{"id":7814,"date":"2014-04-04T08:00:53","date_gmt":"2014-04-04T08:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/archive.rockylhc.com\/2015\/elizapark\/?p=7814"},"modified":"2014-04-04T08:00:53","modified_gmt":"2014-04-04T08:00:53","slug":"fighting-sun-to-stand-at-epi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.rockylhc.com\/2015\/elizapark\/fighting-sun-to-stand-at-epi\/","title":{"rendered":"FIGHTING SUN TO STAND AT EPI"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the eve of what was widely tipped to be his career defining achievement, FIGHTING SUN has been retired to stand at Eliza Park International.<\/p>\n

To paraphrase the song lyrics, the Golden Slipper is the chance of a lifetime in a lifetime of chance and according to those in the know, he had a better chance than most.<\/p>\n

This was some racehorse. Gai Waterhouse, a 5-time winner and \u2018reigning\u2019 Golden Slipper trainer, had long flagged Fighting Sun as \u2018my Slipper horse\u2019 and promise became performance with Fighting Sun\u2019s Rosehill debut on 4 January.<\/p>\n

In a headline screaming \u2018Fighting Sun lives up to hype\u2019, the Telegraph\u2019s chief racing writer, Ray Thomas, posed the question as to why you would bypass the $2 million Magic Millions and answered it by simply noting that the $3.5 million Golden Slipper took preference.<\/p>\n

Even three months out from the big race, Waterhouse stable representative, Mark Newnham, enthused: \u201cHe\u2019s a quality colt \u2026 Gai has always had a huge opinion of him and he\u2019s definitely Slipper material\u201d.<\/p>\n

But the Rosehill debut was merely a trailer to what would ultimately be Fighting Sun\u2019s main event \u2026 the Canonbury Stakes on 15 February.<\/p>\n

If there was anyone who had a question mark over Fighting Sun\u2019s ability, it was dispelled when the Northern Meteor colt turned one of Sydney\u2019s most prestigious juvenile events into a demolition job. Trailing lengths behind in the Canonbury was subsequent G2 Todman Stakes winner Ghibillenes who may well continue to frank that form when he lines up in Saturday\u2019s Slipper.<\/p>\n

But it was all Fighting Sun after the Canonbury: \u201cThis is a serious horse,\u201d Waterhouse said post race. \u201cThe horse he beat is very smart but the winner has everything you want to see. The acceleration he showed was electrifying!\u201d<\/p>\n

Waterhouse had a willing disciple in jockey, Tommy Berry. Asked by Waterhouse if his flourish with the whip after passing the post was \u201cpractice for the Slipper\u201d, Berry was quick to reply that \u201cI don\u2019t ride a colt this good every day\u201d.<\/p>\n

High praise indeed from the jockey who rode last year\u2019s Slipper winner, Overreach, for Waterhouse.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really excited,\u201d Berry added. \u201cHe\u2019s a really laidback colt but once he pings out he is all class. I believe he\u2019s the best 2YO in the stable \u2026 good 2YOs keep on improving which is exactly what this colt is doing.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe really put them away quickly \u2026 when I won on Able Friend in Hong Kong last season I knew immediately he was a superstar in the making \u2026 this colt gives me a similar feel. He has a superb action, you can make two or three runs on him in a race and he will find plenty if something makes a race of it with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

And with Waterhouse’s eyes clearly winning the world\u2019s richest juvenile race for a sixth time, the first lady of racing summarised: \u201cRemember this was only his second start, so how good is he?\u201d<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, that\u2019s a question that can never be answered as Fighting Sun suffered a suspensory injury in the Canonbury and, despite holding out a slim hope of recovery, the decision was made this week to stand him at Eliza Park International this spring.<\/p>\n

For starters, he is the highest rated 2YO colt by the ill-fated Northern Meteor, whose legacy includes Zoustar, Romantic Touch, Eurozone and Bound For Earth. Additionally, Fighting Sun is out of the Group One winning mare Irish Darling.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also worth remembering that the Canonbury has been taken out by two of Australia\u2019s current leading sires in Sebring (who went on to capture the Slipper) and Not a Single Doubt.<\/p>\n

Eliza Park International CEO, Alvin Lui, confessed that it will probably be a case of \u201cwhat could have been\u201d as he watches the Slipper on Saturday but was buoyed about Fighting Sun\u2019s potential as a stallion: \u201cHe is the first of the Sun International horses to stand at stud and one thing is for sure, he will receive tremendous support.\u201d<\/p>\n

And although Gai Waterhouse will have two other runners in the Slipper on Saturday, there is bound to be a tinge of regret that Fighting Sun isn\u2019t among them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was a very good racehorse \u2026 based on his looks, temperament and explosive pace, I\u2019m sure he\u2019ll make it as a stallion too!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0A service fee for Fighting Sun will be announced in the coming weeks, but for further enquiries, please phone Eliza Park International\u2019s Sales & Nominations Manager, Mark Lindsay, on 0416 334 338.\"1234\"<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On the eve of what was widely tipped to be his career defining achievement, FIGHTING SUN has been retired to stand at Eliza Park International. To paraphrase the song lyrics, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7815,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.rockylhc.com\/2015\/elizapark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.rockylhc.com\/2015\/elizapark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.rockylhc.com\/2015\/elizapark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.rockylhc.com\/2015\/elizapark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.rockylhc.com\/2015\/elizapark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archive.rockylhc.com\/2015\/elizapark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7814\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.rockylhc.com\/2015\/elizapark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.rockylhc.com\/2015\/elizapark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.rockylhc.com\/2015\/elizapark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.rockylhc.com\/2015\/elizapark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}