Ciaron Maher Racing, Australian Bloodstock and new Victorian Stallion Station, Lovatsville, are pleased to announce that Gold Trip will stand this coming season at the Central Victoria-based stud, Lovatsville for a fee of $8,800 (incl. GST).
As a Melbourne Cup winner and weight-for-age Turnbull Stakes victor, Gold Trip retires having demonstrated immense talent and resilience to compete and perform in the Caulfield Cup, Cox Plate and Melbourne Cup in back-to-back years. Racing as a 2 year-old in France, onto multiple Group 1 performances as a Classic European 3 year-old where he ran a gallant 4th to Sottass in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, followed by a glittering Australian racing career.
Providing Champion trainer Maher with the crowning achievement of his training career in winning the Melbourne Cup, Gold Trip retires as one of Maher’s best ever gallopers.
“He won a Melbourne Cup, was beaten a lip in the Caulfield Cup, was a weight-for-age Turnbull Stakes winner, could have won a Cox Plate and was elite in an Arc. He is a legitimate freak,” Maher said.
Co-purchaser and owner of Gold Trip, Australian Bloodstock’s Jamie Lovett spoke of the attraction of Gold Trip when sourcing him from Europe, “What appealed to us in Gold Trip was his dynamic turn of foot, as we saw in that explosive performance in the Group 1 Turnbull Stakes. There is no doubt in my mind that he was beating the best 2000m field assembled in this country in the last 20 years and he beat them with his head on his chest.”
Lovett further added, in qualifying Gold Trip’s stud credentials “Weight-for-age is our measure for the elite, however when he was asked to carry weight in the big handicaps he had the class to do that too and I believe that is a quality that will resonate with breeder’s looking to breed a genuine racehorse.”
Lovatsville’s Sam White is delighted to add Gold Trip to the Lovatsville roster.
“It is quite rare that the Australasian breeding community get a chance to access horses who have performed so well in an Arc, arguably Europe’s premier race. Gold Trip had the versatility to race at the highest level here for multiple seasons demonstrating his class and toughness, while also displaying obvious speed where he flew past subsequent Cox Plate winner Romantic Warrior in the Turnbull,” he said.
White feels that Gold Trips performance, physique and price point will pique the interest of many breeders.
“At $8,800 he is priced extremely well considering his ability. We want to inject further value into the opportunity by providing very attractive breeding right packages so that Gold Trip’s supporters can access him for the duration of his career for a modest outlay,” he concluded.
Alongside the breeding right packages in Gold Trip, Ciaron Maher Racing, Australian Bloodstock and Gold Trip’s ownership group have committed to supporting the horse at stud, ensuring that he starts his career at stud positively.
To learn more about Gold Trip and the breeding right packages available, or Lovatsville and the other stallions on their roster for this season,, please visit their website www.lovatsville.com or contact Sam White: +61 408 123 428 or sam@lovatsville.com