Brazen Beau memories come flooding back as syndicator Grant Morgan targets more Group 1 wins with Bois D’Argent in Melbourne

Queensland syndicator Grant Morgan and his owners enjoyed a life-changing ride with crack colt Brazen Beau and they are now on a Group 1 mission in Melbourne again.

Life-changing memories of the dynamite young champion Brazen Beau are flooding back for Grant Morgan as he prepares to make a Group 1 strike with a horse wearing the same colours in Melbourne on Saturday.

The Queensland-based syndicator fondly remembers how Brazen Beau flashed down the famous Flemington straight in 2014 to win the Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes and then soared into even more elite company when he scored the Newmarket Handicap as a three-year-old in 2015.

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The colt was then shown off on the world stage when finishing runner-up in the famed Group 1 Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Fast forward to 2024 and import Bois D’Argent, wearing the same all-gold colours, joined Brazen Beau as a Group 1 winner when landing the Doomben Cup (2000m) during the Queensland winter carnival for Annabel Neasham and Morgan’s OnTrack Thoroughbreds ownership group.

The grey gelding led and fought off all challengers including Fawkner Park, scoring at $26, to earn himself a shot at the Victorian spring carnival.

BOIS D’ARGENT WINS THE GROUP 1 XXXX DOOMBEN CUP 🏆 @blake_shinn@ANeashamRacing#QLDisRacing🏇 pic.twitter.com/RgRYr7l221

— RaceQ (@RaceQLD) May 25, 2024

Bois D’Argent will resume in Saturday’s Group 1 Underwood Stakes (1800m) at Caulfield as he tries to be a giant-killer again and surge towards a potential Cox Plate mission.

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“We have taken the view that the Cox Plate is a bucket list item for owners and there is an opportunity to head in that direction if he can show he is competitive at his next two starts,” Morgan said.

“We realise it is probably a step up for him, but we just feel he is a genuine 2000m horse.

“The 2400m of the Caulfield Cup is probably a bridge too far, I think 2200m is probably about his maximum distance.

“He came out of France with pretty high credentials, we expected him to be more of a miler when we purchased him so we weren’t too far off.

“I am hoping he strikes gluey tracks, those softish mid-range tracks that can play towards horses on speed.

“He doesn’t need a road and he doesn’t need a bottomless pit, he needs something like he encountered at Doomben to be at his most effective.”

Grant Morgan (right) with Annabel Neasham and Blake Shinn after the Group 1 Doomben Cup triumph with Bois D'Argent. Picture: Grant Peters/Trackside Photography.

The walls of Morgan’s Gold Coast office feature plenty of pictures of Brazen Beau and there is a stacked trophy cabinet which is pointer of the great journey the young colt took owners on.

Bois D’Argent is a very different kind of horse but the big group of owners are hoping for more Group 1 success.

“Brazen Beau is the horse who changed my life and a lot of other people’s lives,” Morgan said.

“We all dream about having another one.”

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Morgan will be at Caulfield for the Underwood on Saturday but will also be keeping an eagle eye on his home town of the Gold Coast where he has Burning Bell in the feature Pink Ribbon Cup (1200m).

The Toby Edmonds and Stephen McLean-trained sprinting mare will be one to watch on her home track as the coast hosts its first metropolitan meeting since grass track racing resumed there earlier this month.

Joao Moreira after riding Brazen Beau to score the Group 1 Newmarket Handicap in 2015. Picture: Getty Images.

“Like a lot of people, we had been lamenting the difficulties that the Gold Coast track had been having,” Morgan said.

“So it’s great to be back on the grass and it seems to have come back in good order and I'm happy with what I'm seeing.

“Burning Bell has been an above average horse from day one.

“She had a few injury issues that put a big gap in her career, but patience is now bearing fruit and paying dividends.

“She is a mature and strong mare racing at the top of her form.

“Her trainers picked this race out on the calendar to get her back out of the spelling paddock, after she won at Grafton it looked like a nice race to head towards.

“She is going very well based on two trials where she has trialled like a bomb both times.”

Originally published as Brazen Beau memories come flooding back as syndicator Grant Morgan targets more Group 1 wins with Bois D’Argent in Melbourne