Joe Pride doesn’t often train blue-blooded horses, but he admits Warwick Farm debut winner Attica might be as well-bred as any galloper to pass through his stable.
By champion sire Lonhro out of multiple Group-winning mare Savatiano, the colt is the first foal of his dam and was placed with Pride after Godolphin dispersed a number of horses to public stables.
“It’s got to be close (to the best), doesn’t it?” Pride said of Attica’s pedigree. “When they gave me the horses they said, ‘we’ve given you Attica’ and I didn’t know who Attica was so I looked it up and thought, wow.”
Attica ($4.40) made the perfect start to his career, knuckling down late under Adam Hyeronimus to reel in Decorum ($8), a colt with his own strong bloodlines as a brother to Coolmore Stud Stakes winner Switzerland.
“First start in a race and you’ve got to come here and do it under race pressure and as much as he’s shown us at home, he is a very laidback, casual type,” Pride said. “He needed to wake up today and he did that under race pressure, which is good.”
Pride is keen to see Attica step into stakes grade soon, although he will wait before plotting his carnival path.
On the same card, Kris Lees was left equally excited about the prospects of filly Cantiamo, who carried 60kg to win the Precise Air Handicap (1200m) as the $3.10 favourite, making it back-to-back victories this preparation.
“She’s an exciting filly. She’s not winning by big margins but she’s not the finished product yet either so she is doing a good job,” Lees said. “There are a couple of options in Melbourne I’d consider, one around the Valley. She is ticking all the boxes so far. We’ll just keep an eye on these better stakes fillies. We will take them on at some stage we will just see how she comes through today.”
Ridden by James McDonald, Cantiamo edged out Surf’s Up ($14) by a short neck, with only two other fillies contesting the race.
Punters following exciting prospects like Attica and Cantiamo can find futures markets and racing odds at Australia’s leading betting sites.
