Nashville Jack in fine tune with slashing first-up win at Randwick

The Australian

28-07-2025

Trainer Brad Widdup waited until the last minute to decide to run Nashville Jack at Royal Randwick but his judgment proved correct as his promising colt put himself in the frame for the spring on Saturday.
Widdup only made the final call on race-day morning to run his lightly-raced talent in the Keeneland September Yearling Sale 2YO Handicap (1100m) with the option to wait until Wednesday available to him.
But the opportunity to run in the Saturday grade proved an opportunity too good to pass up.
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Nashville Jack was comfortably up to challenge as he produced a slashing first-up performance to score as hot favourite Nazwah floundered.
The son of Golden Slipper winner Farnan still isn't the complete product but Widdup is excited about what's to come.
'He is still growing into himself,' Widdup said.
'He has always had natural talent. He contested a couple of strong races early on.
'I was umming and arring whether to run today but when he drew well, it made it easy.'
Jockey Jason Collett was able to use barrier two to give Nashville Jack a perfect run on the fence and the experienced hoop elected to make his run closest to the inside.
Nashville Jack ($4.60) went through his gears nicely and hit the front inside the final 150m, coasting clear late to score by two lengths from Lindsay Park galloper Hello Romeo ($13) and the Kris Lees-trained Wisnierska ($81).
'He is a nice horse, he has a bit of substance to him,' Collett said.
'He obviously trialled really good coming into it and I don't think he minded that soft ground.
'It's probably on the worst side of a soft 6 but it was a good performance and was quite soft in the end once he got to the front.'
Nashville Jack is raced by Mulberry Racing's Michael Gregg, who has been a substantial investor in yearlings in recent years and recently purchased a slot in the $20m The Everest.
His latest colt wears the same bumblebee yellow and black silks of his Group 2 winning sprinter stablemate Jedibeel.
Nashville Jack was one of 114 live foals that made up the first crop by the 2020 Golden Slipper winner and Kia Ora Stud resident sire, Farnan.
The colt, who was foaled on Halloween in 2022, was knocked down to Widdup for $225,000 when offered at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.
Widdup tested him in stakes company in a pair of Golden Slipper lead-ups early in his career where the colt finished fourth in the Group 2 Silver Slipper Stakes and fifth in the Group 3 Black Opal Stakes.
'He has run in the Silver Slipper and his run in the Opal was very good when he came in with a shoe sticking halfway up his foot,' Widdup said.
'We put him out and he trialled up really well and it's great to see him return like that.
'It's not easy to do to come to Randwick against a couple of nice horses.
'I had him in Wednesday in a maiden and was umming and arring to the last minute this morning but it's great to see him come back and return like that.'
Widdup is eager to see if Nashville Jack will measure up in black-type races again in the spring and will now consider running the colt in the Listed $200,000 The Rosebud (1100m) at Rosehill Gardens on August 18,
'That race is probably the obvious,' Widdup said.
'We will have a look at that for sure and see what happens from there.'
Nazwah, the $1.95 favourite, was coming off a dominant debut victory at Gosford but failed to replicate the first-up effort.
The Peter Snowden-trained galloper had to do some work to find the front and lead Shaggy but ran out of gas over the concluding stages, finishing two-and-a-half lengths off the winner in sixth.
Shaggy ($8) was similarly disappointing in his return, fading to only beat one runner home.