I’m putting my Nostrodamus hat on here with what will be a rather long-sighted prediction.
I think we in Australia will see a horse named Buckhurst racing for Melbourne Cup glory one day. Probably next year.
And I base this on the fact he ground out a dour, come from off the pace, debut win at Leopardstown in Ireland on the weekend over 1600m.
He ran down the leader, the heavily backed favourite Jack Yeats who is trained by Aidan O’Brien.
It was a maiden and the winner earned 8,008 Euros which converts to be about $12,800 in Aussie dollars.
Why is all that important?
Well, Buckhurst is by a stallion named Australia. And yes, this Australia is superbly bred being by Galileo from the wonder mare Ouija Board.
Australia won the Gr 1 English and Irish Derbies as a race horse.
This 3YO, Buckhurst, was having his first race start and it was a slow track.
He is trained by Aidan’s son, Joseph O’Brien, who, as we know, has trained a Melbourne Cup winner.
After the race Joseph was elated and couldn’t hide his enthusiasm, although saying that these O’Briens are outwardly very low key. “I’m a little bit excited by this colt because mine never win at their first asking so for him to do so, and with his pedigree suggesting this was a bit short, he might be special.”
When asked where is he headed now, O’Brien said, “The Derby Trial.”
Now, why am I writing about Buckhurst, well, because he is owned by the great man…..Lloyd Williams.
Too many things, such as Lloyd’s desire to race his horses Down Under, the fact the horse is a colt, the fact he’s by Australia, the fact his trainer comes to Australia to race and the fact he seems very talented, say this horse will one day race in Australia.
Stay tuned.
