QUICK THINKER (3c SO YOU THINK x ACOUPLAMAS by Al Maher) found himself back in the
winner’s circle at Rosehill on Saturday after the colt demolished a top field when winning the
Group 2 Tulloch Stakes (2000m) in a brilliant staying performance.
Quick Thinker ($2.70 fav) kicked 1-1/4 lengths clear of the Hawkes trained Zebrowski with the Richard Laming-trained Diasonic three quarters of a length back in third.
This is his third stakes win from 10 starts.
Quick Thinker continued Kiwi Trainer Murray Baker’s love affair with the Tulloch Stakes over 2000m at Rosehill, as the trainer set his sights on another Australian Derby.
“He’s got to go into the Derby with a chance on that run” Baker said from NZ.
Quick Thinker will be striving to become the
fourth horse in a row to complete the
Tulloch Stakes/Derby double after Levendi and Angel Of Truth followed in the footsteps of Jon Snow.
Baker who trains in partnership with Andrew Forsman has won 4 of the past 12 editions of the Derby and
Quick Thinker will now look to emulate the accomplishments of Jon Snow in 2017 by winning the Tulloch on route to the claiming the Group 1 Derby.
Quick Thinker has shortened from $15 to $11 with TAB for the Derby after relishing his second attempt at 2000m in the Tulloch.
The New Zealand hall of fame trainer knows a bit about staying three-year-old’s and about winning the Tulloch Stakes, but he admitted
Quick Thinker surprised him by stepping up to 2000m with ease at Rosehill.
Baker said
“He is out of an Al Maher mare so I thought the distance might get him, but that was a good tough effort.
“I was worried about the distance, not so much the track, because we didn’t know about him at the trip.
"He was pretty strong there, which is encouraging. It is onto the Derby now.
"It is always nice to win and that is my fifth win in the race.
"I won it with Our Palliser (1987), The Bill (1993), Harris Tweed (2009) and Jon Snow (2017), so it has been a good race to me.
“He won well I thought,” Baker said.
“He went to the line well and he is improving.
“He was beaten by two top-class fillies last start in Funstar and Probabeel.
“He will back up into the Derby (Gr.1, 2400m) next week. You always wonder if they can run the 2400m and not many horses can, but he will have his chance and he plugs on well.”
While Baker believes
Quick Thinker will perform well at Randwick next week, particularly if there is give in the ground, he acknowledges the horse has a genuine affinity with Rosehill.
“He certainly likes Rosehill,” he said.
“He won the Ming Dynasty (Gr.3, 1400m) there in the spring and was good in the Phar Lap Stakes (Gr.2, 1500m) last start. He doesn’t seem to mind a drop of rain and Randwick can get pretty wet.
“He has just kept progressing. He took a bit of getting fit this autumn, being a three-year-old colt.”
Baker had previously won the Tulloch Stakes with Our Palliser (1987), The Bill (1993), Harris Tweed (2009) and Jon Snow (2017), while Madison County finished runner-up in the race last year behind Angel Of Truth, with that pair filling the same positions in the Australian Derby a week later.
“I think it is a good lead into the Derby. We ran second last year and the same horses ran the quinella the following week.
“Jon Snow went on to win the Derby, but some of my other Australian Derby winners didn’t run in the Tulloch,” Baker said, referring to Mongolian Khan, It's A Dundeel and Nom du Jeu."
James McDonald, who said the horse relished the Soft 7 conditions and stepping up in trip to win for the first time this campaign after a last-start third to star fillies Funstar and Probabeel in the G2 Phar Lap Stakes (1500m).
"You need a good, fit horse that handles it (wet ground) really well, because they're making hard work if it," McDonald said.
“He is a proven wet tracker, he got through it well, he is fit and he’ll be a force to be reckoned with come the Derby.”
James McDonald, who rode the Baker-trained It's A Dundeel to win the 2013 Derby, rode
Quick Thinker on Saturday but has committed to Castelvecchio in the Derby.
"I would love to keep McDonald because he rode Dundeel, but he is riding Castelvecchio," Baker said.
"There will be someone looking for a good ride like my bloke."
There is a pool of 25 jockeys who can ride in Sydney after the state was divided into regions to help minimise contact among riders.
Although Saturday's 2000m-race is just a week before the Australian Derby (2400m), the tough performance by
Quick Thinker indicates he may be able to handle the back-up.
DYNAMIC LINKS:
Number 1:
QUICK THINKER is out of the mare
ACOUPLAMAS (pronounced - A Couple A Mars) because the mare is
by Al Maher from Mahira. There is a
MA in the sire’s name and a
MA in the dam’s name.
How do we know this?
Dynamic Syndications purchased ACOUPLAMAS as a yearling and syndicated the then filly and the co-owners gave her the name.
ACOUPLAMAS was a very handy racehorse, that never reached her true ability in racetrack deeds that she deserved.
Acouplamas (f Al Maher)
2 wins at 1000m, 1400m, 2d BRC Princess S.,
L, AJC Australia Day at Warwick Farm H.
She was a duck in the rain and loved soft to heavy going. She was placed another 3 occasions and was the subject to some very poorly judged rides in her career that prevented her career resume looking significantly stronger.
She also had a wonderful pedigree behind her, and after racing she was on-sold as a broodmare.
It’s here she has excelled.
ACOUPLAMAS has injected her untapped ability into her progeny. She is the
Dam of 3 winners. They are:
QUICK THINKER (c So You Think (NZ))
3 wins-1 at 2-from 1400m to 2000m, A$292,728, to 2019-20, ATC Tulloch S.,
Gr.2, Ming Dynasty H.,
Gr.3, ARC Champagne S.,
L, 2d Hawkes Bay Time Test H., 3d ATC Phar Lap S.,
Gr.2, Gloaming S.,
Gr.3.
$100,000 Yearling
The August (g I Am Invincible)
2 wins at 2, A$137,525, VRC Eugene Gorman 2YO H., 2d MRC HDF McNeil S.,
Gr.3, ATC Events by ATC H., Irresistible Pools & Spas H., 3d ATC Kia Canterbury Sprint H., 4th MRC Vain S.,
Gr.3.
$150,000 Yearling
Seasons. 4 wins at 1200m, 1250m, A$239,480, to 2019-20, ATC All Too Hard at Vinery H., Australian Turf Club H., UNSW H., Tab.com.au P., 2d ATC Catanach's H., Book Summer Hospitality H., Theraces P., 4th ATC Birthday Card S.,
Gr.3.
$110,000 Yearling
In addition, her 2019 yearling colt – now 2yo
by Zoustar sold for
$1,075,000 at the Magic Millions.
Every champion has a story and QUICK THINKER is no different.
He was purchased for $180,000 by James Bester as agent as a weanling at the Magic Millions weanling sale in 2016 and then re-offered at
Inglis Easter sale as a yearling in 2017 under the Coolmore Stud draft, where he
sold for $100,000, a loss of $80,000 plus holding costs.
As a racehorse he has a record of 10 starts: 3:2:2 Prizemoney: A$292,728
Number 2:
Knowing how well the family is growing out commercially and how well fillies in the family are being bred to commercial sires,
we have continued to keep our eyes out for close relations that are bred to commercial sires and where the resultant foal from the mating has a high genetic rating.
The planets aligned in 2020 at the Magic Millions yearling sale when late on the final session on the Saturday evening when
Lot 842, a filly by top new Arrowfield Stud based first crop sire SHALAA (IRE) from the mare TALENTED MISS was purchased by Dynamic Syndications for just $80,000 + GST.
Bred on the superb
INVINCIBLE SPIRIT x DANEHILL Cross with 21 Stakes Winners including Gr1 star LOVING GABY, there is more significance to the pedigree than just this excellent mating cross.
The Dam TALENTED MISS won two races at 1400m and 1600m and this is her first foal and importantly it is a filly.
The major advantage is that
TALENTED MISS is a Full-Sister to ACOUPLAMAS.
So, since we have purchased our filly on 11 January, there has been close up black-type improvements within the already commercial pedigree as
QUICK THINKER has added Saturday’s
win in the Gr2 TULLOCH STAKES and Gr2 placing in the PHAR LAP Stakes.
Also,
SEASONS added a Gr3 performance to the page in the ATC Birthday Card Hcp.
So, with
ACOUPLAMAS producing Stakes Horses with sires
SO YOU THINK, SEBRING and
I AM INVINCIBLE this will ensure our filly is in strong demand and have excellent residual as a broodmare when her racing days conclude.
Already she is
a 3/4 sister-in-blood to THE AUGUST, our filly becomes a
gilt-edged investment.
Naturally, we will be barracking home QUICK THINKER in next Saturday’s Gr1 ATC Derby.