Are Ate Derby Bound After Ipswich Auction Victory
At just thirty-months-old, Are Ate became a dual Group Two winner on Saturday night when he took out the $40,000 to-the-winner Magical Puppy Auction Final at Ipswich.
Are Ate also won the Devonport Cup in Tasmania back in January when he was in the hands of expert Apple Isle trainer Anthony Bullock.
Prepared by Rachel Scott, the son of Lochinvar Marlow and Long Long Mama (Vesuvio – Eyre Intent) has now won 14 of his 44 starts and amassed over $85,000 in prize-money.
After leading all-the-way in his blistering 30.43 semi-final win, the 31 kg black dog faced a different prospect in the final when he was made to chase the Jan Warner trained Masai Princess for most of the race, only gaining the upper hand in the home straight.
ARG caught up with co-trainer of Are Ate, Mike Chapman, who said there was definitely some anxious moments throughout the race.
“Masai Princess definitely made him work. I was a little bit shaky and a little bit worried when she pulled a couple of lengths in front of him down the back, but turning for home I was pretty confident,” Chapman said.
Are Ate went through the three-week series undefeated and had a clear edge in both class and experience heading into the final, with many of his main rivals only lightly raced and still learning what 500 metre racing is all about.
Chapman says it is something that served Are Ate well in the final.
“I think it has helped him that he was one of the older pups in the series, definitely. I actually said that to Bill Warner afterwards that we were lucky his bitch didn't have a few more five-hundred's under her belt. It might have been a different result.”
Scott and Chapman have both long and short term plans mapped out for their young flyer, with his first stop being Albion Park, before heading interstate to a race that they have gone close to winning in the past, but would like to go one better.
“We will have a crack at the Derby at Albion Park, which is on the 24th of this month and long range, if everything is going well, we might look at going to the Darwin Cup with him.”
“We have been up there a couple of times before and we ran second with Voodoo Prince when Queen Lauryn won it. It would be nice to win it and the owner of the dog is quite keen to go up there and win it too.”
If Are Ate can continue to reproduce the sort of form that he has shown over the past three weeks at Ipswich, there is no reason why he can not can not achieve more Group glory in the coming months.