Regally-bred colt Daggers earned a shot at Sydney’s spring riches following a decisive victory at Moonee Valley on Saturday.
Prepared by the Cranbourne-based training partnership of Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young, the son of I Am Invincible entered his 1200m assignment looking to preserve an unbeaten record, having romped home by just over four lengths at Sandown when debuting in a 1300m maiden on August 7.
Jockey Luke Currie guided Daggers to his emphatic on-pace debut win and retained the ride on Saturday.
Showing enough speed to again take up the running after once again drawing inside, Daggers saw off the home-turn challenge of eventual third-placegetter Polyglot to kick strongly at the top of the short Moonee Valley straight, scoring in great style by a comfortable length and three-quarters.
"Daggers putting them to the sword!" 🗡️
— 7HorseRacing 🐎 (@7horseracing) August 24, 2024
Daggers is an impressive colt on the up! @busuttin pic.twitter.com/u2vkZ2H6ml
Young said that the nature of Daggers’ first Saturday metropolitan success was in keeping with the stable’s early opinion of him.
“We’ve known this horse has always had the ability…
“He had a great turn of foot and a great pedigree, with that good Arrowfield brand on his shoulder, so that improves them a couple of lengths.
“It keeps the dream alive that we have a good one for the spring.”
Daggers is a half-brother to the promising stayer and two-time Group 3 winner Muramasa, himself a son of champion Japanese stallion Deep Impact.
Daggers’ dam Omei Sword was herself a Group 2 winner on the track (2016 Silver Shadow Stakes), eventually fetching AU$1.7 million as a Magic Millions broodmare purchase.
Speaking on RSN’s Racing Pulse on Monday, co-trainer Busuttin indicated that a trip to Sydney was likely next for Daggers, the colt’s breeding making both the G2 Run To The Roses and G1 Golden Rose attractive targets.
“Look, those Sydney colts, they’re pretty scary; more often than not you go up there and they’re a different level.
“But pedigree-wise, he’s obviously got a big pedigree behind him and he’s a horse on the up, so you get to this level in the spring you’re going to take on good horses, so we might as well have a look there.”
The G1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m) and G1 Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m) were also flagged as deeper spring options for Daggers.
The G1 Golden Rose will be run at Rosehill on September 28.
