Starting the favoured runner in Friday’s Listed Wagga Gold Cup, the Rick Worthington-trained Sainthood delivered a strong performance to take the 2000m event by more than a length. Rounding the home turn, jockey Glen Boss took the son of Lonhro out wide to take up a challenging position as the field straightened. The four-year-old caught the leader in a matter of strides and went on to record his second Stakes win this campaign.
Also the winner of Canberra’s Listed National Sprint, Sainthood’s victory takes his overall record to four wins and a further four places from 15 career starts.
Bred by International Thoroughbreds Bloodstock Investments, Sainthood is the first foal of the winning Anabaa mare Bonne Famille from the family of Stakes winners Stage Hit, Encores, Helene Pillaging and Rubijon. The latest yearling by the mare, also by Lonhro, was purchased by Rick Worthington this year at the Magic Millions yearling sale.
Lonhro’s current season has gone from strength to strength: he has recorded 11 Stakes winners to date and sits second on the overall Stakes tally to Redoute’s Choice. A leading top-ten stallion on the general sires’ table and a clear leader of the third-season sires’ list, Lonhro’s star three-year-old G1 winner Denman left Australia on Tuesday to join the Godolphin stable where his first major assignment will be the G1 Darley July Cup at Newmarket.
Lonhro will stand the forthcoming breeding season for a fee of $88,000 at Kelvinside.
