LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON….LIKE GRANDSON

DENMAN, a third generation winner of the Stan Fox Stakes at Randwick, will try to follow in his father’s hoof steps in the $1,008,000 The Age Caulfield Guineas (1600m) at Caulfield on Saturday.

The last three-year-old to win the Stan Fox Stakes and the Caulfield Guineas in the same year was Denman’s dad Lonhro, in 2001 and Lonhro’s sire, Octagonal, won the Stan Fox Stakes in 1995 before finishing third in the Caulfield Guineas (to Our Maizcay).

Denman’s trainer Peter Snowden is confident Denman can maintain a family tradition with a big performance in the Caulfield classic. And nobody has been closer to this equine family than Snowden.

He was assistant trainer to John Hawkes when the Ingham family raced Octagonal and Lonhro and he has steered Denman to six wins from seven starts for Sheikh Mohammed whose Darley operation bought out the Ingham’s Woodlands Stud lock, stock and barrel.

“I could not count how many hundreds of horses have gone through my hands over the past 22 years, but I know there have been only two champions,” Snowden said. “Octagonal and Lonhro were absolute freaks who could win on all track conditions, race in any direction and never needed excuses.”

Snowden can only dream that Denman will achieve champion status like “The Big O” and his son “Little O”, but he is satisfied this third generation star is on track to make this Saturday “D” day!

“Denman is very similar to Lonhro in so many ways,” Snowden said. “Like his dad, his colour is jet black, he has a lay-back attitude with track work and on race days.

“A relaxed attitude is important for a good racehorse as it won’t fall apart and lose the plot when the racecourse is abuzz on a big race day,” he said.

“A relaxed racehorse will go to the gates in a good frame of mind.”

Lonhro went into the Caulfield Guineas at his fifth start for the season and his 10th career start. He emerged undefeated as a three-year-old with seven wins.

Denman has less mileage – the Guineas will be his eighth start. He was beaten on debut at Flemington but won his next three starts as a two-year-old and is undefeated in his three runs this season, including a Group One win in the Golden Rose at Rosehill in August.

Snowden said he was not concerned that Denman’s current preparation had stretched out from mid-June, as the colt had been freshened with five weeks between runs in July-August.

“It would be a big call to say Denman was shaping as another Lonhro or Octagonal, but the signs are there,” he said. “He is a very rare type of racehorse; he wants to please you all the time.”

During his elite career, Lonhro made Caulfield Guineas Day his own winning Group One races for three consecutive years. After winning the Caulfield Guineas in 2001, he returned to win back-to-back Yalumba Stakes in 2002 and 2003.

Denman’s dad and grand-dad pleased connections in a monetary manner with Octagonal earning $5.89 million and Lonhro $5.79 million. Denman has banked $944,375 to date and the pen is poised for a $600,000 winner’s cheque in The Age Caulfield Guineas.

The Age Caulfield Guineas – the classic stallion-making race.