The old racing adage, “where there is an unraced 2YO, there is always hope,” could not have been better exemplified than on Monday at Toowoomba.
Old Bill Brown, saddled up an unraced baby named I Am Courage. He has a white blaze, a handsome head and is by the sire of the moment Sidestep.
All the ingredients are right there to excite a trainer.
Anyway, Bill must have known a bit about his ability – even taking into account his lack of recent winners.
It has been two years since Bill last saddled a winner. He has a smallish stable of mostly scrubbers, but seeing this good looking son of Sidestep working would have made him feel good, then after watching Kiamichi win the recent Gr 1 Golden Slipper, he probably was bouncing out of bed every morning.
Kiamichi is by Sidestep too.
As the days grew closer to the Mittys 2YO Hcp over 1050m yesterday, Brown pondered who to put on. He selected Jimmy Orman who is staring down a milestone of his own. He’s a few wins shy of 500 winners as a jockey.
Last week when Longbottom stormed home to victory and remain undefeated at Eagle Farm, Brown began to feel really confident Orman might take a step closer to that esteemed 500-wins milestone….call it a side step closer. Because Longbottom is by Sidestep as well!
Come race day at Toowoomba, his I Am Courage was a $61 chance. Brown may have had faith, but punters didn’t.
Still, the horse ran like a $1.70 chance sitting just behind the speed, back in 5th, then accelerating away to win in a manner that suggests more wins are in store….and over more ground.
The $16,500 he picked up from the prizemoney made the purchase of this young horse when a yearling for just $7,000 a bargain, and ensures Sidestep stays a top the Freshman Sires table, which is a massive effort for the Queensland-based stallion given he’s only had 14 runners to date, with 4 individual winners of 7 races, and another 4 individual placegetters doing the work for him.
Godolphin own Sidestep and lease him to Telemon Thoroughbreds which is owned by the Fletcher family. He stands at a bargain this upcoming season of just $22,000.
The Fletchers weren’t just cheering I Am Courage home either. They own the ultra impressive 2YO winner at Sandown on Monday called Absolute Flirt.
Telemon Thoroughbreds is a 240 acre premium thoroughbred stud located in the heart of SE Queensland’s ‘golden mile’ for horses on the banks of the Logan River.
Oh, just one final point regarding this I Am Courage, Sidestep, Telemon, Bill Brown, Jimmy Orman epic day out – I Am Courage ran a race record in winning!
