Talented colt Arkansaw Kid (Harry Angel) was a dream winner of the Listed Inglis Banner at Moonee Valley, earning his connections a stunning $500,000 pay day.
Aside from the $300,000 first place prizemoney, Arkansaw Kid was the first eligible winner of the new Inglis Pink Bonus, which saw his connections also pick up the $200,000 Pink Bonus cheque.
To be eligible for the Inglis Pink Bonus – which is free to register for - a horse must be at least 75% female owned.
Adding to the success of the win, Arkansaw Kid gave his stallion Harry Angel a dream start to his Southern Hemisphere career, being his first runner and now first winner – and a Stakes winner at that.
Trainers Ben and JD Hayes of Lindsay Park discovered Arkansaw Kid at this year’s Classic Yearling Sale at Riverside, where they purchased him out of the Sledmere Stud draft for $190,000.
Ever since that day, the colt has shown immense talent and has long been targeted at the Banner.
“We always liked him at Classic, both JD and I really liked him but when you buy them you never really expect they’re going to come out and win $500,000 on debut, but he has,’’ Ben Hayes said.
“I’m very impressed with this horse. He’s always done everything right and what I really liked about him today was he was so relaxed, he paraded beautifully, he was just a gentleman.
“He actually pulled a front and back shoe during the race so that gives the win even more credit.’’
On winning the Pink Bonus, Hayes added: “It’s fantastic, it’s such a big result for these owners, they’ve won half a million dollars today with the horse’s first run. The Inglis Pink Bonus is such a great initiative and we’ve lived it first hand today.’’
Arkansaw Kid today defeated the Michael Freedman-trained Mexico (Capitalist) and fellow Lindsay Park 2YO Optume (Pierro).
Arkansaw Kid was bred by Philippa Duncan, who retained a share in the colt when Jenny McAlpine was putting together the ladies’ syndicate.
Duncan believes the instant success of the Inglis Pink Bonus – Arkansaw Kid was the first eligible winner in the first eligible race – will see it become a dominant force moving forward.
“The Pink Bonus is a wonderful innovation. I’ve been saying for years it’s just like more races for fillies,’’ Duncan said.
“Women should get involved in racing, we need things like this. I think I was a bit of a trailblazer, I was involved in racing when other women weren’t, I started my bloodstock agency when there weren’t women doing it, I started marketing yearlings at Easter when there weren’t women doing it.
“This is just a follow on and it’s fabulous.’’
Duncan has always been confident in Arkansaw Kid’s ability, hence retaining a share.
“He’s never put a foot wrong, I’ve never had a bad report about him from the stable, the boys have always said they’re very excited about him,’’ Duncan said.
“I love the stallion Harry Angel and thought he was worth a punt as a first season sire and I’ve gone back to him twice again with his dam Florabella.’’
Duncan will offer Arkansaw Kid’s sister at next year’s Classic Yearling Sale.
The next race in the Inglis Race Series is the $500,000 Inglis Nursery at Randwick on December 10, another Pink Bonus-eligible race.
