Gordon-Watson has nose for a bargain

British bloodstock agent Charlie Gordon-Watson is rarely backward in pushing his own barrow but he had every reason to be proud after one of his former yearling purchases, Firebreak, had withstood a stout domestic challenge to secure the Mile.

Gordon-Watson explained that Firebreak had been purchased at the relative bargain-basement price of 27,000 Guineas as a yearling and had quickly racked up #100,000 in prize money for his original owners before being entered in the end-of-season Tattersalls Horses In Training Sale.

'Godolphin bought him there, giving top price of 525,000 Guineas for him,' the agent said.

Firebreak was the second Group One performer under the Gordon-Watson banner for the afternoon, because he was also involved with the selection and purchase of Cape Of Good Hope, brave runner-up to Silent Witness in the Sprint.

'A win in any other year,' he put it succinctly.

Gordon-Watson is also the trainer chosen by Hong Kong Jockey Club chairman Ronald Arculli, and his Sadler's Wells gelding River Dancer gave the chairman and the agent a superb result in taking the $8 million Audemars Piguet Queen Elizabeth II Cup (2,000 metres) at Sha Tin on April 25.

The Jockey Club's executive director of racing, Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, (pictured) was delighted that two graduates of the Hong Kong International Sale - The Duke and Scintillation - had run so boldly for third and fourth respectively in the Mile.

'They were both exceptional efforts, neither of them under ideal circumstances,' Engelbrecht-Bresges said.

'The Duke had a wide barrier and was forced to do it the hard way, while Scintillation has run a great race at his first try over a mile. Now that he's had a start at 1,600 metres, I don't think there's any doubt they can win a big race with him at this distance.'

Scintillation and The Duke are both sons of Danehill, the Coolmore Stud super sire who died last year as the result of a paddock accident.

Danehill has now sired more than 200 individual stakes winners around the world.

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