An impressive group of mares awaits the arrival of top line international galloper So You Think at Coolmore Australia as the multiple Group 1 winner prepares for his last race track appearance prior to commencing stud duties.
The draft of mares consists of multiple Group 1 winners and includes Crown Oaks winners Faith Perfume and Magical Miss, Queensland Derby winner Dariana, Queensland Oaks winner Eskimo Queen, and Coolmore Classic winner Danni Martine.
So You Think’s speed and stamina will also be matched up with the brilliant Golden Slipper winner Merlene and Group 1 winning mare Nova Star who took out the Winter Stakes over 1400m at Eagle Farm.
Duncan Ramage, the racing manager for So You Think’s part-owner Dato Tan Chin Nam, has confirmed that the dual Cox Plate winner will enter quarantine after Saturday’s Group 1 £400,000 Coral – Eclipse (1 mile 2 furlongs 7 yards) at Sandown in England.
“It is my understanding that this will be his last race,” Rampage said.
“There is nothing on the racing calendar for him after the Eclipse that allows him to enter quarantine at the required time so he can be on the stallions plane that returns back to Australia.
“All good things have got to come to an end at some stage and it just means a new chapter of his life will begin.
“He can’t keep going forever.
“During his time with Coolmore he has enjoyed the best of care, the best facilities and the best of time.”
Champion Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien took over the preparation of So You Think after his third to Americain in the 2010 Melbourne Cup and managed to win five Group 1s with the magnificent stallion, equalling Bart Cummings’ five Group 1 wins with six year old in Australia.
O’Brien has resurrected the winning form of So You Think who was struggling to win a race over the last nine months but is now going into his farewell appearance with two Group 1 wins behind him.
So You Think was back in the winner’s stall when he took out the Group 1 £165,000 Tattersalls Gold Cup (1 mile, 2 1/4 furlongs) at the Curragh on May 27 and then followed that with a dominate win over Charlton House in the Group 1 £400,000 150th Anniversary Of Prince Of Wales’s Stakes (1 mile 2 furlongs) at Royal Ascot on June 20
After the win at Royal Ascot, O’Brien was quick to admit that he finally listened to advice that had come his way from Australia on how to turn So You Think’s form around.
“I think we’ve had him a year and a half and it’s taken me that long to learn how to train him. We went back and listened to what everybody was saying about him, listened to what Bart was saying and telling us what to do and what not to do. We listened at the end,” O’Brien said.
“We felt he was in a place today he’s never been in before. I was delighted to hear what Bart had to say as he was speaking from the heart and I was probably over-working the horse and galloping the speed out of him instead of letting him be natural.”
O’Brien would like So You Think to be in the same “place” for his final appearance for the Ballydoyle stable and would be wanting him to retire from the racetrack on a winning note.
“The plan is to run So You Think once we are happy with him during the week,” O’Brien said.
“He is in good form.”