By Ben Caluzzi
If there was ever a three-year-old who looked tailor-made for the 1000 metre dash around The Valley, Profiteer is that horse. Built for speed, a favourable racing pattern and a serious case of white line fever, Profiteer is set to tackle the Group 1 Charter Keck Cramer Moir Stakes first up this Friday Night, and Roll the Dice Racing Director Leigh Saville admits it does look a great opportunity for his star colt.
“The Valley with the rail out 4 metres does look ideal. But you can never be too confident going into a Group 1. He’s a two-year-old going into his three-year-old campaign.
“We hope he’s gotten better, and we think he’s gotten better, but we won’t know until Friday night.”
Profiteer raced four times as a two-year-old, impressing with a dominant win on debut at Flemington before another remarkable victory in the Inglis Millennium, a 5.3L romp in fast time at Randwick.
He then was narrowly collared by Anamoe in the Group 2 Todman, who will run as a short-priced favourite in the Golden Rose this weekend, before a game effort in the Golden Slipper where he wasn’t disgraced behind Stay Inside.
We haven’t seen him under race conditions since the Sydney Autumn Carnival, but if his jump outs are anything to go by, he looks ready to run the race of his life this Friday night.
“I think he’s grown up a bit,” Saville said.
“He was speedy and immature, as most two-year-olds are. But we’ve done a lot of equestrian work with him over the break and he’s really relaxing a lot more.”
Having trained the 2016 Moir Stakes winner Extreme Choice, Mick Price knows a thing or two about preparing young colts to tackle the older horses, and Saville says the master trainer sees many similarities between the pair.
“He says they’re similar horses. He actually has said he feels Profiteer is a better horse than Extreme Choice, but he hasn’t put the runs on the board yet. So, let’s hope on Friday night we can emulate what Extreme Choice did a couple of years ago.”
Under the weight-for-age scale, Profiteer will carry just 52kg with Jye McNeil in the saddle this Friday, and Saville says there will be no secrets about the jump and run tactics they are likely to employ.
“We won’t be taking a sit with our guy or trying to get a soft run in behind anything. It’ll be catch us if you can and we will use his best attribute.
“If we can get a few normal sectionals early, then he’ll be hard to catch. We’ll be kicking around the 400 and trying to get those older horses to carry the weight.”
Those older horses will include the likes of Brooklyn Hustle, Portland Sky, Swats That, Trekking, Wild Ruler and The Inferno, who will be looking to become the first horse in history to win the McEwen Stakes/ Moir Stakes double in the same year.
“The Inferno is probably the one that sticks out for me. He’s a serious, serious horse and Cliff Brown is a great trainer, so I have a lot of respect for them.
“But then there’s also Brooklyn Hustle who loves The Valley, Chris Waller will be bringing Shaquero and September Run, Portland Sky is a Group 1 winner, Trekking will be there, and Wild Ruler ran second to The Everest favourite [Nature Strip].”
Having posted two brilliant wins over 1100m and tasting defeat both times at 1200m, the general notion of many is that Profiteer may struggle to run six furlongs this preparation, but Saville remains undeterred and thinks the Coolmore Stud Stakes is the suitable end goal this Spring.
“A lot of people think he is just a 1000m horse or an 1100m horse, but go back to the Todman where he was beaten a long neck by Anamoe, we feel like that’s the best two-year-old form going around.
“We feel like if he runs up to that Todman run then he can absolutely get 1200m of a Coolmore down the straight.”
While the Coolmore remains high on the agenda, there is also sure to be talks about potential Everest slots up for grabs for the horses who run well in Friday’s Charter Keck Cramer Moir Stakes.
“The horse is now part-owned by Newgate. Henry Field is a big player in the New South Wales market, so we will be guided by Henry with any invitations if he was to win on Friday.
“There is an opportunity to run in both (The Everest and the Coolmore), but a three-year-old up against the best horses in Australia, it would be a big ask for him.”
A son of 2016 Golden Slipper winner Capitalist and recently acquired by Newgate, Profiteer is likely to be a highly sought-after commodity himself after a fruitful Spring, and the Roll the Dice team are under no illusions that a successful campaign could possibly be his last.
“If he goes on and wins a Moir or a Coolmore I’m not sure there’d be any need to come back in the Autumn.
“The ownership group are pretty keen to get a return on their investment, and while it’s probably more a question for Henry and his team, but I’m sure it’s a possibility.”
Roll the Dice have already had a fantastic year so far, winning the Group 1 Coolmore Classic with Krone and unearthing their potential star gelding Ayrton, but after Ayrton recently suffered an unfortunate setback and was outed for the Spring, Profiteer remains their number 1 seed.
“He’s just pure speed. A typical thoroughbred who was born to run fast, and we are very excited to see him run on Friday.”