The eyes of the past meet the present when Sky Boy lines up in the Villiers Stakes at Randwick on Saturday.
It is a race which will have a big say in the future of the emerging four-year-old that carries the Think Big Stud brand proudly.
Pedigree: Villiers hope Sky Boy continues the highly successful Dato Tan Chin Nam and Cummings partnership.Credit:Paul Rovere
“This is part of a plan to get to the Doncaster. Thats the race for him,” co-trainer Anthony Cummings said. “The Villiers will decide which path he has to take but he is a very special horse to our family.
“He dates back to a more than 50-year friendship between the Cummings and Chin Nam families and could add another page to a fabulous tradition.”
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Sky Boy races in the famous colours of Dato Tan Chin Nam, those that Saintly and So You Think took to so many victories along with a horde of others. But more importantly he draws his roots from when two of the greats of the Australian turf, the billionaire owner and Cups King Bart Cummings, were still buying yearlings in their twilight years.
“The great thing about this horse is he is a product of mating two of Datos horses that Bart trained,” bloodstock agent Duncan Ramage said. “I might have signed for Pendragon and Zazabelle under the DGR banner, but there were three sets of eyes that choose them like always.
Favourite: Sky Boy heads into the Villiers at Randwick on Saturday on a four-race winning streak.Credit:AAP
“It was always like that when we used to get to the sales together. We would look at them together and make our decisions. It made Dato very proud that horses he raced and that were trained by his great friend had produced a really nice horse like Sky Boy.”
Chin Nam died in October as Sky Boy started the winning streak which has him at the top of betting for the 1600m Villiers.
“His last bet while he was alive was on Sky Boy when he won on the Kensington track and he made sure he was on him at Randwick on Cox Plate day after he died,” Ramage said. “He would have enjoyed that.”
While Sky Boy traces his breeding back a generation at Think Big Stud, he has passed through three generations of the Cummings family with Barts son Anthony and grandson Edward bringing the best out of him this preparation.
He started his racing career with James Cummings before he signed with Godolphin.
“We knew he was a nice horse but he needed time when I gave him a run as a two-year-old. It is great to see what he has become this preparation,” he said.
James Cummings will saddle Duca Valentinois and Goulburn Cup winner Interlocuter against his father and brothers emerging miler on Saturday.
The Cummings partnership planned to have Sky Boy in the Villiers six months ago and wanted to get some race craft into him in the build-up. He won at 1550m and 2000m twice before dropping back to 1800m, when he took a sit and ran away to win three weeks ago.
“He has been learning around the way,” jockey Christian Reith said. “Because he is lightly-raced he gets more seasoned with every run and that win where he sat off them last time was very important. He gets in with a light weight and the right preparation for his toughest test and hes ready.”
Anthony Cummings believes the Villiers will continue that development.
“We think he will be better in the autumn and the Doncaster is the target. If he can win this race it makes it easier for us because we know he is in the Doncaster,” he said. “I think he is up to that level and thats why has had the long campaign … to get him the race craft to cope with this day and to win a Villiers.”
Racing writer for The Sydney Morning Herald
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The eyes of the past meet the present when Sky Boy lines up in the Villiers Stakes at Randwick on Saturday.
It is a race which will have a big say in the future of the emerging four-year-old that carries the Think Big Stud brand proudly.
Pedigree: Villiers hope Sky Boy continues the highly successful Dato Tan Chin Nam and Cummings partnership.Credit:Paul Rovere
“This is part of a plan to get to the Doncaster. Thats the race for him,” co-trainer Anthony Cummings said. “The Villiers will decide which path he has to take but he is a very special horse to our family.
“He dates back to a more than 50-year friendship between the Cummings and Chin Nam families and could add another page to a fabulous tradition.”
Advertisement
Sky Boy races in the famous colours of Dato Tan Chin Nam, those that Saintly and So You Think took to so many victories along with a horde of others. But more importantly he draws his roots from when two of the greats of the Australian turf, the billionaire owner and Cups King Bart Cummings, were still buying yearlings in their twilight years.
“The great thing about this horse is he is a product of mating two of Datos horses that Bart trained,” bloodstock agent Duncan Ramage said. “I might have signed for Pendragon and Zazabelle under the DGR banner, but there were three sets of eyes that choose them like always.
Favourite: Sky Boy heads into the Villiers at Randwick on Saturday on a four-race winning streak.Credit:AAP
“It was always like that when we used to get to the sales together. We would look at them together and make our decisions. It made Dato very proud that horses he raced and that were trained by his great friend had produced a really nice horse like Sky Boy.”
Chin Nam died in October as Sky Boy started the winning streak which has him at the top of betting for the 1600m Villiers.
“His last bet while he was alive was on Sky Boy when he won on the Kensington track and he made sure he was on him at Randwick on Cox Plate day after he died,” Ramage said. “He would have enjoyed that.”
While Sky Boy traces his breeding back a generation at Think Big Stud, he has passed through three generations of the Cummings family with Barts son Anthony and grandson Edward bringing the best out of him this preparation.
He started his racing career with James Cummings before he signed with Godolphin.
“We knew he was a nice horse but he needed time when I gave him a run as a two-year-old. It is great to see what he has become this preparation,” he said.
James Cummings will saddle Duca Valentinois and Goulburn Cup winner Interlocuter against his father and brothers emerging miler on Saturday.
The Cummings partnership planned to have Sky Boy in the Villiers six months ago and wanted to get some race craft into him in the build-up. He won at 1550m and 2000m twice before dropping back to 1800m, when he took a sit and ran away to win three weeks ago.
“He has been learning around the way,” jockey Christian Reith said. “Because he is lightly-raced he gets more seasoned with every run and that win where he sat off them last time was very important. He gets in with a light weight and the right preparation for his toughest test and hes ready.”
Anthony Cummings believes the Villiers will continue that development.
“We think he will be better in the autumn and the Doncaster is the target. If he can win this race it makes it easier for us because we know he is in the Doncaster,” he said. “I think he is up to that level and thats why has had the long campaign … to get him the race craft to cope with this day and to win a Villiers.”
Racing writer for The Sydney Morning Herald
