Gold Standard in winning form in the Selangor
Charles Faull is a man with strong, but usually insightful opinions. As Form Organisation were instrumental in recommending the horse to Drakenstein Stud Farm, we approached Charles to find out just why he thinks Gold Standard is so special and share his thoughts on this year’s Met.
“The public need to be informed of the possibility that this horse might stay and the key lies in the dam line, because it carries a strong stamina influence. A week after the Selangor, I bumped into Glen Kotzen in a little restaurant in Kenilworth with Gold Standard’s owner, Mr Hattingh. I said well done on the Selangor and ended up sitting down and joining them. During the course of our conversation, Glen said he would like to win the Guineas and the Derby and then see the horse go on to stud the way they do in Australia, however his feeling was that the Guineas trip would be too short for the horse’s liking. That made me prick my ears as Gold Standard is by Trippi, who is generally considered a speed sire. Then Glen said that he thinks the horse’s optimal distance would be 2000m or even the July distance. This was very interesting to someone like me who thinks he knows Trippi pretty well, so I went home and pulled out the pedigree.”
“We know all about Trippi, so let’s examine the damline. Gold Standard is out of Olympic Dam, who by Model Man out of Olympic Duel, so his dam is bred by a champion, out of a champion. Olympic Duel won 13 races, including the equivalent of 8 Gr1’s. She was a serious Met winner and she placed in the July and was named Champion Filly three times.”
Her dam, Mashka, was owned by Luke Bailes and bred two champions – Olympic Duel and Dancing Duel – and was twice named Broodmare of the Year. It is also worth noting that Mashka is strongly inbred to the Lord Derby-bred mare Aurora via the great Alycidon and Borealis. Aurora bred the great Alycidon who appears as the damsire of the mighty New South Wales. Aurora has proven to have a breed-shaping influence on the breed and her influence is stamina and classic ability (classic being 1600 – 2400m).”
“Trippi has proven that he can produce a stayer, if he is put to the correct mare, as evidenced by his son Trippi’s Storm in the USA.”
“While I was at the Cape Premier Yearling Sale, I bumped into jockey MJ Byleveld, who rode William Longsword in the Cape Guineas. I said I wanted to get a feel for the strength of the Guineas field and MJ commented that William Longsword is without a doubt the best horse he’s ever ridden. And he said I could quote him on that.”
Met Assessment
Charles Faull (photo: Form Organisation)
“Gold Standard is a 3yo, so by my WFA calculations, he should be getting 15 lbs from the 5 yo’s and 13 lbs from the 4yo’s in the field. As things stand, he’s getting 17.6 lbs from Legal Eagle and is therefore 2.6 lbs better off according to my WFA scale. However, he is 2 lbs worse off against Captain America, who is 2kgs better off than he was last year. It’s worth remembering that Captain America is out of a Fort Wood mare and deserves strong respect over this trip. Gold Standard is also 1 lbs worse off against Whisky Baron.”
“We found Gold Standard a compelling prospect based on 4 factors:-
1. His run in the Guineas and in particular the manner in which he was closing in the straight;
2. His beautiful classic looks and temperament;
3. The fact that Glen Kotzen expressed an opinion straight after the Selangor that he feels 1600m is at the bottom end of the horse’s range, predicting that he would prefer 2000 – 2200m and thinks he could stay 2400m. Glen is also of the opinion that he’s an exceptional racehorse;
4. Asked for an assessment on the strength of this year’s Guineas field, MJ Byleveld said without any hesitation that William Longsword was without a doubt the best horse he’s ever ridden and will stay 2000m.”
“In conclusion, he is bred to stay, his trainer thinks highly of him and he has a tremendously powerful pedigree. The public should be advised not to be fooled into thinking that because he’s by Trippi, he’s just a speed horse.”
“My point is, the horse’s connections only have 1 dream and that’s to be first past the post, however it’s the first four that count for the man in the street and I suggest that this horse should be considered for the exotics.”
