Tycoons have a bargain in Estadio Mestalla!

Feb 7, 2024

The scream of “You bloody beauty” echoed around the saddling yard when Estadio Mestalla posted the most thrilling of victories at Rosehill Gardens on Saturday February 3rd.

The joy, excitement and thrill of winning at Rosehill on a Saturday was there for all to see, with the promise of more to come from the horse the Pride stable simply calls ‘Emilio’.

Helluva Barty Racing at Doomben on 28th Oct 2023

BARGAIN BUY

The commentators on 7 Racing and Sky Racing all told the remarkable story of Estadio Mestalla. 

Purchased for only $65,000 by the NSW Tycoons on the Inglis digital sale in late November, the decision was quickly made to send the horse to Joe Pride with Joe taking 50% of the horse for himself and his clients. 

At his first start, he was beaten a neck at Rosehill, then finished a gallant second at Royal Randwick before winning at Rosehill. 

In just three starts, Estadio has virtually doubled his purchase price, winning a total of $118,000. 

Bellinger in the stalls pre-race at Bendigo

“He still has a couple of levels of improvement in him”  Trainer Joe Pride

Hot Spring Gold Racing

JOE ON THE 7-DAY BACK-UP

Your trainer Joe Pride is a genius backing horses up in the space of 7 days – it’s a real knack. 

“I don’t normally back my horses up off a peak performance, but I do like doing it when they haven’t had a tough run and I reckon that was the case with Emilio last Saturday at Randwick. 

Look I leave these decisions right till race morning so if he wasn’t right I just would have scratched him,” Pride said.

The wild celebrations in the mounting yard certainly meant Joe made the right call on the 7-day back-up. 

“I’m sure everyone enjoyed that, and I reckon the horse still has a couple of levels of improvement left in him. 

We will probably give him a break soon enough, we will let him tell us. 

There is a Mile race coming up on Saturday week (Feb 17) at Randwick we will look at. 

But if he shows me any sign that he’s had enough, I will tip him out, and we will have a very nice horse in the late Winter where, with his European background, the softer tracks should suit him better”. Joe said.

“We will have a very nice horse in the late winter” Trainer Joe Pride

 

BIG DANCE POSSIBILITY

It’s always hard NOT to get ahead of yourself, but the $3 Million Big Dance at Royal Randwick on Melbourne Cup is a possible aim for Estadio Mestalla. 

There’s a lot of water to go under the bridge and he’d have to qualify by winning or coming second in a Country Cup, but he’s probably up to that. 

The South Grafton Cup on July 14 or the Coffs Harbour Cup on August 2 are possible races Emilio could target with the aim of qualifying for The Big Dance. 

Again, it’s early days, but let’s dare to dream, after all it’s what Racing is all about.

 

NSW TYCOONS IN BOX SEAT FOR MONTHLY $10,000

It’s only early days and there’s nothing worse in racing than “Going the early crow” but the wins of Estadio Mestalla and Sidenay have certainly put the NSW Tycoons in the box seat to win the $10,000 in cash that is up for grabs for topping the Monthly TRL Ladder, and the Blues are rapidly closing the gap to Season leaders the QLD Rogues for the $50,000 grand prize that one owner will win!! It’s only going to get more exciting.

Go You Good Thing!

Images Courtesy of Bradley Photos

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BOUNCE BACK FACTOR 

As Tycoons were made aware of, there’s a theory in racing that when a horse suffers from cardiac arrhythmia, “you must back it next start” and they win. 

And that was certainly the message after Cool Jakey suffered cardiac arrhythmia the previous start at Randwick, with Joe Pride telling Tycoons in the pre-race late mail, “Don’t worry about what happened last start, the horse is fine and he looks great,” how right Joe was with Cool Jakey leading all the way.

COOL JAKEY THE KING OF WARWICK FARM 050325

Cool Jakey battling to the line with Emmadella

Cool Jakey trainer Joe Pride, Brave Pride, Jockey Adam Hyeronimus and TK

Trainer Joe Pride and son Brave Pride, Jockey Adam Hyeronimus and TRL Rep TK

HIPPO FROM BARRIER TO BOX

Adam Hyeronimus was having his first sit on Cool Jakey and he rode him a treat. We joked before the race “just go to the front and improve your position” and that’s exactly what he did. 

“He jumped well and found a nice rhythm straight away, he had a nice time so I let him slide early into it at the 600metres so we did go a bit early. 

“He felt fantastic throughout the run and was doing it easily, so I did get a bit of a surprise how quickly he stopped. 

“So maybe I did go too early, but in saying that, maybe seven furlongs is his upper limit. On that effort he’ll be winning again” Jockey Adam Hyeronimus said.

JOE DELIGHTED

“That was good guys” trainer Joe Pride said, with a big smile to a large contingent of NSW Tycoons on Cool Jakey returning to scale. 

“Look it was nice to see him win on a track that wasn’t bottomless wet, it opens up a lot more opportunities for him. 

“In saying that if there was a 1400m for him in a fortnight on a Good track I would probably be reluctant to start him. We need to nurse him through it and the next month – six weeks isn’t going to be easy because it’s carnival time. 

Cool Jakey the king of Warwick Farm with NSW Tycoons

Cool Jakey in the winners circle with NSW Tycoons’ owners

WHATS NEXT – PACK YOUR BAGS

The Tycoons have been very patient with Cool Jakey and their patience has been rewarded. He is building a very nice career record which stands at only 13 starts for 5 wins and a minor placing and is now pushing the $200,000 in prize money. 

‘Jakey’ has initially pulled up well, but we all know that he is a delicate soul and has to be treated with kindness and Joe is reluctant to push him too hard too quickly. Which is fair enough. 

“We might even consider travelling him maybe to Melbourne or Brisbane for a wet track, we just need to look after him.

“He’s been a good horse for us, we will look after him and his best opportunities will come in the Winter,” Joe concluded. 

Congratulations to all NSW Tycoons and winning connections.

Go you good thing!

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