Home-bred cheapie Romeo's Choice scores knockout victory in July Sprint at Rosehill
At a time in Australian racing where horses purchased for $500,000 or more are a common occurrence every Saturday in Sydney, Romeo's Choice was conceived at Cangon Stud in Dungog from a $2200 service fee.
'He's not one of these million-dollar horses, he's just a home-bred in the back paddock with his owners and it's so wonderful for them and it shows these great racing stories can happen,' trainer Richard Litt said.
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'I'm just very happy for his owners and to get the job done is great.
'The owners are actually sending the mare to Perth to put her back in foal to his sire Choistar.
'Another little Romeo would be lovely.'
The win was Romeo's Choice's seventh from 36 starts and his second from as many starts this preparation.
'He's come up great, he's a real gem,' Litt said.
'He just never gives up, a lovely honest horse.
'We had this race ear marked for him and it's worked out perfectly.'
Romeo's Choice was put into a midfield position by Tom Sherry and when the leaders rolled away from the inside at the top of the straight, he snuck up the inside and set about chasing down the inform winter sensation Storm The Ramparts.
The pair settled down to fight out the contest over the last 200m with Romeo's Choice getting the upper hand over the concluding stages.
The win was Sherry's second for the day.
'He'll go on with this and I'm hoping he can keep improving because there some nice races coming up for him, maybe in Listed grade that he can be competitive in,' Litt said.
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'There's a suitable Listed race coming up for him in Brisbane in a month and I think that's where he'd be best placed.
'He's a horse and he's just getting better with age.'
Storm The Ramparts second placing for took his preparation haul to three wins and three runner-up finishes and post-race his rider Reece Jones was lamenting the defeat.
'He just ducked in on me,' he said.
'He's tough, going really well. It sucks to get beaten right on the line but you can't question his effort, if anything he might have been trying a bit hard.'
Rounding out the placings in third was Godolphin's galloper Corniche which made a great start to the preparation but stable rep Darren Beadman is unsure who will take over the gelding's training when James Cummings finishes up at the end of the season.
'That was very good,' Beadman said.
'He's never run that well here at Rosehill before.
'He loomed to win but they just moved out under him, and it baulked him for a stride and then being first-up off such a long time, he just couldn't pick himself up quickly enough again.
'I'm not sure where he's going but the Missile (Stakes) looks perfect for him in two weeks.'
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