Where’s The Circus goes in search of another big Inglis payday in this Saturday’s Inglis Millennium and the bargain buy’s connections aren’t the only ones with fingers crossed for another win.
Less than 24 hours after the $2 million race restricted to Inglis graduates is run at Randwick, the Paul Murray-trained two-year-old’s brother will be offered at the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale.
The Widden Stud-prepared colt is already guaranteed to fetch more than the $1250 Murray paid for Where’s The Circus via Inglis Digital in September 2024, but that won’t stop Murray inspecting the son of Trapeze Artist, who will be offered as Lot 190.
“We knew he was in the sale and the owners have said, ‘we’ve got to go and have a look at him’, so we’ll be doing that,” Murray said.
It would be more of a surprise if Murray didn’t indicate an interest in the 10th foal from Fastnet Rock mare Misplaced given his record with the family.
Murray and his partner Michelle Ritchie trained Misplaced’s first two foals, Snippetson fillies Where’s Snippy and Can’t Find Snippy, who cost $600 and $14,000 respectively.
Where’s Snippy won four races and $61,000, while Can’t Find Snippy was a multiple winner who finished third in the 2016 edition of the race Where’s The Circus will contest this weekend.
“Where’s Snippy, she was only a cheap horse and we had a lot of fun with her so we bought the sister and then when she (Where’s The Circus) popped up we thought we’d have a crack at her as well,” Murray said.
“The family’s been good to us.”
Where’s The Circus has already been the most productive for the Murrays, banking $231,000 for her longshot win in the Inglis Nursery, and the exciting thing for Murray is the promise of more to come.
“We don’t put much pressure on the babies, we just let them tell us what is going on,” Murray said.
“She trialled against the older horses and went well, so we thought we might give her a go at the Inglis (Nursery) and just see how good she is.
“But to this day, we still haven’t really opened her right up. She’s a bit untapped, we don’t know how much further or how good she really is, but we’ll test that a bit on Saturday.”
Murray is acutely aware the 1100m Millennium is a much stronger race than the Nursery, with Golden Gift placegetter Plagiarism, Blue Diamond Preview winner Alibaba and Artorius’s half-sister Jacaranda heading the betting, which is why Murray considered a good barrier so important.
Where’s The Circus, who led all the way from gate four to win the 1000m Nursery, drew barrier two but will start from the inside alley if second emergency Profitabelle does not gain a start.
“We were hoping for a nice barrier and we got it,” Murray said.
“It was the same as the first start, so she’s really getting the right barriers in these big races, which is a very handy.”
Jean Van Overmeire was aboard Where’s The Circus in the Nursery, but Jay Ford will assume the reins this weekend.
The Millennium is now a designated feature on the Randwick meeting that leads into the Classic Sale and Where’s The Circus is not the only runner this year who has a sibling in the Classic catalogue.
On Tuesday’s third and final day, Yarraman Park will offer a filly by Dundeel out of the Charge Forward mare Advance Party who is a half-sister to the Chris Waller-trained Snitzel colt Fireball, who was a winner of his only start to date at Rosehill in November.
