Dan O’Sullivan might have wondered where his next good horse was going to come from after Affair To Remember’s injury-enforced retirement and it would be appropriate if it is Berkeley Square.
The son of Territories, who runs in Saturday’s VOBIS Gold Ingot (1400m) at Caulfield, is from the same family as Affair To Remember and carries the same lime green colours of her breeder, David Peacock.
Peacock has been a significant supporter of O’Sullivan throughout his career and the Ballarat trainer is excited to have another promising one of his in the stable.
“He’s been a prolific breeder for a long time and it happens too often for him for it to be a fluke,” O’Sullivan said.
Berkeley Square is out of Peacock’s Teofilo mare Bahamas, a half-sister to Affair To Remember, who O’Sullivan trained to win four of 17, including the Group 2 Matriarch Stakes (2000m).
O’Sullivan also prepared Bahamas, whose only win was a 1600m Werribee maiden but she finished third in the G1 Australasian Oaks (2000m), five years before Affair To Remember was runner-up in the same race, and was second in the G3 SA Fillies Classic (2500m).
Bahamas’s first foal was Senor Toba (Toronado), who won a G3 Frank Packer Plate (2000m) and was runner-up in the G1 Queensland Derby (2400m) before being exported to Hong Kong, where he is a Group 3 winner and has been placed at Group 1 level.
Berkeley Square made his debut in a 1347m maiden at Geelong on May 13 when he unleashed a powerful finish to score a dominant 1-1/2-length win as a $16 chance.
That performance did not surprise O’Sullivan but a minor issue meant he had to abandon plans to pursue the Taj Rossi Series and divert to the $175,000 VOBIS Gold Ingot.
“He cut his leg at home and I had to back off him for a bit,” O’Sullivan said.
“But he was ticking over too well and it was too cold to put him out in the paddock, so I thought we’d go to this race and suss out what we’re going to do with him going forward.”
O’Sullivan is happy with his condition heading into the Gold Ingot but admits to concerns about the issues barrier one might present to the big gelding, who will again be ridden by Alana Kelly.
“It’s not a big field, but it looks quite a good race and I’m a bit disappointed with barrier one,” he said.
“Things are going to have to fall our way around the home turn for us to be at our best and he’s never seen Caulfield, which is another asterisk I’ve got on him.”
Berkeley Square is an $8.50 chance in TAB’s Gold Ingot market, which is headed by the Peter Moody-trained Boogie Dancer ($2.10), who is chasing a wining hat-trick.
