More Than Ready for Another Aussie Spring

Tara Madgwick - Sunday August 26
Champion Vinery Stud shuttler More Than Ready (USA) is back in Australia for a record breaking 18th consecutive season and if we needed a reminder as to just how a good a stallion he is we saw it in the US on Saturday when his high class colt Catholic Boy won the $1,250,000 Group I Travers Stakes at Saratoga.

More Than ReadyAlready a Group I winner this year of the Belmont Derby on turf, Catholic Boy scored a dominant four length win over the Coolmore owned Scat Daddy colt Mendelssohn in the mile and a quarter contest.

"It just doesn't get any better," said winning trainer Jonathan Thomas.

"I'm just so proud of this horse, and Javier [Castellano] was incredible. We've always believed that he's a top talent despite the surface. He's a much stronger, mature horse and this really shows that patience helps. It means we can survive another year and hopefully train some more like him, but right now, I'm just going to soak this up."

When asked what's next, Thomas said, "He's going to get a bath and about nine quarts of feed in about two hours, and he's going to get a lot of pets when we get back. I don't know. We're just going to savor this moment and just see how he comes out of it. We've always been very methodical about our approach, and we'll just take it day by day and see where goes. The beauty of it is from a timing perspective, you can go dirt or turf now. Don't know if you go to the [GIII] Hill Prince [S. on the Belmont turf] and back into deeper waters after that."

Catholic Boy has won six of nine starts and is from placed Bernardini mare Song of Bernadette.

He is one of 190 stakes-winners worldwide for More Than Ready, who stands at a fee of $66,000 this spring.


Advertisment
More Reading...
Wootton Bassett Juvenile G2 Double
Wootton Bassett (GB) featured in Ireland overnight at The Curragh with two stakes-winning juveniles, Constitution River taking out the the Group II Futurity (7f), while the Group II Debutante (7f) went to the filly Composing, who comes from the family of Amelia’s Jewel.
Winning Return for the Best in Australia - Via Sistina
Set to be crowned Australia’s Horse of the Year for last season, the mighty Fastnet Rock mare Via Sistina (IRE) returned on a rain soaked track at Randwick on Saturday to win the $1million Group I ATC Winx Stakes (1400m).
Via Sistina Joins Two Group One Legends
Via Sistina is certainly in rare air and if you want another stat to put her in perspective – yesterday’s Winx Stakes win saw her become one of only three horses in the last 40 years to win eight Group One races in a 12-month period.
196th SW for More Than Ready
Selflessly made a quantum leap from maiden company to become More Than Ready's 196th stakes winner in New York on Sunday.
Sires With Winners - Saturday August 23
Here is the full list of 106 stallions which had winners throughout Australasia today with winners and result details.
Inglis Ready2Race Sale Now Online
The strongest collection of sire power ever assembled for an Australian 2YO Sale will be offered at the Inglis Ready2Race Sale, for which the catalogue is now available online.
Idyllic Prince Stakes - Phanta Leads a Sweet Trifecta for Gingerbread Man
Yarradale Stud's senior stallion Gingerbread Man achieved a rare career high for any sire when the son of Shamardal provided the trifecta in Saturday's Listed Idyllic Prince Stakes over 1300m at Belmont Park.
Navy King sails to Valley victory
A well-judged front-running ride by Daniel Stackhouse has aided five-year-old gelding Navy King to claim the lion’s share of the prize in the MSC Signs Handicap (2040m) at The Valley on Saturday.
More Than Ready Closing in on 200
Selflessly made a quantum leap from maiden company to become More Than Ready's 196th stakes winner in New York on Sunday.
More Than Ready Mare Wins Grade 1 First Lady Stakes
Following the win of his 2yo son Global Quest in the Breeders’ Plate at Randwick on Saturday, the ageless More Than Ready (USA) struck at the highest level in the United States when the Chad Brown-trained Uni (GB) claimed the $400,000 First Lady Stakes on the turf at Keeneland in course record time.