Rivercrest Park stallion God Has Spoken took five crops to sire his first 2yo winner and it arrived in some style when Ancient Guidance bolted in at Belmont on Wednesday.
God Has Spoken (Blackfriars) has been overshadowed by his younger brother Playing God at stud but so has every other stallion in Western Australia. His progeny get better with time and that’s evident by his 3yo stats (15 winners of 22 races) and 4yo stats (32 winners of 60 races).
Ancient Guidance (Photo / Western Racepix) was unplaced on debut in the Crystal Slipper Stakes back in November and gradually improved this prep to start a $3.30 favourite for the Free Entry To Belmont Hcp (1300m). Despite travelling three-wide from the outset, he powered clear in the straight to score by four lengths from Kratesis (Deep Field).
“I told Victoria (Corver) to ride him like he was the best horse in the race even if it meant sitting wide from the sticky gate,” trainer Ryan Hill said. “I gave him a break after running into a pretty good one of Simon Miller’s last time. He’s a clean-winded horse and ran right through the line today.”
Hill and owner Scott Kirkup bought Ancient Guidance for just $2,000 out of a paddock from his breeder Ricky Moss. He has now won $52,975 inclusing Westspeed Bonuses of $14,300.
“We could have pressed on but I decided to keep him in that comfort zone,” Corver said. “He’s a long-strider and I didn’t want to break his rhythm. We got to the front too early but he’s the most amazing horse I’ve ridden.”
Apart from the winner’s sire, there’s more stamina close-up through his dam Indala who is an Australian-bred daughter of super-sire Galileo (Ire). Any precocity appears further down the page with Group 1 sprinters Snippets, Rewaaya and Forensics.
Ancient Guidance is the third winner from Indala who is now owned by St Jude Pastoral and her latest cover was to King Of Athens (USA) last October.
God Has Spoken stands for a $3,300 fee at Rivercrest Park with Ducimus ($4,400).