A $400,000 Inglis Easter purchase for Newgate, China Horse Club and partners from the Tyreel Stud draft, talented Deep Field colt Bases Loaded has always shown elite potential and delivered on promise when winning the Group III BRC Gunsynd Classic (1600m) at Eagle Farm on Saturday.
Trained by Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, Bases Loaded was second to another of the Newgate and partners owned colts in Militarize in the Group I ATC Champagne Stakes last season at two.
On the sidelines during the spring and autumn, Bases Loaded was lining up for this assignment at his third run back from a spell and hit top form to win easily by two lengths under Tim Clark.
“He’s a very talented horse, and that is the style of racing that he likes. The mile is his pet distance and a sustained tempo, which he can do,” Adrian Bott said.
“I thought he broke their hearts in the mid stages the way he got rolling and was able to be tough enough to hang on.
“(Third-up) has been the key. He’s been a talented horse right from the outset. The best run of his career was in a group one placing at a mile to Militarize, so we’ve always been trying to get back to those conditions.
“It just took those couple of runs to really get the fitness improvement that we needed and get back to the right conditions. Getting him back on top of the ground today was the key.”
The 31st stakes-winner for our now pensioned sire Deep Field, Bases Loaded is a half-brother to Group III placed Shebringzit from Passarelle, an unraced half-sister by Not a Single Doubt to Group winners Silverstream, Speedy Natalie and stakes-winner Calanda.