Brent Stanley sings praises of Atomic Kitten in winning return
FORMER Caulfield Cup-winning jockey turned trainer Brent Stanley scored his first success in over a year after spending nine months on the sidelines.
The talented horseman was outed for his involvement in the illegal sale of a racehorse last year, but he returned to winning form at Kilmore on Thursday with three-year-old filly Atomic Kitten.
The daughter of Northern Meteor produced a strong turn-of-foot to win at odds of $10 and Stanley was happy to reward his loyal owners and long-time friends Scott Pethybridge and the Gillards.
“First winner back was a great relief and a great result for the clients that have stuck solid through my period of being out,” Stanley told horsebetting.com.au.
“Scott Pethybridge is my best mate, he’s been a mate for 21 years now. Steve Gillard became a very close friend and his wife and kids and my wife and kids became close – we’ve had great success together.”
The well-bred filly was an expensive purchase which spent time with Leon and Troy Corstens this season before arriving back into Stanley’s Sutton Grange-based stables.
“I bought her as a yearling at the Easter Sale two years ago – paid $360,000 for her,” Stanley said.
“She was with me to the day I got time, then she went to Troy and Leon Corstens. They went through the preparation before she arrived back to me after her last start.
“I’ve just gotten her ready for today and it was good to get a result out of it.”
Stanley believed it only needed time and a change in scenery to show its best after three moderate runs to begin its career.
“She was a time horse, she’s still six months away from maturing into a nice mare,” he said. “She needs further distance.
“She’s improved fitness wise and she just got back to a place where she’s comfortable – that made her relax and let her perform today.”
The future looks bright for Atomic Kitten which attract plenty of attention as a broodmare if it lives up to expectations this spring and into next autumn.
“She’s a very valuable broodmare, she’s very well bred and she’s a full sister to Fighting Sun, she’s got the pedigree page,” Stanley said.
“We’ve got to protect that a little bit, so the main thing was to let everyone know she could gallop which she’s done now.
“Training for people who breed – you have to try get a city win and/or stakes win or placing, so I’ll work out where she’ll go through the spring and autumn next season.”
Stanley was seen purchasing some rich yearlings at the 2017 Easter Sale and he came away with some promising types.
“I bought four horses,” Stanley said. “I paid $1.5 million for a Fastnet Rock filly, $500,000 for a Snitzel filly, $350,000 for a Redoute’s Choice colt and $200,000 for a Zoustar colt.
“The sale was good to me. I’ve got great clients, great support and hopefully we can keep the results going.”