A win by Lord Of The Sky in Saturday’s Group 1 $500,000 Ladbrokes C.F. Orr Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield could see the stallion head straight to his new home at Kingstar Farm in the Hunter Valley.
Lord Of The Sky, above, is among the nominations for the C.F. Orr Stakes at Caulfield. Photo by Ultimate Racing Photos.
Trainer Robbie Laing was able to confirm that Lord Of The Sky would be joining the stallion roster at Kingstar Farm for the 2017 breeding season and a maiden Group 1 win would be a boost for his new career as a stallion.
“Kingstar Farm near Denman have bought the horse and they wanted to stand a really quick horse and there aren’t too many faster than him,” Laing told racing.com.
“I’m so relieved because I’m certain he’ll pass on that blistering speed to his progeny. The only disappointing thing is that once again Victorian breeders are going to miss out with another quality speed stallion going to the Hunter (Valley).”
The speedy Lord Of The Sky is among the nineteen nominations for the C.F. Orr Stakes and Laing’s confidence was boosted with the seven year old showing all of his customary speed with race jockey Damien Oliver aboard in winning an 800m barrier trial at Cranbourne on Monday in the slick time of 45.72 seconds.
“He’s run 45.7 in second gear and he probably would’ve broken 45 (seconds) if we’d let him go,” Laing said.
“The idea of today’s trial was just to have a nice hit-out ahead of the C.F. Orr but if I’d known that the 1100m trial was going to be trial one I would’ve run in that.
“Ollie (Damien Oliver) let him run for an extra 100m past the winning post and he had a blow afterwards which is typical of him.”
The front running Lord Of The Sky is yet to win beyond 1200m but Liang thinks that if he can get some easy sectionals in front at some stage during the race, the stud bound stallion will have a great chance of claiming his first Group 1 trophy.
“If there’s no real pace in the Orr, he’ll be in it for a long way,” Laing said.
“He’s in really good form, apart from the Kensington Stakes where he and Amber Sky ran 10.5 (seconds) between the 800m and the 600m.
“We’re only talking about tenths of seconds but his cruising speed is about 10.7 and when he goes quicker than that it just bottoms him out.”
Lord Of The Sky has had two runs back this campaign for a first up all the way win in the Group 3 $150,000 Standish Handicap (1200m) at Flemington on New Year’s Day followed by a sixth to Rock ‘N’ Gold in the Listed $120,000 Kensington Stakes (1000m) down the Flemington straight on January 20.
Lord Of The Sky has been placed twice at Group 1 level when a nose second to Chautauqua in the 2015 $2.5m Darley T J Smith Stakes (1200m) at Randwick and also found himself in the runner’s up stall behind Flamberge in the 2015 $500,000 Darley Goodwood (1200m) at Morphettville
Bookies at Ladbrokes.com.au have installed Lord Of The Sky as one of the outsiders for C.F. Orr Stakes at $34 while the James Cummings trained Hartnell heads the betting at $5 just ahead of the Darren Weir pair of Black Heart Bart and Tosen Stardom at $5.50.
Early betting for the 2018 C.F. Orr Stakes at Ladbrokes.com.au: $5 Hartnell, $5.50 Tosen Stardom, Black Hart Bart, $7.50 Mr Sneaky, $10 Brave Smash, $11 Shillelagh, $13 Levendi, Thronum, $15 Humidor, $21 Mighty Boss, Tshahitsi, $26 Dollar Mr Dollar, $34 Single Gaze, Lord Of The Sky, Harlem, $41 Abbey Marie, Wyndspelle, $61 Pure Pride, $81 Jester Halo.
Nominations for the 2018 C. F. Orr Stakes (1400m)
| # | Last 10 | Horse | Sex | Age | Trainer | Ballot | Weight | Hcp Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 822x12290x | HARTNELL (GB) | G | 7 | James Cummings | 1 | 59kg | 113 |
| 2 | 75x323529x | BLACK HEART BART | G | 7 | Darren Weir | 2 | 59kg | 114 |
| 3 | 22x536181x | TOSEN STARDOM (JPN) | H | 7 | Darren Weir | 3 | 59kg | 115 |
| 4 | 2x6813520x | HUMIDOR (NZ) | G | 5 | Darren Weir | 4 | 59kg | 115 |
| 5 | 12x054420x | SINGLE GAZE | M | 5 | Nick Olive | 5 | 57kg | 108 |
| 6 | 344x2123x5 | BRAVE SMASH (JPN) | H | 5 | Darren Weir | 6 | 59kg | 107 |
| 7 | 0x12741x | MIGHTY BOSS | C | 3 | Mick Price | 7 | 55.5kg | 105 |
| 8 | x415x66x16 | LORD OF THE SKY | H | 7 | Robbie Laing | 8 | 59kg | 106 |
| 9 | 94010x731x | SHILLELAGH (NZ) | M | 6 | Chris Waller | 9 | 57kg | 110 |
| 10 | 400x72586x | ABBEY MARIE | M | 5 | Michael Kent | 10 | 57kg | 102 |
| 11 | x591131x41 | TSHAHITSI | G | 6 | Chris Crook & Imogen Miller | 11 | 59kg | 105 |
| 12 | 86x515867x | HARLEM (GB) | G | 6 | David & B Hayes & T Dabernig | 12 | 59kg | 103 |
| 13 | 311x1220x2 | MR SNEAKY | G | 4 | Anthony Freedman | 13 | 59kg | 100 |
| 14 | x6822063x3 | WYNDSPELLE (NZ) | H | 4 | Michael Kent | 14 | 59kg | 98 |
| 15 | 21306x13x1 | THRONUM | H | 4 | David & B Hayes & T Dabernig | 15 | 59kg | 102 |
| 16 | 7458111132 | DOLLAR FOR DOLLAR | G | 5 | Tony McEvoy | 16 | 59kg | 100 |
| 17 | 1x1661x | LEVENDI | C | 3 | Peter Gelagotis | 17 | 55.5kg | 82 |
| 18 | 7×70150689 | PURE PRIDE (NZ) | M | 5 | Murray Johnson | 18 | 57kg | 93 |
| 19 | x88x311221 | JESTER HALO | M | 5 | Darren Kolpin | 19 | 57kg | 78 |
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