Inside Mail: Neil Osborne has a crack at $500,000 Inglis Nursery with Beer Baron, who he couldn’t sell

Racing all-rounder Neil Osborne was stunned when he couldn’t sell Beer Baron but could have the last laugh if the colt can give him a share of the rich Inglis Nursery purse.

Neil Osborne. Picture: Bradley Photos

Racing’s great all-rounder, Neil Osborne, is a chance to take home the lion’s share of a $500,000 purse at Randwick on Saturday with a horse he couldn’t sell not once, but twice.

Osborne has been a breeder, an owner, a trainer and/or float driver for the best part of 50 years.

A jack of all trades, yes, but a master horseman.

So when he says his Inglis Nursery $41 shot Beer Baron is a “good horse”, punters should listen.

Osborne (the breeder) sold his first yearling at Inglis’ 1976 Summer Sale, a precursor to the Classic.

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“It was the first crop of the Double Cream’s,’’ Osborne recalled.

Fast forward to the 2022 Inglis Classic and Osborne couldn’t find a home for Beer Baron, a son of Pago Pago winner Cosmic Force and direct descendant of Hawksie’s great filly, Toltirce.

“Fair dinkum, other than the Extreme Choice bloke I sold two years before, I have never had a horse looked at as much (as Beer Baron) and we couldn’t get a bid,’’ Osborne said.

“Then I took him to the Ready To Run sale because he was such a good type. He sprinted up in good time and we couldn’t sell him.’’

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Beer Baron’s loveless beginning may yet turn out a happy ending for Osborne who (still) owns the colt with his wife and two sons.

“That trial at Randwick that day those two of Gai’s went like the clappers and Jason (Collett) never really knocked this bloke around.

“He came back and said, ‘he’s gone fantastic and the best part of it, was how he ran through the line’,’’ Osborne said.

MARKET MOVERS

Race 1:Veandechance $9-$4.60

Race 2:Step Aside $5-$3.90, Zouatica $5-$4.60

Race 3:Golden Decade $2.90-$2.60, Rapbidash $3.20-$2.90

Race 4:Terra Mater $3-$2.50

Race 5:Blue Stratum $5-$3.80 ($2700 at $3.80), Deep Joy $7-$5

Race 6:I’mintowin $4.80-$3.40

Race 7:Lion’s Roar $13-$8.50, Vilana $31-$11

Race 8:Insurrection $3.40-$3.10, Recommendation $6-$5.50 ($2000 at $5)

Race 9:Zoe’s Promise $6.50-$4.60, Aristonous $7-$6.50, Peace Officer $9-$7.50

Race 10: Way To The Stars $5-$3, Lady Laguna $13-$8., Brudenell $10-$8, Dehorned Unicorn $18-$11

BEST BET

Rapbidash (race three) is unbeaten in her three starts to date, one at $14, the other two at $1.35 and $1.65 respectively. Everything this daughter of Widden Stud resident Supido has done, dating back to a trial win at Gunnedah, stamps her as far above average and all things being equal, capable of contesting and winning better races.

VALUE BET

Waihaha Falls (race eight) can present champion jockey Tommy Berry with his fourth win in a Razor Sharp this Saturday when hooks up with John O’Shea and this Waikato Stud-bred gelding. The son of dual Doncaster winner Sacred Falls has all that stats that matter to win the sprint, let us just hope that the track is not too firm for his liking.

Waihaha Falls could get conditions to suit in the Razor Sharp. Picture: Mark Evans/Getty Images

PRICE CHECK

Groove City (race five) aims to become the ninth two-year-old on the Inglis Nursery honour roll which already boasts a Golden Slipper winner (Mossfun) and Blue Diamond winner (Extreme Choice). Mossfun was of course trained by Team Hawkes who put the polish on Stu Ramsey’s Capitalist filly. Groove City is advantaged by barrier one on debut and has shown her wherewithal in three November trials, all of them, impressive in their own way.

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TRIAL POINTERS

Burrandana (race one) has raced 10 times inclusive of an unlucky third in the SDRA Country Championships Qualifier, fifth in the Wild Card and three seconds in (consecutive) Highways. Those Highways were won by Chase My Crown, Eaglemont and Holstein, so were very respectable Highways each and all. The Peter Morgan-bred and trained son of Duporth was in another league to his nine rivals when winning a December 2 trial at Wagga by four-lengths.

Aristonous (race nine) is a French-bred son of the 2012 French Derby 25/1 winner Saonois. He came here to Australia with a win on the board and no bad runs at all, including when he fronted up at Chantilly and Longchamp. Aristonous landed in Australia on November 23 in 2022. He made his rather incredible Down Under debut on June 3 at Newcastle over 1600m and backed that up with a win here at Sydney Racing HQ three weeks after. Has trialled twice for the return and looked good to the eye but the market will tell the real story.

French import Aristonous resumes on Saturday. Picture: Jeremy Ng/Getty Images

SECTIONAL STARS

Another Cognac (race four) is a Bryce Heys-trained son of Zoustar. Pedigree buffs may be interested to know that his fourth dam is Geraniums Red, a daughter of the great Brigadier Gerard and the mother of 1984 Caulfield Cup winner, Affinity. Another Cognac was nothing short of incredible first-up when he ran second to the lightning fast Frilled at Kembla over 1000m in (new) course record time of 55.79sec, keeping in mind Heys’s charge had 62.5kg on board. Should be at his peak now for a return to a favoured venue.

Leandra (race two) is from the in-form Jason Attard and Lucky Keegan-Attard stable. They had the $51 all-the-way winner, Luvoir, at Warwick Farm on Wednesday and could easily win one or two more when they “host” the Hawkesbury meeting come Sunday. As for Leandra, she makes her Randwick debut on Saturday but everything in her make-up suggests that it will be the perfect track for her. Not only that, but the 1400m would also appear as the ideal distance for this direct descendant of the immoral broodmare Dark Jewel.