The late Wootton Basset was one of those stallions whose progeny can excel over all distances and he will have two runners in the Melbourne Cup on Tuesday and in the meantime we saw a taste of his merit as a staying sire at Randwick on Saturday when his French bred five year-old Wootton Verni (Fr) won the $750,000 Group III ATC Rosehill Gold Cup (2000m).
A Group III winner in France, Wootton Verni was bought privately as a tried horse by clients of the Chris Waller stable and runs in the Go Bloodstock colours.
He has taken a while to find his feet in Australia with five unplaced runs here this year before finding form to win the Group III MRC Coongy Cup at Caulfied last month.
Returned to Sydney with James McDonald to ride, Wootton Verni ran out an easy two length winner as favourite over his stablemate Imperialist.
“He’s a horse with his tail in the air and they've done a good job with him. He just never felt like getting beat, apart from just overdoing it the whole way,” said James McDonald.
“I think he's going to develop into a pretty good horse. And with any give in the ground, he thrives on it.
“He's got a lot of learning to do. He's lightly raced, but he'll be coached through the grades and I'm sure he'll reach top level.”
Wootton Verni has won seven of 16 starts and is the first winner for Vernie, a winning half-sister by Kendargent to Group winners Volta and Calvados Blues.
Wootton Bassett died suddenly at Coolmore this spring midway through covering a stellar book of mares at a record fee of $385,000.
