A debut stakes win by Brazen Boy (Brazen Beau) on Saturday would be a dream result for breeder Mill Park Stud, as they get set to offer his half-sister by boom sire Written Tycoon at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in January.
A year ago this weekend, iron filly Away Game (Snitzel) kicked off what has been nothing short of a brilliant career to date in the Listed Merson Cooper S. at Sandown and on Saturday, her nephew Brazen Boy will have his first start in the same race.
The Phillip Stokes-trained Brazen Boy has had a bit of hype around him since he won an 850 metre trial on the Morphettville Parks by 14l on October 27 and he is the $2.45 favourite for the juvenile feature on Saturday.
Chris Watson, General Manager of Mill Park Stud who bred and race the gelding, said all reports from the stable are that he is in good order since travelling over to Stokes’ Pakenham stable.
“He’s been over with Phil for a good week from the Adelaide stable,” Watson told TDN AusNZ. “Tommy (Stokes) has done a magnificent job with him in Adelaide.
“He did a great piece of work on Tuesday, we’re very happy with what he has done. He has still got a bit to learn and he’s still a bit green but Jamie Kah has been very happy with the work she has ridden on him.”
.@Racing's @MaccasMock said Brazen Boy's trial this morning was 'the best visual performance I have seen from a juvenile in S.A. since Miracles Of Life on November 30 2012.'
See it for yourself… pic.twitter.com/Ve0yFrliwt
— TheRacesSA (@TheRacesSA) October 26, 2020
Brazen Boy is the first foal out of Cocoa Doll (More Than Ready {USA}), who was also bred and raced by Mill Park Stud, and Watson said the son of Brazen Beau has always shown some star quality.
“Cocoa Doll was a mare that we bred and raced ourselves with some great friends and clients and the idea was to always set the mare up for her broodmare career by retaining her first foal,” he said.
“He’s been a very straightforward horse the whole way through his life and career in the stable.”
“Early on he looked like he was going to need a little bit of time but he came together very, very quickly and was very impressive to the stable with his early bits of pace work.”
Out of Elusive Wonder (Elusive Quality {USA}), Cocoa Doll is the half-sister to R. Listed Magic Millions 2YO Classic winner and G1 Golden Slipper runner-up Away Game (pictured below), as well as Listed winner Modern Wonder (Snitzel).
As a gelding, there is not stallion career to aim for with Brazen Boy but a 2-year-old stakes win as Cocoa Doll’s first foal would be of just as much value to the farm as the race prizemoney itself.
“Away Game was a filly that we bred and raised ourselves and we had Elusive Wonder which we bought ourselves so we know the family intimately,” Watson said. “We’ve retained two half-sisters to Away Game – Cocoa Doll and another mare called Persistence – so if we get a bit of black-type on the weekend it will be a massive result for us.”
A NICE ADDITION
The second foal out of the mare is a yearling filly by arguably the hottest sire in Australia at the moment in Written Tycoon. That filly is set to head to the Magic Millions Gold Coast Sale in January and Watson said an extra bit of black-type on her page would be a great result for the farm.
“She’s a lovely compact style of filly, just a real sprinting and get up and run sort of horse,” Watson said.
“She’s very typical of the family and there are actually some similarities to the style of Away Game. She’s not an overly big filly but a lovely balanced, powerful style of filly so I’m expecting her to be extremely well received up there.
“So a little bit of black-type on the pedigree will be a nice addition for sure.”
Cocoa Doll produced her third foal this year – a colt by young Widden Stud resident Trapeze Artist – and is currently in foal with a three-quarter sibling to Away Game, so while it’s unbeknownst to him, there is a lot riding on what Brazen Boy does on the track in the coming months.
“I saw a few of the nice Trapeze Artists up there at Widden and our colt looks very similar to some of the ones I saw,” Watson said.
“He’s just lovely with a bit of leg, scope and strength to him – just a lovely, quality animal and we just got some great news that Cocoa Doll is positive to Snitzel, so we’ve got a lot to look forward to.”
The 2021 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale is fast approaching and with the catalogue set to drop in the coming weeks, Watson said their draft is shaping up very well.
“We’ve got a draft of 15 heading up to the Gold Coast and at this stage we’re very happy with how they’re all progressing,” he said. “We’ve got a lovely draft which is very typical of what we take up there.
“There’s always a horse to suit a wide range of buyers, not only the out-and-out sprinters but we’re certainly hopeful they’ll get out over a bit of ground for people as well. They’re all precocious style of horses and we’re right on track, very happy.”
With ongoing border restrictions throughout the year, it’s been challenging for the South Australian-based farm but Watson said that while things are looking like going ahead as normal, they are prepared to change plans at the last minute.
“Certainly we were very concerned, it’s been well documented for everybody the restrictions for COVID-19,” Watson said.
“I think with everything easing off, we’re planning ahead as though it’s going to be a normal sales season without restrictions and that it’s going to be a free market up there for all states to get there.
“As normal, we’ve definitely got a couple of extra plans in place that if it does go a little pear-shaped and things do change again, we’ll hopefully have some back-up plans in place.”
