SERPENTINE COULD TURN OUT TO BE ONE OF THE BIG CROWD-PULLERS OF THE QUEENSLAND CARNIVAL

By Graham Potter | Monday, May 1, 2023

The Stradbroke Season ... a six-meeting racing extravaganza hosted by the Brisbane Racing Club at their Eagle Farm and Doomben racetracks ... could not have kicked off with a more illustrious winner in the opening race on the opening day of the carnival.

The race was won by the 2020, Group 1 Epsom Derby winner Serpentine, now trained in Australia by Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott.

An epic English Classic winner co-trained by a trainer with 154 Group 1 wins behind her name ... that is really a big early headline, even though its impact was cushioned by a lack of any significant pre-race fanfare and the fact that there were only four horses in the race in which Tim Clark was basically allowed to dictate the course of events from the front on Serpentine.

The $5 starting price looked like a missed opportunity afterwards.
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They say every horse has its story and Serpentine’s story is certainly an interesting one, not least the very nature of his win in the Derby, one of the most accepted stallion-building races, and his subsequent, some would say historical, gelding a little further down the line.

Firstly, Serpentine is beautifully bred, being by the great racehorse and sire Galileo out of Remember When, herself an Oaks runner-up.

Secondly, he has that Epsom Derby victory to go with his pedigree (when trained by the master-trainer Aidan O’Brien) ... a match of circumstances normally made in heaven in terms of a horse’s post racing breeding prospects ... but, Serpentine would prove to be an exception to the norm.

An exception, in fact, to the degree that, when Serpentine was gelded, leading Epsom Derby historian Michael Church confirmed the momentous nature of the occasion by saying, "As far as known, no Epsom Derby winner from 1900 has been gelded."
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So why was Serpentine gelded?

Two of the explanations that have been touted around on that subject centre on the quality of Serpentine’s Derby win itself and the possible surplus of sons of Galileo at stud in Britain ... factors which some believe counted against him.

The first of those talking points came immediately in the aftermath of the race.

The 2020 Derby, which was rescheduled and took place a month later than usual because of Covid, saw Serpentine’s apply tearaway tactics as jockey Emmet McNamara set Serpentine about his business right from the start.

This duo steadily increased their lead and Serpentine was still well clear and free-striding as the field came down the hill to Tattenham Corner where the commentator called the action as ... “Serpentine in splendid isolation is going to turn around Tattenham Corner with a twelve length lead in the Derby.”

And that was that ... a record-breaking win in its own right as Serpentine gave trainer Aidan O’Brien his eight success in the Derby (Galileo, interestingly enough was O’Brien’s first Derby winner), giving him the solo bragging rights as the most successful Derby winning trainer in the history of the event.

But it was also a run which had some pundits querying both the status of the Serpentine’s performance and the manner in which the race unfolded.

Khalifa Sat, who raced in second place throughout, did bring the winning margin down to five-and-a-half lengths at the line, but that was without ever looking likely to threaten the winner ... and the fact that none of the rest of the field, who Serpentine obviously had well and truly strung out for much of the race, could not even reel in the second place-getter had some shaking their heads.

Incredibly, the runners holding the first three positions after the field had travelled 300m ... crossed the line in the same order 2100m later!

The easiest way out for those who doubted the merit of the Serpentine’s performance was to call it a fluke, citing the fact that he had only won his Maiden a week before the Derby to support their claim ... but, perhaps failing to mention that his first career win did come by a nine-length margin.

No doubt Serpentine was a surprise Derby winner at $25 ... and the tactics of some jockeys might arguably be in question ... but an Epsom Derby winner is an Epsom Derby winner. No amount of debate will change the 2020 Derby result.

It will, as it should do, always stand to Serpentine’s credit ... even if jockey Emmet McNamara was denied the true sense of occasion with the race run in front of empty grandstands courtesy of the Covid protocols in force at the time.
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Secondly, and perhaps more to the point, it was later suggested that decision to geld Serpentine was influenced by the fact that there are now so many sons of Galileo at stud in Britain that the market for a new entry has become somewhat diluted.

Writing in the Racing Post on March 22, Martin Stevens stated, ‘It’s hardly a surprise, then, that this non-winner at two whose only Pattern victory was widely regarded as being a bit freakish had more value as a gelded stayer in Australia than as a stallion in a major racing nation.

‘By my reckoning,” Stevens continued, “there are some twenty-nine sons of Galileo standing in Ireland this year and another twelve at stud in Britain, and while I’m sure most are enhancing the gene pool, it is just basic economics that a commodity in such abundant supply is going to be of reduced value to potential buyers or users.

‘In truth, the development (Serpentine’s gelding) had an air of inevitability about it.’

Serpentine had a further five runs after the Derby, all at Group 1 level without adding to his winning tally before being sold to Australian interests in June 2022 with Lloyd Williams purchasing the colt from Coolmore.

"One of the things we had to do when we got him, on veterinary advice, is he had to be gelded, which was unfortunate, but that's the way it goes," Nick Williams told Racing.com at the time. “A Derby winner, your first preference would be to leave him a colt, but it will certainly improve him as a racehorse, being a gelding, so we did that."
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So, a new phase of Serpentine’s career now beckoned ... now a six-year old ... now a gelding ... now in Australia ... first off for trainer Robert Hickmott.

In his fifth run for Hickmott Serpentine earned his best result up until that time in Australia, finishing second to Surefire in The Group 3 Archer Stakes at Flemington on October 29, a result which gained him a starting place in the Melbourne Cup just a few days later.

At the time, that result might have just given his connections a flicker of hope for his Cup aspirations ... but sadly, Serpentine Melbourne Cup challenge imploded when, after leading the field approaching the 1000m mark, he faltered and dropped back sharpy through the field, to the point where he was second last and cantering as the field turned into the home straight.
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Enter the training partnership of Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, to whose stable Serpentine was now relocated.

Two trials later Waterhouse and Bott selected an Open Handicap over 2200m at Eagle Farm on April 29, 2023 ... the opening day of Stradbroke Season ... as the race to kick off their campaign with Serpentine.

A comfortable, untroubled, end-to-end first-up win was just what the doctor ordered as Serpentine, fresh after a five-month break from race action, gave the $1.60 race favourite, the Chris Waller trained Kalapour (another Irish-bred import) 5.5kg at the weights and a 0.72 length beating.

“Maybe things didn’t work out well for him in the spring with the wet tracks, but this was a perfect race to kick him off ... a beautiful kick off point ... and he did the job nicely,” said jockey Tim Clark.

‘I’m sure Gai and Adrian will get plenty of satisfaction out of that horse winning today. They elected not to run him in Sydney a couple of weeks ago on the wet. They waited for this race ... and he could be right on track for a Brisbane Cup run now with that win.

‘He is a real natural stayer. They are naturally fit these overseas horses and he was very strong through the line. He won’t need a lot of races leading up to a two-mile race.

‘He responded when he sensed that horse (Kalapour) was trying to come to him. You know, he had to give that horse race fitness and 5.5kg. He really dug in ... and on the line he was pulling away from it.

“It was a good, strong win to start his prep,” concluded Clark.

The 2023 Brisbane Cup will take place at Eagle Farm on June 10 where Serpentine’s presence, if he is confirmed as a runner there, will bring genuine added value to that race-day, not least because it will provide racing enthusiasts with a very rare opportunity to see an Epsom Derby winner tackling Group 2 company on the local scene.

in fact, it would be no surprise if Serpentine turned out be one of the main crowd-pullers of the carnival!

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