What an amazing twenty-four hours for the China Horse Club, Newgate Farm and partners, and champion stallion Snitzel with In the Congo winning the Group I ATC Golden Rose, less than 24 hours after Wild Ruler won the Group I MVRC Moir Stakes.
The Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained In The Congo ran a top-class field of three-year-old into the ground in Saturday’s $1,000,000 Group 1 XXXX Golden Rose (1400m) at Rosehill.
Racing in the colours of the China Horse Club, In The Congo kept up an energy sapping gallop under Tim Clark to defeat the red hot favourite Anamoe, who just could not catch the flying chestnut.
A real Mr Consistency, In the Congo advanced his record to three wins and three seconds from six starts with earnings of $784,775.
“He has a fantastic pedigree behind him and is a great type,” Adrian Bott said.
“He has always had that raw natural speed and we’ve been in a fortunate position to get the opportunity from Newgate Farm, Henry Field and the connections to try and make these stallion prospects and he has well and truly stamped that today.
“We weren’t concerned about the 1400m, we knew he had that high cruising speed. He has the ability to sustain that and that was what we wanted to do today. Make it a real test for a few of those. Take away some of their brilliance and bring in his assets like his high cruising speed and that toughness.
“He wears his heart on his sleeve every time he steps out. He was deserving a tough victory like this.
“We kept raising the bar from when he stepped out in the off season in the winter and through the early stages of the spring.
“We set him goals and he kept delivering.
“We’ll see how he comes through that now. We want to do the right thing by him.”
A $350,000 Inglis Easter purchase for China Horse Club / Newgate Bloodstock from the Newhaven Park draft, In the Congo was bred by Nordic Racing and Breeding.
In the Congo is the second foal and second winner from Via Africa (SAfr), a triple Group I winner and the Champion Sprinter in South Africa for 2013/2014.