SUNSET PARK WARMED WIDDUP’S SPIRITS AT A WINTERY FLEMINGTON

Sunset Park looked the winner a long way from home in the Matriarch Stakes - courtesy Racing Photos.

“I was waiting for the horse transport when it returned to my Hawkesbury stables after the Rosehill barrier trials one day in July of last year,” recalled Brad Widdup. “Sunset Park had contested her second trial and I was anxious to see how she’d pulled up. I couldn’t believe my eyes when she came off the truck in an agitated state and with blood pouring from a low wound on her off foreleg. The high travel boot was laying on the floor of the truck. The vets were there in no time to discover that there was no damage to the tendon or ligaments, but she’d lost plenty of skin. Scans revealed some deep bruising, and she was noticeably lame. To this day we’re not sure how it happened, but it seems she did the damage in trying to get rid of the travel boot. She was treated in the stable for a week before being turned out for a long spell.”

Memories of that distressing incident came flooding back to Brad as he watched Sunset Park lead throughout to score an emphatic win in Saturday’s Gr 2 Matriarch Stakes at a wet and windswept Flemington. Despite the severity of the injury and the resultant superficial damage the chestnut mare has never taken a lame step. “I told Jamie Melham to go forward from the outset but I certainly didn‘t expect her to get the lead so easily,” said Brad. “It was also the mare’s first time on really heavy ground, but I could tell in the middle stages she was enjoying it. She gave a tremendous kick at the top of the straight, and had mares like She’s A Hustler, Alalcance and Sea What I See well and truly struggling. She won more like a short priced favourite than a $17.00 “pop”. Jamie told me she felt like a winner a long way from home and actually wanted to keep running after passing the post.”

Jamie Melham continued her golden run at the Melbourne Cup Carnival with an all the way win on Sunset Park in the Gr. 2 Matriarch Stakes at Flemington - courtesy Racing Photos.

Sunset Park’s Aussie racing career is testimony to the astute judgement of Brad’s long time stable client Adrian Whittingham who spends much of his spare time researching entries for overseas horse sales. “Adrian is very thorough in his approach to overseas catalogues, and has proven to be a very good judge,” said Brad. “The best example of Adrian’s keen eye was the significant portion he bought in the ownership of Verry Elleegant a few years ago. That wonderful mare finished up winning eleven Gr 1’s, Caulfield and Melbourne Cups, any number of awards and over fourteen million in prize money.”

Adrian also bought a share in Deny Knowledge when that mare joined the Mick Kent stable from the UK in 2022. She won five in Australia including the Matriarch Stakes, the very race Sunset Park won on Saturday. He identified Sunset Park at a Godolphin broodmare dispersal in the UK but found out later there was no reason why she couldn’t be given a racing preparation. He was obviously taken by the fact that she was a daughter of champion racehorse and eminent sire Sea The Stars. Other buyers were obviously put off by the fact that she’d been catalogued in a broodmare sale, because Adrian was able to buy her for the equivalent of 50,000 EUR. He retained a share under the name of his Cross Park breeding farm and syndicated five other shares to friends and associates. Saturday’s Gr 2 win took Sunset Park’s earnings to more than $317,000 in just eleven starts.

Brad remembers the Sea The Stars mare as very quirky when she first arrived at her new Hawkesbury lodgings. “You’d think she’d never had a saddle on early days,” he said. “She was very difficult to work and had the dreadful habit of suddenly putting on the brakes as she warmed up at the trot, or cantered off to gallop. There was a lot of swearing and cussing from work riders before she gave that nonsense away. This trip to Melbourne will do her the world of good. Sometimes this type of horse can grow up overnight when you change his or her environment.”

Adrian Whittingham (centre) took possession of the rug and trophy after Deny Knowledge's win in The Belle Of The Turf at Gosford 2022. Adrian's the man who identified Sunset Park at a UK dispersal sale - courtesy Bradley Photographers.

Following her time out after the floating mishap Sunset Park trialled twice before making her debut in a 1300m Newcastle maiden in January of this year. She’d done enough at the trials to see her start a $2.20 favourite, and she went within half a neck of justifying the short quote. “It was obvious she lacked a turn of foot,” recalled Widdup. “Tyler Schiller had her right behind the leader turning for home and she was in the clear immediately after straightening but took an age to strike the front. She was collared in the last few strides by Hoo Hah, and I had no idea what her preferred distance might be going forward.”

Two weeks later the imported mare stepped up to 1600m and led throughout to win a 1600m maiden at Kembla with Alysha Collett on board. Acting purely on gut feel Brad stepped her up to 2000m twelve days later in a Hawkesbury BM64. Once again Alysha let her roll to the front although she was pressured from the 800m by Adios Steve. You couldn’t say Sunset Park looked like a future stakes winner in the closing stages but she did cling grimly to the lead to make it two from three. Her following run was a fourth in similar grade on her hometrack after which her trainer opted for a “freshen-up.”

The mare’s current campaign began as far back as June when she placed in trials at Wyong and Rosehill after which she resumed with a fourth over an unsuitable 1300m at Hawkesbury. Brad didn’t hesitate in stepping her straight up to 1800m in a Hawkesbury BM64 at her next outing with the desired result. Alysha Collett, who was becoming very familiar with Sunset Park’s racing style took her straight to the lead and she was impressive in winning by a widening 2.48 lengths.

Sunset Park (Alysha Collett) led all the way to win a BM64 at Hawkesbury in August - courtesy Bradley Photographers.

The ease of the win prompted Brad to give her a crack at a metropolitan Midway at Rosehill on August 30th in which she led before being run down by Starphistocated. A fourth at Canterbury and a fifth at Randwick followed, by which time Brad was more than slightly frustrated. “I felt she should have been winning that type of race,” said the trainer. “Her work was great and I knew in my heart she had more ability than most of her opposition. I bit the bullet and made the decision to take her to Melbourne for a couple of races. I hoped the trip away would switch her on.”

The short Moonee Valley straight probably cost Sunset Park a win in the GR 3 Tesio Stakes on October 25th. With Jamie Melham in the saddle, she raced in third and fourth spots on the fence to the turn before popping outside Sea What I See and She’s A Hustler on straightening. As always, she took a while to gather momentum and was merely warming up on the line to finish third, just over a length from winner She’s A Hustler. It’s now in the record books that the lightly raced mare relished a heavy track, the spacious Flemington stretches and an uncontested lead to blow handy mares away at Gr 2 level on the final day of the Melbourne Cup carnival.

Everything went right for the Widdup stable in the Matriarch Stakes in contrast to the nightmare that unfolded for stable runner Jedibeel in the Group 1 Champions Sprint eighty minutes later. The gelding failed to find cover at any stage in the $3 million dollar dash, and floundered in the going when let off the bridle by Ethan Brown at the 300m. It was the culmination of a frustratingly chequered preparation for this year’s Challenge Stakes winner, and one that Brad Widdup is anxious to put behind him. Jedibeel will go straight to the paddock as will Sunset Park. “At this stage I’m looking at a very light autumn preparation for the mare followed by a freshen-up before the Brisbane carnival next year,” said the trainer.

Sunset Park’s win wasn’t the first time Brad Widdup has sampled black type success at the world famous Melbourne Cup carnival. He went agonisingly close to Group 1 success in 2021 when his bonny mare Icebath was grabbed in the last few strides of the Cantala Stakes by Superstorm. Exactly one year later the same mare elevated her trainer to racing’s biggest stage with a well deserved win in the Empire Rose Stakes.

Brad's all time favourite Icebath (Kerrin McEvoy) wins The Invitation at Randwick - 23/10/2021 - courtesy Bradley Photographers.

A flawless reputation and an appetite for hard work has taken Brad Widdup to a prominent place among Sydney’s training ranks. He has a team of seventy horses in work for a wide range of owners at the Hawkesbury training stables he purchased a few years ago. Brad is affectionately described by mates as the trainer who did the longest apprenticeship in the history of NSW racing. Over a period of twenty four years he worked for astute horsemen like Rod Craig, Brian Smith, Liam Birchley, Graham Rogerson, and Kevin Moses before beginning a nine year stint with Crown Lodge which became Darley and finally Godolphin. Brad didn’t waste a minute of his time with outstanding trainers Peter Snowden and John O’Shea. Is it any wonder this man is winning stakes races at Flemington.

Brad was at Goulburn to collect the trophy after a win by Islands in The Belle Of The South 24/05/2020 - courtesy Bradley Photographers.