Dynamic Syndications 4yo gelding BAROQUE ROAD (Caravaggio x Malibu Road) won the Feature $175,000 MAGIC MILLIONS BALLARAT 3yo & 4yo CLASSIC at a rain sodden Ballarat Cup Day meeting on Saturday.
Our Ciaron Maher and David Eustace trained sprinter was resuming from a spell after winning his previous two starts prior to stopping for a let-up, with a mission to target the Magic Millions Carnival on the Gold Coast in early January.
The son of Caravaggio has now scored three wins in a row; first on a Good 3, then a Soft 6 and now on a Heavy 9. His other win was on debut on a Soft 7 over 1100m on the Kensington track.
After wins at Geelong over 1330m on 11 August and then Sandown over 1300m on 30 August, we felt that BAROQUE ROAD would make into a genuine contender for a few races up north, so a plan was hatched to have him resume in this feature Magic Millions sponsored race on the 9th December and then take him to Queensland where he will be suited.
We were extremely confident that BAROQUE ROAD would run well off the back of a sizzling jump out leading into the race.
The Ballarat Cup Day meeting commenced the day on a Good 4 surface, but by the time our race was run it had downgraded to a Heavy 9. This was not ideal for our horse resuming from a break, but he had good residual fitness and had shown he was comfortable in slow going, so we were happy to give him his chance to shine in the gloom of wintery conditions on the day.
The stable had always advised us that they had left plenty of room for improvement in our horse as our grand final is 5 weeks away, however he proved too strong and relished the ploughed-up mud heap to score a terrific win.
We had booked jockey Jamie Mott to steer BAROQUE ROAD again. They have made into a “dynamic duo” they just get on well.
Jamie was onboard at both Geelong and Sandown and has now made it a hat-trick of wins claiming the Magic Millions Classic.
Because BAROQUE ROAD was resuming and it was very wet, our tactics differed slightly. We elected to be positive but not push too hard to get to the front, as we wanted to preserve his gas levels. We were happy to tuck in behind the speed and stay in closer to the fence saving ground. We anticipated by doing that, he would be strong late, and that we would hit the line hard whilst others would be floundering in the conditions.
Happily, the race panned out perfectly and we scored the valuable win.
He was given a perfect ride by Jamie Mott, who had our horse box-seating before taking a run on the inside, which was courageous, but Jamie felt that the going on the rail was equal to being out wide so was happy to take the run. He flew up the rail like a greyhound and speared two lengths in front with 200m to run.
Over the final 50m he was running on fumes but his class prevailed. He started to look around and moved out off the paint two horses wide over the final strides, but the race had been won and BAROQUE ROAD went on to post a 0.75 length victory.
BAROQUE ROAD winning has ensured his way into the lucrative Magic Millions meeting on January 13th.
However, the ideal race looks to be the $250,000 MAGIC MILLIONS RISING STARS 3yo & 4yo Colts and Geldings Class 4 1300m under set weights on the Saturday prior the 6th January.
Whilst on Magic Millions Day there is both the:
$1m TAB MAGIC MILLIONS - THE SYNDICATE (3YO&UP) 1100m at Weight For Age
$1M IT'S LIVE! IN QUEENSLAND MAGIC MILLIONS - SNIPPETS (3YO&UP) 1200m
A $100,000 purchase by Adam Watt on behalf of Dynamic Syndications / Dean Watt Bloodstock at the 2021 Magic Millions, from the Coolmore Stud draft, BAROQUE ROAD has taken his career tally to:
11 Starts: 4 Wins, 1 Second, 1 Third and $201,175. He has won at 1100m (2), 1300m, 1330m.
BAROQUE ROAD won by 0.75 length over Stupendo with A Little Deep 1.15 lengths in third.
On a Heavy 9 surface they ran 1:05.75.
David Eustace was interviewed post-race after speaking with our Dynamic Owners that had made the trip to Ballarat and when he came over to the camera, he was proudly wearing the Magic Millions Sponsors Cap, as were our Dynamic Owners in the post-race winner’s circle.
The interviewer started by saying to David: “The hope of the horse handling the ground and perhaps having an advantage over the rest of the field played out that way, but also you must be rapt with what Jamie Mott was able to do?”
David responded: “Jamie has an unbelievable record for the stable. It’s great to give him another winner… he works extremely hard, he’s a very natural rider,”
“He knew exactly what we wanted to do beforehand. That was bounce, travel, be handy enough, not necessarily force the pace, but make sure he was there.”
And having a chat with Adam (Adam Watt – Dynamic Syndications) pre-race, he was very keen to do that, so as everyone knows, Adam puts in a lot of thought into pre-race, and the results show that as well He hatched a plan for this horse to come to this race, and have a freshen-up and come here and he was spot-on.”
Then David was asked: "Can the team perhaps find an opportunity for him on either of the Saturday’s on the Gold Coast, in 2024?”
David answered “Possibly the weekend before. The ($1 million) sprint itself maybe a bit of a step up, too much of an ask,” he said.
“He’s not just a wet tracker though as well, which is really handy, so we will see what the handicapper does first and go from there … he’ll step up in trip a fraction, but he’s sharp.
“I’m delighted for Adam (Watt) and for our team at Cranbourne, led by Jack Turnbull. They have done a tremendous job with him. It is not easy to freshen a horse for a short period and keep them up and then race so well, fresh so great result.”
Jamie Mott was interviewed post-race and returned David Eustace’s compliments, humbly deflecting credit to the winning stable, and he also explained why his mount shifted a touch near the line.
The interviewer began by saying: “Jamie Mott gets it done and continues what Dave Eustace said to us. Jamie has a great association for the Maher / Eustace stable it helps that they have got an army of good horses in amongst their team, but what is it about your capacity to continually get the job done for them?”
Jamie answered: “It’s more them than myself. They seem to get the job done, day in, day out, any races from small to big and I’m happy to be a small part of it, and hopefully I can be a big part of it one day.”
The interviewer then said: “You were part of this horse’s back-to-back victories in August, what sort of animal presented itself off that break today for you?”
Jamie said: “I jumped him out two weeks ago and he could not have been more impressive, so I came here full of confidence. He handles soft ground so that was another tick, so yeah, I was super confident coming here today. The race played out perfectly, the only thing he does do is switch off when you get there (lead), which obviously when you go up in grade can be a bit of a concern, so probably I’m just going to have to time my run perfectly on him in future. Thank you.”
CONGRATULATIONS to our terrific Team of Loyal DYNAMIC SYNDICATIONS Owners that race BAROQUE ROAD: Dynamic Syndications Racing, Mr G J Smith, Mr J Yianni, Roma, Mr E Fuller, Dr F A Novy, Mrs P Smith, Taggart Family, Mr S B Troughton, Mrs H M Yeates, Mr I R Jones, Mr N A Mcilfatrick, Mrs K J Mitchell
Baroque Road - Winner Ballarat 9.12.23 from Dynamic Syndications on Vimeo.
This win by BAROQUE ROAD recorded our 32nd Race Win for this New Racing Season and our 57th Race Win for the Calendar Year, whilst he recorded our 860th Race Win overall.
Onwards and Upwards – Forever Forward !