The Euphrates, formerly trained in Ireland by Aidan O’Brien, was having only his second start for Tulloch Lodge and scored an impressive all-the-way win in the Group 2 $300,000 Kingston Town Stakes (2000m) at Royal Randwick on Saturday.
Showing superior stamina, The Euphrates maintained a strong gallop and stopped the clock at a brilliant 2m 0.48s which is one of the fastest 2000m ever run at Randwick and only a tick outside the long-standing course record of 2m 0.30s set by Hampton Court in 2013.
Bott wasn’t surprised The Euphrates was able to produce such an emphatic and exciting win.
“To be honest, I would have been disappointed if he didn’t win today – he’s a very, very good horse,” Bott said.
“He put the writing on the wall with a great return over the mile (fourth in the Chelmsford Stakes) earlier this month and he backed that up today,” Bott said.
“The Metropolitan has always been the plan but we have been thinking further ahead.
“The big picture is the Caulfield Cup and the Melbourne Cup with him. He has two mile form in Europe and certainly stays the trip at a higher level, and he showed that today.”
The Euphrates ($5) led throughout under Tim Clark and comfortably held off his chasing rivals to win by nearly a length from Juja Kibo ($7) with a Soul Of Spain ($3.90 favourite) a length away third.
Clark said despite the frenetic tempo and fast overall time, The Euphrates gave him the impression he was “he was doing it really easily and well within himself.”
“He has been off the scene for such a long time but he ran pretty well first-up and credit to Gai and Adrian who were able to put the ground work into him that he could still bounce off that and not put in a flat run,” Clark said.
“He is starting to get out to a distance range that suits him now. He galloped all the way through the line and was last to pull up.
“We’ve seen so many imports come to Australia, especially with Gai and Adrian, just put that speed into their legs. He has that great stamina and I look forward when he gets over further.”
The Euphrates is by Frankel, the great English racehorse who won all 14 races including at 10 at Group 1 level to earn an all-time Timeform rating of 147.
Frankel is now recognised as one of the world’s great stallions and Waterhouse and Bott have already trained two of the super stallion’s sons, the outstanding Sir Delius and Converge to win Group 1 races in Australia.
The Euphrates won four of his 13 starts for O’Brien including the Listed Marble City Stake and he ran fourth to champion Kyprios and the very talented Vauban in the Group 1 Irish St Leger.
But the six-year-old gelding had not raced for nearly two years until he resumed in the Chelmsford and his Kingston Town win proves he is making up for lost time.
“He will go to The Metropolitan next run and the further we get with him the better,” Bott said.
“Today was a dominant performance, it was great to see him stick it out as well as he did.
“He hasn’t been racing for two years so I would like to think there is further improvement to come.
“He has that brilliant tactical speed, that cruising speed, and that ability to sustain it which is going to open up some great staying feature races for him.”
The Euphrates firmed into $5 second favouritism for the Group 2 $750,000 The Metropolitan (2400m) at Royal Randwick on October 3 behind $3 favourite Aethelwulf, brilliant winner of the Newcastle Gold Cup on Friday.
The Euphrates has been given 52.5kg for the Group 1 $6.5 million Caulfield Cup (2400m) at Caulfield on October 17 and 54kg for the Group 1 $10 million Melbourne Cup (3200m) at Flemington on November 3 but the stayer is eligible for a handicap penalty in both races.
