'He was a very, very expensive horse' - but Gold Trip proves worth every penny

The ability of Australian Bloodstock’s Jamie Lovett and Luke Murrell to source quality international horses suitable for down under once again came to the fore on Tuesday, when Gold Trip delivered the Newcastle syndicators their second Melbourne Cup.

Eight years after the German-bred Protectionist won the Cup for Australian Bloodstock, and 12 months since Gold Trip was controversially ruled out of the 2021 spring carnival, the Ciaron Maher and David Eustace-trained entire carried the same colours to victory in the famous race.

By Outstrip, a Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf-winning son of champion reverse shuttler Exceed And Excel, who was sold last year to stand in Brazil after beginning his stud career at Darley’s Dalham Hall Stud, Gold Trip was bred in France and was initially trained by Fabrice Chappet to win once and be placed three times at Group 1 level prior to his sale to Australian Bloodstock at a reported cost of A$2.3 million (£1.28m/€1.49m).

After his planned spring campaign was derailed last year by Racing Victoria’s compulsory veterinary scans, he finally began his campaign on the NSW-Victoria border last July, finishing runner-up in a lowly barrier trial at Albury as a lead-in to a first-up third in the Winter Challenge Stakes.

He returned to Victoria to finish third in the Naturalism Stakes in September, ran fifth in the Turnbull Stakes, was runner-up to Durston, who was ruled out of Tuesday’s race due to the veterinary scans, in the Caulfield Cup and he was a luckless runner in the Cox Plate when ninth.

"We were pulling our hair out thinking we've done our clients’ money," Ciaron Maher Racing’s bloodstock manager Will Bourne told Racing.com yesterday.

"But they [owners] were very fair and patient, they didn't put too much pressure on us and now here he is, a Melbourne Cup winner.

"It is very hard to buy horses that are this expensive, but Jamie and I teamed up and we both agreed he was the one to buy.

"I think we got outbid at one stage, I think the Saudis tried to buy him, but they fell out and we ended up getting the horse two weeks later.

"He was a very, very expensive horse, so when we couldn't get a run in the Cox Plate, the owners were very good and very patient. To come back 12 months later and win a Melbourne Cup has made up for it."

Lovett said: "He's a very classy horse and I wasn't sure whether we'd ever get to a Melbourne Cup, but after he had that soft run in the Cox Plate when he didn't get a chance to let down, I thought, 'This could be his chance for a Cup'.”

Outstrip is out of the El Prado mare Asi Siempre, a winner of the Grade 1 Spinster Stakes and useful on both grass and dirt in America, and has produced a few stakes winners around Europe but nothing of the calibre of Gold Trip. He has been standing at Fazenda Mondesir.

Gold Trip is out of the Aga Khan mare Sarvana, who was unplaced in one minor race in France but is a sibling of Group 3-winning miler Sarkiyla.

Bred by Michel Monfort, he was sold by Haras de Grandcamp as a yearling at Arqana for €60,000 and began life for Jean-Louis Bouchard and the Chappet stable.

A winner of the Group 2 Prix Greffulhe in 2020, Gold Trip was fourth to Sottsass in that year's Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and moved under the Australian Bloodstock umbrella after finishing third to Broome in last year's Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud.

Gold Trip is the second foal out of Sarvana with her first, Got Wind, collecting Listed placings and now a broodmare herself from the Monford family's Haras de Treli.

There has been only one other runner to date, a three-year-old by Ultra named Gotha, but she has a two-year-old colt by Shalaa and a Wootton Bassett yearling filly who was bought privately by Maurizio Guarnieri and Ecurie Vitale.

Sarvana, by Dubai Destination, was sold to David Redvers in foal to Sottsass for €280,000 last year.

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