'I woke the whole hotel up at about 4.30am when she won' - she might do so again

Circumstances are very different, but Kerri Radcliffe will watch Away Game in Saturday week’s Magic Millions 3YO Guineas from the same spot as when the hardy filly took out last year’s Magic Millions 2YO Classic – 14,500 kilometres away in Kentucky.

“Maybe it’s a good omen that I’m not there,” says the Newmarket-based bloodstock agent, who bought the daughter of Snitzel for $425,000 (approx £240,000/€268,000) at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in 2019.

“I haven’t been there for any of her races, and for every race she has won, I’ve watched her in America, so that could be a good omen as well.”

As was the case in 2020, Radcliffe will be in Keeneland for the January Sale when Away Game goes to post in the $2 million feature before she heads to France to begin her inspections for the forthcoming breeze-up season, particularly the Ocala auctions in March and April. Very different, of course, is the nature of the international sales climate, and the restricted movement faced by agents in the face of Covid-19.

Two-year-old sales are now the primary focus of Radcliffe’s year, unsurprising given her roll of honour from juvenile auctions includes top-tier winners Nadal and Dream Tree as well as the Grade 1-placed Nemoralia and Gronkowski.

Backed by principal client George Bolton in the US, Radcliffe enjoyed a 2020 to remember, with Nadal and Volatile taking elite honours before injury forced both horses into the breeding shed prematurely. In addition, the Bob Baffert-trained Illumination ran third in the Debutante Stakes at Del Mar in September to mark herself down as a three-year-old with significant potential this year.

Meanwhile in Australia, Away Game supplemented her Gold Coast exploits by landing the Widden Stakes and Percy Sykes Stakes having also finished second to Farnan in the Golden Slipper.

Raced by an all-female syndicate that includes Aquis Farm’s Loretta Fung, Away Game was the first horse Radcliffe purchased in Australia under her own name, as well as being the first youngster she took home from Magic Millions.

Originally bought for Bolton, Away Game’s ownership shifted quickly after her purchase through Radcliffe’s burgeoning relationship with Hannah Mathiesen, founder of Oakmont Horse Club and a key part of Ciaron Maher and David Eustace’s training operation.

Speaking to ANZ Bloodstock News on Thursday while driving to Dublin to complete a rapid Covid-19 test prior to her flight to America, Radcliffe takes up the story.

“Hannah had helped me at Keeneland the September before and we’d bought Enchanted Night for her father, George and Sheila [Rosenblum],” she says.

“I was at Magic Millions and we decided we were going to buy Away Game for George. She was very typical of what I buy, with a great hind leg, strength, a great shoulder and a big walk. She was bred by a very good farm in Mill Park and she was a lovely, sweet filly.

“George was on the phone while I was bidding, we bought the filly and everything was great. Then, four weeks later, George decided he didn’t want to have horses in Australia any more.

“It was great Hannah was in Ciaron and David’s at the time and we were able to put the syndicate together. We bought two fillies, Away Game – who I didn’t take a share of – and a More Than Ready filly called Acacia Road, who I did take a share of. Acacia Road won a race and we got her sold, but not having a share in Away Game is a kick in the teeth if ever there was one!”

Away Game proved a brilliant winner of last year’s Classic, shooting a length and three-quarters clear in the 16-strong line-up under Luke Currie. Explaining her decision to miss the race, in a time when racecourse absence was an option, rather than a mandate, Radcliffe says: “I flew over to Magic Millions last year and looked at all of the horses, but I didn’t know how much time I had. Sheila wanted me to look at mares at Keeneland for her, so I had to make a decision if I stayed for the sale and the race, or if I went to America.

“I saw Nadal in California, then I flew to Kentucky and watched the Classic in my hotel room. I think I woke the whole hotel up at about 4.30am when she won, then I flew back to LA to see Nadal win his maiden. It all happened within a week, which was very exciting.”

Kerri Radcliffe: looking forward to Away Game's start in the Guineas, even if she is busy at the sales in KentuckyCredit: Edward Whitaker

Reflecting on Away Game’s juvenile campaign, which yielded four wins from eight starts and prize-money in excess of $2.5m, Radcliffe adds: “I was so pleasantly surprised. She must be tough as nails to do what she did.

“I wasn’t expecting it. Sometimes when you’re buying horses for the likes of Bob Baffert, there is more pressure, but I didn’t feel the pressure as much with Away Game, at least before she won the Magic Millions. After that, I started feeling the pressure. But with horses like Nadal, I felt the pressure from day dot – it was very different.”

Nadal is about to embark on his first breeding season at Shadai Stallion Station in Japan, while Volatile is set to begin his first year in the covering shed at Three Chimneys Farm. Both proved brilliant older horses, the former topping off his unbeaten four-race career with victory in a division of the Arkansas Derby as a three-year-old in May, while the latter took out the Alfred G Vanderbilt Handicap as a four-year-old in July.

Away Game made her first start out of the juvenile ranks when finishing second to Classic favourite Isotope in the Gold Edition Plate at Doomben on December 19, although she defeated that rival – albeit with the duo both under a tight hold – when landing a barrier trial at the Gold Coast on Tuesday.

The Classic will be Away Game’s first start at seven furlongs, of which Radcliffe says: “I’m personally not sure if she'll stay, but the way she won her barrier trial, she looked great. She has to take her chance – it’s like everything, you don’t know until you try.

“I also wasn’t quite sure if she would train on – she’s pretty compact and strong, but these Australian horses are so different to the two- and three-year-olds in the UK. They’ve got more bone – they’re just built like tanks.”

Looking ahead, Radcliffe is understandably buoyant about both the prospects of Away Game and the two-year-old sales season, despite the well-versed implications of the coronavirus.

“I’d like to see Away Game come over here for Royal Ascot,” she says. “If she does everything right this year, it would be fantastic to see it happen.

“I’m also excited about getting to Ocala. I’ve been very cautious when it comes to Covid, but we’ve got to keep the game going. The sport has been so resilient – it’s been quite incredible how people have stepped up to the plate, and the positivity within the industry has been something to behold.

“It’s a new year with new horses and a fresh start. Hopefully Away Game can get it off with a bang.”

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