Astoria Brooke (NZ) (American Pharoah) has inherited a number of qualities from her dam Astor, most importantly her talent on the track, which was evident with back-to-back victories at Hawera on Sunday.
A filly by American Pharoah, Astoria Brooke is prepared by Cody Cole, just as Astor was when she delivered the Matamata horseman his first stakes victory in the Listed Mufhasa Fasttrack Stakes (1300m) in 2018. Astor (NZ) (Iffraaj) was subsequently bred from by Trelawney Stud, who entrusted her daughter with Cole for breaking in.
“I broke her in for Brent and Cherry (Taylor) and she was quite hard work both mentally and physically, she was quite unsound back then,” Cole said. “She was initially meant to be heading to Australia, but because of her issues they opted to leave her with us and send another over to Peter Moody.
“It was really kind of them to do so, then she was late scratched in the gates at Matamata early on, so she’s not been straightforward.
“She’s going the right way now which is good, because I’ve always had a lot of time for her.”
Astoria Brooke has found her place on the track, with two wins prior to Sunday’s Rating 75 contest including a last start victory over Monday Melody (Snitzel) earlier in May.
In the hands of Craig Grylls, the filly settled in fourth as Bay Express (NZ) (Shamexpress) set a strong tempo in the testing conditions at Hawera. The field were all well and truly off the bit turning for home and Astoria Brooke travelled better than most, finding her momentum and keeping up a strong gallop to salute by three quarters of a length to McKhan (NZ) (Mongolian Khan).
“We were pretty confident she could run a bold race, my only reservation was that she’d been up a while and she’d had a couple of unlucky runs after her run in the Eight Carat (Gr.2, 1600m),” Cole said.
“It was nice to get a win at Te Rapa and after she came through that so well, we thought we would press on for one more and hopefully get her in a nice position in the rating points for the spring. I think she’s well capable of looking at some better options.
“Astor was very hard work to train herself, that was probably one of the reasons she ended up with me as well. But they both have a will to win and even Craig got off yesterday and said she’ll make the grade, she wasn’t really copping the track, but she gave her all to get over the line in front.
“That’s definitely a trait they both share.”
Astoria Brooke is off for a deserved spell and the same fate likely lies ahead for stablemate Old Bill Bone (NZ) (Swiss Ace), who continued his enviable record when powering late to win a competitive Manuka Doctor (1200m) at Ellerslie on Saturday.
Old Bill Bone had never finished out of the first two in five starts and faced his toughest task to date in the Rating 75 contest, where Reptak (NZ) (Shocking) ripped into his work and strung the field out down the back straight.
Watching on from Trentham, Cole thought his charge was out of contention when under pressure at the 600m, but he was pleasantly surprised to see the son of Swiss Ace charge over the top in an exciting finish.
“I thought at the 600, ‘we can’t win here’, he was off the bridle and chasing,” Cole said. “But when he got balanced up and Ryan (Elliot) asked him, he really quickened up quite nicely.
“He just seems to find a way to get himself right in the finish.”
With just six starts now under his belt, Old Bill Bone is a late-maturing horse and Cole believes he has plenty of upside heading into next season.
“He was just immature physically and took a lot of time to put it together, and mentally, he’s still just really figuring it out in his last few runs,” he said.
“I haven’t talked to Russell Warwick from Westbury (Stud) yet, but looking at the programme, there doesn’t seem to be anything suitable at Ellerslie for him and that would probably be the only place we would get a decent track. He’s not a horse you can back-up or race too often either.
“It’s more than likely that he’ll head to the paddock now and look towards the spring.”
Out of a Postponed mare Simplicity, Old Bill Bone is a full-brother to stablemate St Giles, a winner of his last two starts.
Looking ahead to the new week, Cole is hoping to continue an outstanding run of form that has him currently placed within the top 10 on the trainer’s premiership with a career-best of 33 winners.
His contenders this week will include Group performer Renovations after she came through her latest success at Wanganui with flying colours.
“We’re going to give Renovations one more run, she’s come through Wanganui absolutely bouncing out of her skin and the weather looks good this week, so we’re going to keep her in,” he said.
“She’ll head to the three-year-old 1400 at Te Rapa, Rareza will most likely head there as well in the Rating 75 1400m. “We scratched The Nomad over the weekend and he’ll head to New Plymouth on Saturday.”