By Trevor Marshallsea
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Pierata colt bidding to breakthrough at the top level after a few near misses
Matt Laurie has warned Coleman (Pierata) – the colt who barged his way into his stable against the trainer’s initial plans – has now slipped under a lot of people’s guards as he hunts overdue top-level glory in Saturday’s stallion-making contest, the Coolmore Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m).
Much focus out of this month’s Roman Consul Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) at Rosehill has centred on Coolmore’s $1.5 million glamour colt Switzerland (Snitzel), who returned to the winners’ circle after a fading eighth in the Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) and a first-up last of nine in the Run To The Rose (Gr 2, 1200m).
But Laurie insists that while beaten two lengths into second, Coleman’s Roman Consul run was every bit as strong.
Laurie’s colt was soft from the gates and raced two horses behind Switzerland in second-last place as a fierce pace ensued up front. While Coleman was taken to the outside by Kerrin McEvoy, Switzerland took a short-cut up the inside to score.
Despite the clear winning margin, Laurie says Coleman was on an inferior part of the straight, and that the clock shows the full merit of his run.
Coleman clocked faster sectionals than Switzerland in three of the last four furlongs, and posted a slightly superior last 600 metres of 32.84 seconds to the winner’s 32.93.
“We took him up there thinking he could be winning,” the Mornington trainer told ANZ Bloodstock News, “but we were a bit disappointed with the way it unfolded.
“He was slow away, they hiked along, and he couldn’t quite tack on. But he rounded it out very well, towards the outside, which probably wasn’t as good ground as where Switzerland went.
“My bloke ran as good as the winner – it was just the way it played out. If you look at the times, he did for sure. If he’d gone back to the inside, it would’ve been a two horse race to the finish. So I don’t think there’s much between them.”
That’s a case for Coleman at least matching it with Switzerland in the $2 million Coolmore. Then there’s Growing Empire (Zoustar), Traffic Warden (Street Boss), and a few others to consider.
Bookmakers have Growing Empire and Traffic Warden vying for favouritism at around the $3.50 mark, with Switzerland $5, and Coleman seventh in the market at around $15.
Laurie believes that’s over the odds, especially after Coleman looked strong when second in an 800-metre jump-out featuring several Coolmore rivals last Friday. Traffic Warden came in fourth some two lengths behind Coleman, with Switzerland close behind in fifth.
None of the trio were asked for much effort, with the jump-out more an initial try at the Flemington straight for all three, but Laurie was heartened by his colt’s performance.
“He took to it very well,” Laurie said. “If anything he was a touch keen, but he was dead straight and wasn’t concerned about it at all. So we think the straight run will really suit him.
“Hopefully, we can travel in the middle to the outside. That’s where the winners have been coming in these straight races. We just need a bit of luck with our draw, and be around the right horses, but I’m really happy with how he’s going to go. He looks a million dollars and we’re really looking forward to it.”
Laurie, and bloodstock agent Justin Bahen, weren’t looking for a colt when they went to the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in 2023. Then the yearling who would become Coleman happened by.
The pair didn’t just buy the young horse who would become Coleman. They went to $550,000 to secure him, with the backing of his now managing owner Rob Cummings, whose colours are also shared by Mornington Glory (Shalaa) among others.
Their new colt was well-bred. His dam Sboog (Redoute’s Choice) was an eight-race maiden but was a $1 million yearling, sold by breeders Emirates Park to Gerald Ryan at Inglis Easter yearling sale in 2011, and a half-sister to multiple stakes winners Rothesay (Fastnet Rock) and Sensei (Dream Ahead).
Bred by Victoria’s Kulani Park, Coleman is now the second stakes winner among four foals to race for Sboog (Redoute’s Choice), the other being dual Perth Listed-winning mare Liwa (Mulaazem).
“We loved him,” Laurie said. “I wasn’t going to buy a colt at that particular sale, but we came across him and he changed our mind.
“He was obviously a very attractive colt, but he had the right physical look about him to be a good speed horse, and he looked a special horse.
“At the end of the day you’re just trying to pick out a good style of horse, and an athlete. If he was a Snitzel or an I Am Invincible, he’d have been a million dollar colt comfortably.”
Instead he was by Yulong’s first-season sire Pierata (Pierro). He was a stallion Laurie had admired nonetheless. He would also end up third on Australia’s first season sires’ table, and it shows what good judges think of him that champion mare Imperatriz (I Am Invincible) has just had her maiden cover with him.
“Pierata was a tough horse. It took him a little while to win his Group 1, but he ran in a lot of them,” Laurie said of the Greg Hickman-trained sprinter, who ran at the top level 11 times, scoring at his eighth attempt in the 2019 edition of the All Aged Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m).
Such a record, enhanced – or exacerbated – by two 0.1 length seconds and a third, serves as a reminder that they’re not called Group 1s for nothing.
Coleman has knocked on that door five times already in his nine starts.
Winning in Listed and Group 3 class at Caulfield in his first two runs, he was $3.40 favourite in the Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) but flopped on the big stage, being slowly away and never in the hunt, eventually finishing 13th.
Many wrote him off, but he ran a 0.14 length second at $41 in the Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) to Lady Of Camelot (Written Tycoon), who’ll be another rival on Saturday.
Coleman then franked his Slipper run when third, at $8, in Randwick’s Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) on a Heavy 8, his only try at worse than a Soft 6 to date.
Before his Roman Consul run, Coleman was tried at the top tier against older horses at weight-for-age in his first two runs this campaign, for meritorious sixths in Moonee Valley’s Moir Stakes (Gr 1, 1000m) and Manikato Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m), the former won by his Cummings “team-mate”, the Gavin Bedggood-trained Mornington Glory.
Laurie knows how tough it is to win at the top level. His first came with Escado (Casino Prince) in the 2013 South Australian Derby (Gr 1, 2500m). His only other one has been with Portland Sky (Deep Field) in the 2021 Oakleigh Plate (Gr 1, 1100m), and even then he had to settle for half of the glory in a dead-heat with Celebrity Queen (Redoute’s Choice).
“Of course we’ve been wanting to knock a Group 1 off with Coleman, but they don’t give them away,” he said.
“We came pretty close in the Golden Slipper, which was his best run to date. He was exposed a bit far from home unfortunately. It told a bit late, and you walk away thinking what what could have been.
“But, you’ve just got to be patient and keep doing what we’re doing. The horse is clearly up to it.
“Hopefully it’ll be this week, in this stallion maker. This would seal his future, although he’ll be at stud eventually, no doubt. He’s just got to add to his CV a little bit.
“It’s not going to be easy. Group 1s never are. Switzerland is obviously a class act, you’ve got Traffic Warden going particularly well, and a few others. It’s a good batch of horses, but I’m very happy to have my horse.”