The two year-old colts maiden at Canterbury on Monday was a must watch race with $1.4million Wootton Bassett (GB) colt Central Coast expected to be winning on debut, but the unpredictable nature of racing was seen to full effect when his stablemate Autumn Boy went off script to take the victory at 50-1.
The second foal of Champion 3YO Filly Sunlight, Central Coast had been scratched twice in the past week as his trainer Chris Waller waited patiently for the just right race in which to set the blueblood colt loose.
The 1250m maiden attracted a field of eight well bred colts with Central Coast ridden by James McDonald heavily backed to win and it looked like he would do just that with a furlong to run.
The dashing near black colt accelerated brilliantly and dropped his rivals quickly, but when Jason Collett popped the question to Autumn Boy, he produced something special to reel in the favourite and win by a neck to the great surprise of all.
Central Coast ran a super race, he just found one better and both colts have the promise of a lot more to come.
Autumn Boy is by The Autumn Sun, who was trained by Chris Waller to be Champion 3YO Colt of his generation racking up five Group I wins.
“He's always been a dream to deal with in terms of his work at home. He's very passive. He sort of flies under the radar a bit, and he's probably never had a smack on the bum before, so it's probably a good reason for him to really accelerate and hit the line like he did,” said stable representative Charlie Duckworth.
“He's obviously prepared to get over further, so it’s really exciting and delighted for the Ritchie’s.
“He is out of Savabeel mare, so you'd think that 1250 is probably the bottom end of his distance range.
“That's exactly pretty much what I said to Jason pre-race. You'll be hitting the line hard, but whether 1250 is going to be too short for him today, which is what I thought would be the case, but I’m delighted to be wrong.”
A $200,000 Magic Millions purchase for Waller Racing/Mulcaster Bloodstock from the Amarina Farm draft, Autumn Boy runs for Glenn Ritchie, who has been a big investor in recent years notably purchasing the $2.4million Savabeel filly from Symphonic that topped Karaka Book 1 this year.
Autumn Boy is the second winner from unraced Savabeel mare Rosegarden (NZ), a daughter of Group III winner O’Reilly Rose from the family of Group I winning sprinter Shamexpress and also Caulfield Cup winner Affinity.
Pedigree would suggest Autumn Boy has untapped potential as his classic season unfolds.
