Shades of Terravista in Chapelco’s win
Chapelco’s strong debut win at Warwick Farm has reminded trainer Joe Pride of the colt’s close relation, stable star Terravista.
The three-year-old dug deep to beat the Chris Waller-trained Tivoli Street ($9) by a long neck in the McGrath Estate Agents Maiden (1300m) at Warwick Farm on Wednesday.
By the late Northern Meteor. Chapelco is out of Nishaani, an unraced sister of Parfore who is the mother of Terravista, Tiger Tees and Ball Of Muscle, all trained by Pride.
“He’s been a colt at home – a little bit hard to get a line on,” Pride said.
“I remember Terravista was a bit similar, he started his first race at 20-1.”
While Terravista is a Group One winner over 1200 metres, jockeys have told Pride Chapelco could be more suited to middle distance racing.
“The feedback I’m getting is a mile to 2000 m,metres” Pride said.
“Maybe on pedigree you think ‘how?’ But just the style of horse he is, he’s a big scopy boy.
“He’s a lazy, immature horse, but I think what he showed there he can build on.”
The now-retired Tiger Tees won the Group One Galaxy (1100m) while Ball Of Muscle has been Group One placed over 1000m in the 2015 Moir Stakes.
Tim Clark gave Chapelco a sit outside the leader before letting him go in the straight, almost 3-1/2 years after Terravista won on debut at the same track.
Money came for Chapelco who was backed from $20 to $12.
Clark said the horse still had a lot to learn.
“He’s got plenty of improvement in him so to do that on debut was a really good effort,” Clark said.
“He had the leader covered a long way from home. He just didn’t know how to go on and win.”
He was the first leg of a running double for Pride with Mr Manhattan returning from a five-month lay-off to win the Tab.com.au Handicap (1000m).
The win impressed Pride enough to declare him a chance to contest a stakes race during spring.
“It’s always a bit scary when they come back off setbacks so that was a very good return,” Pride said.
“He can probably go right on with it now.
“We’ve always thought he was a stakes-level horse.”
Meanwhile, stewards ordered Bring Luck’s co-trainer Amanda Turner to trial the horse before its next start despite winning #TheRaces Handicap (2200m) after he missed the jump.
That may impact Turner’s plans to run the horse in the Listed City Tattersalls Club Cup at Randwick on October 15.