Quality Sunshine Coast speedster Facile Tigre will head back to Queensland for a break after rounding out a successful Melbourne campaign with a brilliant win in the listed Always Welcome Stakes (1200m).
Sent at surprisingly juicy odds, Facile Tigre showed a great turn of foot when asked over the concluding stages by Brad Rawiller and he cleared away for the easiest of wins.
The win was the second in three starts for the son of Catbird during a Melbourne spring campaign.
“He should be unbeaten down here,” winning trainer Jason McLachlan said referring to the five-year-olds narrow second placing at Caulfield in mid-September.
“It does (mean a lot) because when I first went home from Sydney to join Dad in a training partnership he said to me that this horse will go places.”
“I’ve taken my time with him and he’s starting to repay us.”
“The trip (to Melbourne) has done him a world of good and it’s been a great team effort and I just wanted to thank Doug Roberts, who brought the horse down, Billy Williams and Brad Rawiller for that they’ve done for me.”
“I couldn’t have done it on my own and it’s a great team effort.”
McLachlan said Facile Tigre would immediately head back to Queensland for a break with the riches of the Brisbane Winter Carnival at the back of his mind.
Facile Tigre was purchased by the McLachlan stable for $120,000 from the Yarraman Park draft at the 2008 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
He now boasts the impressive record of seven wins and five placings from just 15 starts and earnings of $339,400.
“Me and Jason go back a long way and he’s always been a great supporter of my riding,” winning rider Brad Rawiller said.
“Even when I was at my lowest Jason was there to support me and give me a chance.”
“He went super,” Rawiller said of Facile Tigre. “The way he went out of the gates, 99 times out of 100 the race is all over.”
“I just gave him his chance. I let him get back into the race himself and it was just a matter of when I let him go.”
“I probably let him go too soon but he was very good and he’s just a horse that keeps stepping up,” Rawiller added.
Facile Tigre is one of two stakes winners for the former smart Perth racemare now top producer Cotton Bay.
A seven time winner by Zabaleta, Cotton Bay hails from a proven Western Australian family that includes Perth stakes performers Reflected Image, New Image, Grandstand and True M’Lady and Malaysian star Fighter Jet.
Facile Tigre is one of 22 stakes winners for his sire – Danehill’s Golden Slipper winning son Catbird.
He is a half brother to the Pacesetter Stakes and then time winner Stormcat Academy – a son of Royal Academy.
His full brothers Feline Groovy, Gung Ho and Buzzy Henry are winners in Sydney, Hong Kong and Sydney respectively. Another half brother Copperfield is a six time winner in Malaysia.
Winner: Facile Tigre
Breeding: Catbird-Cotton Bay (Zabaleta)
Race: VRC Always Welcome Stakes (1200m)
Sold for: $120,000
Sale: 2008 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale
Vendor: Yarraman Park Stud
Buyer: McLachlan Place Racing Stables
Earings: $339,400
Owner(s): Yarraman Park Stud Synd (Mgr: H Mitchell), TJ & Mrs JA Hughes, MD Sullivan, Harvard Synd (Mgr: W Harris), DAR Ryan & PJ Harris
Trainer: Jason McLachlan (Sunshine Coast)
