Gladius was an impressive yearling and is emerging into a promising racehorse
Just days out from seeing the talented Gunship take his place in the King George V Stakes at Royal Ascot, Qatar Racing, China Horse Club and partners have enjoyed a brace of impressive winners over the weekend across Britain and the United States.
Emergence set a high bar on Friday afternoon when accounting for rivals in his allowance race at Churchill Downs by a staggering 14.5 lengths. The colt, also part-owned by Australian Trilogy Bloodstock, is another recent winner from the Brad Cox yard who supplied G1 stars Tappan Street (1st G1 Florida Derby) and Patch Adams (1st G1 Woody Stephens). The three-year-old appeared to appreciate being stretched to a mile and a half and certainly wasn’t disadvantaged when the race was switched from turf to the main track after heavy rain to win his second race from only four starts.
“Emergence was dominant yesterday at Churchill Downs,” said Christie DeBernardis, China Horse Club’s Americas Representative.
“It also showed that this colt is not necessarily turf only, but more dependent on distance. He relished every bit of the 12f trip. Unfortunately, that distance is usually only available on the grass but we will look to place him to advantage as best we can.”
Hours later, fellow lightly raced colt Gladius reaffirmed growing opinions of his capabilities when comfortably accounting for his rivals at Sandown to post his second career win from three starts. Also raced in partnership with David Howden like Royal Ascot aspirant Gunship, Gladius tracked the pace well and delivered on market expectation when pulling clear to win by almost two lengths under Oisin Murphy.
“That was a strong win. Gladius is a progressive colt and he’s now won two of his three starts,” said Matt Houldsworth, China Horse Club’s European representative.
“He loved the drop back to 1m 1f and I’d be confident a drop back to a mile would suit also. He will have an easy few weeks and we will build him up again for his next race start.
“Gladius is certainly smart and we will work to build him u step-by-step with an eye to stakes company in the future. He is certainly a horse to look forward to.”
China Horse Club’s Australian breeding division continued to tick over its winners with graduate Hughes winning his seventh race in 17 career starts at Sandown Park in Melbourne. The Russian Revolution half-brother to G1 Coolmore Stud Stakes winner and Newgate Farm stallion, Ozzmosis, has amassed more than AUD335,000 in career earnings to date and has won four of his last five starts.