Not A Single Doubt's 6th Group 1 winner
Not A Single Doubt put up three cracking fillies in two Group 1 races and a Group 2 event on Saturday and the single-figure odds offered on two of them suggested that a Group double was well within his grasp.
Racing is rarely that straightforward. Those two favoured daughters, Single Gaze in the GCTC Hollindale S. G2 and Kenedna in the SAJC Australasian Oaks G1, raced right up to their best form, but went down by the proverbial whisker to It’s Somewhat and Egg Tart respectively.
It was left to 4YO mare Secret Agenda to turn things around in the $1 million SAJC Robert Sangster S. 1200m G1 at Morphettville. However, despite three previous Group wins at sprint distances, she was rated no better than a $15 chance by punters after drawing gate 16.
Trainer Mick Price’s perfect Plan A involved a soft track and taking a sit back off the pace, but when the mare jumped brilliantly on a Good4 track Damien Oliver activated Plan B and sent her across the field to take up the lead.
Lake Como, Super Cash and Beautiful Flyer applied mid-race pressure which Secret Agenda repelled before the turn and, after balancing up, she gave her rivals no opportunity to catch her in the final run home, winning by 1.8 lengths from Viddora and I Am A Star in 1:09.15.
Watch Secret Agenda win the SAJC Robert Sangster S. G1.
Secret Agenda has now returned around ten times the $120,000 that Blueblood Thoroughbreds paid for her at the 2014 Magic Millions Gold Coast Sale where she was offered by Arrowfield, which bred her in partnership with Alan Jones & John Leaver.
Blueblood’s Director Carol Walsh recalls, “She was on our list, I absolutely love Not A Single Doubt, she had the right conformation and a superb pedigree.
“She’s a lovely mare, she does everything right and there’s still plenty ahead of her. The Goodwood is the plan and her owners are happy to race her on next season.” The Goodwood 1200m G1, also worth $1 million this year, will be run at Morphettville on 20 May.
Carol is proud of achieving Blueblood’s first Group 1 win only six years after the company began operation and this season has signed for 14 yearlings, including a pair of colts by Smart Missile.
Secret Agenda opened her career with a 3.5 length debut win at Moonee Valley in December 2014, but an injury suffered in the Blue Diamond Prelude prematurely ended her first campaign. Since then, Secret Agenda has progressed steadily, winning five of her 15 starts at three & four including Group wins in Melbourne and Sydney.
Her dam Negotiate, an unraced daughter of Red Ransom and Group 1 winner Euphoria, has four younger progeny by Smart Missile, including a yearling colt bought for $260,000 by Hong Kong trainer Ricky Yiu from Arrowfield’s Magic Millions consignment. A full sibling to her Group 1-winning daughter is due this coming Spring.
Secret Agenda’s efforts have taken Not A Single Doubt’s domestic prizemoney beyond $9 million for the season, with three Group 1 winners among a dozen stakeswinners equalling his career-best 2015/16 tally.
