Summer Passage to make domestic appearance before Melbourne

Tom Walter - Tuesday July 25

ATC Sires' Produce Stakes runner-up Summer Passage will trial on both sides of the Tasman before a Melbourne spring campaign.

Advertisement
Summer Passage. Photo: Trish Dunell

Summer Passage, trained at Matamata in New Zealand by Lance O'Sullivan and Andrew Scott, won the Group I Sistema Stakes (1200m) at Ellerslie in March before beating all bar Invader in the Group I ATC Sires' Produce Stakes (1400m) at Randwick during The Championships in April.

While Invader is on a path towards the Group I Golden Rose (1400m) in September, Summer Passage is set to campaign solely in Melbourne and will be readied with two barrier trials.

"We will be giving him a trial at Te Teko and then he'll go to Australia after that and have a trial there before he kicks off," O'Sullivan told the NZ Racing Desk.

The son of Snitzel is likely to resume in the Group II Danehill Stakes (1200m) down the Flemington straight course on September 16.

The Group I Coolmore Stud Stakes, run over the same track and distance on November 1, will be the main target for Summer Passage, which was sold at last year's Inglis Easter Yearling Sale for $800,000.

Advertisment
More Reading...
Yes Yes Yes 3YO Shooting for G2 on Monday
Last year’s Gr.2 James and Annie Sarten Memorial (1400m) set Savaglee up for Group One glory in Christchurch, and Matamata trainer Pam Gerard is hoping to follow a similar blueprint in 2025 with her Yes Yes Yes 3YO Affirmative Action..
Sale Cup Winner Adds to Fastnet Rock Super Weekend
It’s been quite the weekend for the late great champion sire Fastnet Rock with a Cox Plate quinella on Saturday and then on Sunday he produced a new stakes-winner when seven year-old gelding El Rocko captured the $200,000 Listed Sale Cup (1600m).
Transatlantic Takes $1million Five Diamonds Prelude
Transatlantic’s lucrative spring carnival continued at Randwick with an arrogant victory in the $1m Five Diamonds Prelude.
Summer Passage Arrives at Mapperley Stud
A Group I winning juvenile by champion sire Snitzel, Summer Passage will stand at Mapperley Stud in New Zealand this spring.
Doubtland 2YO All On Red Smashes Them Again at Ascot
Widden Stud's Doubtland has a potential 2YO topliner in Perth in the shape of exciting WA colt All On Red, who remains undefeated from two starts after another comprehensive Ascot Saturday win.
Pedigree Watch - Powerhouse Godolphin 3YOs Dominate
The current crop of three year-olds running for Godolphin lay claim to being the best they have ever produced in Australia and three of those colts won Group races in Australia on Saturday so let’s take a look at those pedigrees.
Hi Yo Sass Bomb Wins G3 on Sunday
Kim Reid bypassed a Group One in favour of Sunday’s Gr.3 Gee and Hickton Funeral Directors Thompson Handicap (1600m) at Trentham with Hi Yo Sass Bomb, a decision that paid dividends when the mare led from the outset to claim her third stakes success.
Undefeated 3YO King of Light Wins Listed Belgravia
Dan Morton's exciting three year old King Of Light (Earthlight) remains unbeaten in three starts, as the gelding graduated to stakes company with a scintillating first up victory in the Listed Belgravia Stakes on Cox Plate Day at Ascot.
Passage seeking Summer at Flemington
New Zealand colt Summer Passage is one of two Group I winners nominated for Saturday’s Group II Danehill Stakes (1200m) at Flemington where he has come seeking drier weather.
Wootton Bassett Colt Leads Coolmore G1 Trifecta
The last British Group I race of the flat season was run overnight at Doncaster with Aidan O’Brien producing a trifecta of two year-old colts led by a son of the late Wootton Bassett (GB) in Hawk Mountain, who was too good for a pair of Frankel colts.