The following story about Yardstick appears in Friday 14 August edition of the Thoroughbred Daily News TDN AusNZ written by Bren O'Brien.
Before
Yardstick (by Criterion {NZ}) had even debuted, the
colt's trainers Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott and managing owners Dynamic Syndications, had earmarked Saturday's
Gr3 Up And Coming S. as the race where they would see where he
“measured-up” against the best 3-year-olds.
Yardstick winning at Canterbury
Yardstick tackles the Up And Coming, which has been won by some of Australia's future star stallions such as
Snitzel, Fastnet Rock and Exceed And Excel over the years, as the equal-least experienced runner, having debuted with a win at Canterbury last month.
The step from midweek maiden to black-type may be a big one, but at this time of the season, horses can make significant improvement, and having dominated with his on-pace win at his first start, Yardstick's connections feel he is
ready to be tested at stakes level.
"We’ve known from the day we put a saddle on him that he was he a bit special," Dynamic Syndications' Dean Watt told TDN AusNZ.
YARDSTICK as a yearling carrying the Newgate Farm brand of N
"We didn’t get to race him earlier in his 2-year-old season because he pulled up shinsore from his first trial, and we had to tip him out.
"But he's grown into his frame now. He trialled brilliantly first-up and before the second trial, which to the eye didn’t look as good, but we tried something different and we got Nash to hold him up and conserve energy and sprint off the front, which he did and won, but Nash came back and said he was a much better horse allowed to roll.
"So Nash did that at his first race start and we saw that accordingly."
"in the Up and Coming we knew he would get the limit under the weight scale and Nash wouldn't be able to make the weight so we struck early and booked Tim Clark. Tim has been wasting hard to get to 53.0kgs and we acknowledge his commitment to the team."
A rare find
Watt is particularly excited about Yardstick because of the rarity of his pedigree, being by Criterion (NZ), who endured fertility issues which significantly limited his number of foals.
The multiple Group 1 champion, who has subsequently been retired from stud duties, has only had three to the track, for two winners,
Yardstick and Blaze A Trail, who is a dual winner for Matthew Vella.
It was that rarefied opportunity that intrigued Watt when he visited the 2019 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
"What is exciting about him is that he was one of only two colts available for the first crop of Criterion. He's a rare horse, and they won't make many others given Criterion's known issues with his fertility," he said.
"We wanted to buy one at the yearling sales, come hell or high water and there weren't that many available." - Dean Watt
"My son and business partner Adam was convinced that Criterion would
make the grade and was determined for us to buy a yearling by the sire.
We wanted to buy one, come hell or high water and there weren't that
many available. He only had four or so yearlings go through in total
that year.
YARDSTICK at the Yearling Sales
"He was our pick, because to us, the way we do our genetic ratings, he was the best bred of them and when we saw him as a type, we knew we wanted him."
Watt saw off determined challenge from the colt's, and Criterion's, breeder Sir Owen Glenn's bloodstock agent Paul Moroney, to secure him from Newgate's draft for $160,000.
"He was the only Criterion in that crop that wasn't purchased by Sir Owen Glenn, and he was the underbidder on him," Watt said.
"Henry Field from Newgate, where he was raised, came over and said he was such a beautiful athlete who had impressed him all the way through. He asked to buy into him, which was a great recommendation."
The ownership group was completed a few months later when Watt and Sir Owen ran into each other at the Randwick races.
"I could tell he wasn't happy to have missed out on this guy. After a bit of chat and another glass of champagne, Owen became an owner in this horse as well," he said.
"We sent him to Gai, because she trained the dam Exceliene, so it made sense for her to train him."
Exceliene (Exceed And Excel) is a three-time winner out of a sister to French stakes-winner Victorian Order (GB) (Zaminder {USA}) as well as the dam of Domesday. It is also the extended family of international Group 1 winners Xaar (GB) and Senure (USA) (Nureyev {USA}).
Yardstick returns a winner on debut
"How good is he? Well I think he has the female pedigree to be something special. He has the physique to be something special and he's by a stallion who was an absolute out-and-out freak of a racehorse. What does that mean? We will find out after the race on Saturday, but I have to give a lot of credit to Adam who has micro-managed this colt all the way through from breaking-in, early training, sending him to Matt Vella at the start of this preparation to get Yardstick's Alpha Male manners in order before returning to Randwick and now to line up in this race." Watt said.
Hawkes colt shapes as a main threat
Watt is under no illusions about the
quality of opposition Yardstick will tackle on Saturday, especially the highly rated Team Hawkes-trained colt
North Pacific (Brazen Beau) and the Ciaron Maher / David Eustace trained
Holyfield.
"I think he's very good (North Pacific). However, there are 9 runners and any of them could win. This was the race we picked out for our horse before he had even debuted. We knew that he would get in on the limit and at that stage, it was set to be held on the Kenso track, which would suit him very well.
"It's been changed to the course proper and the rail has been moved out, but he gets in very well with 53kg on his back. He'll be running along on the pace and North Pacific will meet him 3.5kgs worse and spot him a head start. Does that mean he won't sail on by? We will wait and see, but I would think our boy will be very competitive.
"My only concern is that the 1300m may be a touch sharp now as he definitely wants further but class horses can achieve at all trips.
"This is our way of getting ourselves into the Golden Rose, if he is good enough. If he can win along the way, that’d be great, but whatever he does in the spring, he will be so much better in the autumn."