A DOMINATING DEBUT WIN NOW THE APPROPRIATELY NAMED HIGHBAR LINES UP A CITY CHALLENGE

By Graham Potter | Thursday, August 10, 2023

It is one of racing’s truths that when you see a horse come out carrying the red and white silks of Windemere Stud (Steve Tregea) you know it will be well worth a second glance.

Tregea’s claim to fame in terms of his association with quality racehorses reaches far beyond his most high-profile handling of Incentivise who, when trained by Tregea, plundered six wins in a row by a combined winning margin of 41.9 lengths before being on-sold to southern interests where he went on to win three successive Group 1’s (including the Caulfield Cup) before running second to Verry Elleegant in the Melbourne Cup.

The likes of Niccanova … a ten-time winner with over $1 million banked in prize-money … come to mind.
So, when the Speith gelding Highbar travelled all the way from Toowoomba to the Sunshine Coast on July 30, and came out with jockey Mark du Plessis sporting the Windemere silks, the chances were very good that owner Tregea and trainer Joshua King had not made the trip for the scenery.

The race duly turned into a procession with Highbar, who was on debut, displaying more than a little touch of arrogance as he demolished his opposition with consummate ease to score every bit as easily as the official 4.80 length winning margin suggests.

That win came on July 30, giving Highbar just the one run as a late two-year-old, but there won’t be a wait for his first run as a three-year-old with the gelding going straight to town where he due to face the starter in a QTIS Three-Year-Old Handicap over 1000m at Eagle Farm on Saturday.

“He is a first foal of a mare called Angel Dane. Angel Dane is out of Dane Princess, who is a full sister to Niccanova’s mother, Dananover … so Highbar’s mother and Niccanova’s mother are full sisters and this is the next generation,” said Tregea, explaining Highbar’s family tree.

“We’ve had a good opinion of him for a long time, but you never know until you put him in a race because he had never really been let off the bit.

“He’s had two jump-outs and one trial altogether and he has just done everything we have asked of him … and he does it all willingly which is the best thing.

“We have made a special effort with him because he is such a nice horse, unlike his mother. She just used to stay in the barriers and let the others go. Larry Cassidy used to ride her, and she was a horror in that regard.

“We’ve got twelve horses in work with Josh. It’s a nice amount … sometimes it seems like a few too many and other times not quite enough. Josh trains out of our complex on course at Toowoomba. We’ve actually got twenty-four boxes if we want to use them … twenty four is definitely too many though. Too much work.

“I’m on my tractor on the farm a lot of the time and I’m very happy being there, but the breeding operation continues, and we are breeding them to race, so that keeps me directly involved in the game, which is good.”

Highbar runs in race eight at Eagle Farm over the 1000m trip on Saturday where, at this stage, he will tackle ten opponents, including three last start winners.

Highbar currently shares favouritism for the race with the Steven O’Dea and Matt Hoysted trained Shot Of Whiskey at $3.90 with Miss Coota on the next line of betting at $4. Top Fun ($9) is the only other runner quoted in single figures.

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