Brando Unstoppable in Uncle Remus

Exciting colt Brando (NZ) (Savabeel) mastered the step up to stakes class with a dominant performance in Saturday’s Listed $60,000 Shaw’s Wire Ropes Uncle Remus Stakes (1400m) at Ellerslie.

Bought for $500,000 by Te Akau principal David Ellis from Riversley Park’s draft at the 2019 Ready to Run Sale, Brando has made a big impression with three wins from his four starts to date. His only defeat was a second placing on debut behind a subsequent stakes performer, and he has quickly racked up $55,500 in stakes.

After moving across from a wide gate to sit in fourth place one off the rail, Brando and jockey Opie Bosson bided their time until the home straight. Once Bosson released the brakes, Brando quickened impressively and cleared out for an emphatic victory by a length and a quarter.

“He felt awesome,” Bosson said. “He’s still learning, but he’s definitely going to be a good one. He’s been on my radar as a really nice horse ever since David bought him from the Ready to Run Sale.”

Trainer Jamie Richards will now give Brando a Group One opportunity in the Levin Classic (1600m) at Trentham on January 16.

“He’s a colt I’ve always had a lot of time for,” he said. “David bought him from the Ready to Run Sale and paid a bit of money for him, but we like to try and develop these colts into stallions and he’s heading in the right direction.

“It’s only his fourth start, so the form around him is really good and up to a mile in the Levin Classic looks perfect.

“He’s right up there with Hall of Fame (NZ) (Savabeel) and Age of Fire (Fastnet Rock), horses that have won the Levin Classic for us previously. I don’t think there’s any doubt about that. Hall of Fame came out of the Ready to Run Sale as well and is probably quite similar to this horse – both by Savabeel.

“Because of COVID-19, he never raced as a two-year-old, but he’s a pretty exciting horse to have around.  We’ll look to the Levin Classic, and if he continues to progress the right way, we may even look at Australia. There are plenty of options for a horse like him.”

The Uncle Remus Stakes produced a Karaka quinella, with runner-up The Irishman (NZ) (Tavistock) a $170,000 purchase from Book 1 of Karaka 2019.