North England
It was an ideal start for China Horse Club and its partners over Australia’s The Championships and an ideal closing for his juvenile season for North England as the crack colt landed the opening race of the two day festival, the AUD250,000 G3 Widden Kindergarten Stakes (1100m).
North England is the premier juvenile for CHC / Newgate Farm / Go Bloodstock / Trilogy Racing and partners but his tilt at the AUD5,000,000 G1 Golden Slipper was impacted when he was struck down with a low grade infection which required treatment. The strapping colt fought to finish sixth in the world’s richest two-year-old race before closing a five start juvenile campaign with a second significant win following his lucrative score in the AUD1,000,000 Golden Gift in November.
“It’s really satisfying,” co-trainer Adrian Bott said of the Kindergarten Stakes success. “It’s been a very frustrating campaign with him.
“[North England] has got so much talent and things haven’t necessarily gone right for him throughout the campaign, so to capitalise and finish on a good note, I guess, is very satisfying for the owners and connections.
“Obviously they put a lot in looking for these types of horses and colts, so to get a nice win for a talented two-year-old on a big day like today is very satisfying.”
While the syndicate’s focus is heavily slanted at trying to win one of Australia’s premier juvenile features with a colt, the G3 Kindergarten Stakes success does position North England well ahead of his three-year-old season for which he remains an exceedingly exciting stallion prospect.
“[North England] has got the great temperament for it. He’s just a naturally precocious horse, which he’s shown from early days. He’s got the mindset and constitution to be able to keep up and sustain that sort of preparation and I think he’ll train on as well,” Bott said.
“We’ll tip him out now, most likely, get him set for a three-year-old campaign and hopefully we can have a smooth run at things and he can show his talent.”