Son Of Wootton Bassett Lands Group 2 On Australian Debut

Saturday saw Royal Patronage (5h Wootton Bassett – Shaloushka, by Dalakhani) conquer a third continent when making a winning Australian debut in the Group 2 Tramway Stakes at Randwick.

The son of Wootton Bassett won a pair of Group races for Mark Johnston before transferring to Graham Motion, for whom he won, before selling to Gai Waterhouse, Adrian Bott and McKeever Bloodstock for 300,000gns. Dropping down to seven furlongs on his stable debut, the bay set a near track record time to beat the Group 1-winning favourite Amelia’s Jewel by a length and a quarter.

Winning rider Tim Clark commented, “He's been going well at home, working fantastic, and his trials were good. When he was able to bounce and adjust to that 1400m speed so comfortably, I thought he would be hard to beat.”

Adrien Bott earmarked the $1.5million Group 1 Epsom Handicap as a potential target, before adding, “We were really confident with what we'd seen from him at home. He worked up quite sharply during the week, which was encouraging going into today.”

Bred by Emma Capon Bloodstock, Royal Patronage is the first and best produce of the mare Shaloushka.