Howard Be Thy Name and Volatile Mix.
"He didn't press the button until that last 200 metres and then he showed that good acceleration that he's got."
Leicester has the overall record of four wins and two placings from nine starts and has won nearly $535,000 for his owners who include bloodstock agent Paul Willetts, who bought him for a bargain $10,000 from the Yarraman Park draft at the Inglis Australian Weanling Sale in 2015.
Leicester is the first foal of Defy the Odds (GB), a placed half-sister by Galileo to Group III winner Index Linked.
Defy the Odds has since produced consecutive fillies for Yarraman Park by I Am Invincible that have sold for $170,000 in 2017 and $300,000 in 2018.
He is interestingly bred on the white hot Fastnet Rock x Galileo cross that runs at an astonishing 18% stakes-winners to runners!
Leicester is the third stakes-winner for Fastnet Rock's Group I winning son Wanted, who now stands in Queensland at Clear Mountain Fairview and covered 38 mares last year at a fee of $5,500.
Wanted is an interesting horse as he ended his racing career as one of the most
desirable stallion prospects in the country having won the nation's best sprint,
the Group I VRC Newmarket Handicap.He was the subject of keen interest from Hunter Valley studs, but ultimately ended up standing at the then Eliza Park International in Victoria.
As a rig, he covered a restricted book of 75 mares in his first season at a fee of $38,500, but with good fertility that number shot up in subsequent years and he covered books of 112, 180 and 151 mares in his next three seasons with encouraging sale results buoying the support of broodmare owners.
Sadly, the racetrack results of his progeny proved less than was hoped for and Wanted has been in decline as an elite commercial sire, but may well find his mark in Queensland as a reliable source of winners with the potential for now proven Group I success!
