Horse racing: Ceolwulf storms to victory at A$5m King Charles

Ceolwulf winning the King Charles at Randwick on Saturday. Photo / Supplied

The wild rollercoaster ride of elite level racing was perfectly summed up by one horse on Saturday: Ceolwulf.

The find of the racing spring did what so few have been able to achieve this year, storming past Pride Of Jenni to win the A$5 million King Charles at Randwick, adding the Group 1 to his last start Epsom victory to confirm he is one of the best horses in Australia.

It was a special win on a special day but for two of the sets of connections behind Ceolwulf it was the highlight after the horror show.

Ceolwulf was bred by Cambridge Stud’s Brendan and Jo Lindsay who about an hour earlier had watched their wonderful mare Joliestar storm home when luckless in the A$20m Everest.

Joliestar was finishing faster than anything at the end of the Everest and had she been able to stay handier she could have made a very compact finish more interesting.

From what-might-have-been to breeding the winner of a A$5m race on the biggest stage is quite after afternoon at the office for anybody.

“After the Everest people were asking me is I was disappointed but I tried not to be,” says Lindsay.

“I went to see the horse to make sure she was okay, then went back and saw the slotholders and said ‘it’s only 364 days to the next Everest, I can’t wait”

“Then for a horse we bred to come out and win the King Charles about an hour later made for an incredible day in so many ways.” Joliestar had a black eye yesterday, such is the rough and tumble of high-speed, high stakes racing but an email from trainer Chris Waller gave the Lindsays more reason to put the Everest in the rear-vision mirror.

“Chris confirmed to us she [Joliestar] is going to be aimed at the Golden Eagle and we think we have Kieran McEvoy confirmed to ride her.

“As I just said to Jo, how great is this, to have a horse racing for $20m one start and A$10m the next.” While Ceolwulf’s win was a high for the Lindsays, who retain her dam and have recently had a Sword Of State colt out of her arrrive, it was an even more remarkable turnaround in fortunes for trainer Joe Pride.

Three races earlier Pride, the rest of the 46,000 at Randwick and those watching on television, had feared the worst for his stable star Think About It.

Last season’s Everest winner was running in the A$2m consolation the Sydney Stakes when he slumped to the track at the 400m mark. It did not look good.

The dreaded black screens came out to shield Think About It from public view and that usually ends in the worst possible fashion but after what seemed an age Think About It got to his feet and walked back to the stables.

He has suffered an internal bleeding attack but apart from bruising from his fall he was not much worse for wear yesterday and Pride announced Think About It will now be retired.

Think About It will live a life of luxury, sun on his back and belly full, as he should rather than his time ending in tragedy on the stage that made him famous.

Pride may have trained Ceolwulf to win a A$5m race on Saturday but Think About It being back in his stable safe and sound that night will be his most heartwarming win of the spring.

Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s racing editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.