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Cherry Tortoni will be stepping out in the Spring Champion Stakes.
There will be a genuine sense of déjà vu when Cherry Tortoni takes his place in Saturday's Group 1 Moet & Chandon Spring Champion Stakes (2000m) at Royal Randwick, instead of fulfilling a previously anticipated engagement in the Caulfield Guineas in Melbourne.
An exciting staying prospect trained out of Victoria by Patrick Payne, the progressive 3-year-old will attempt to win a contest which basically set a very close relation on one of the most celebrated paths in modern-day Sydney racing history.
Twenty-three years ago, the much admired 13-time Group 1 winner Tie The Knot broke through for his maiden victory at the highest level when claiming the 1997 Spring Champion Stakes. On Saturday, Cherry Tortoni attempts to do likewise in the same unmistakable red and white livery.
Bred and raced by Sandy Tait and his sister Jill Nivison, Cherry Tortoni was produced by a Strategic half-sister to Tie The Knot and is displaying a great deal of his close relation's aptitude.
Unbeaten in his first three starts, culminating in victory in a race long since simply referred to as the 'Gibson Carmichael', the striking chestnut gelding has also done very little wrong in two subsequent defeats when placed behind Crosshaven and Glenfiddich — two of the Caulfield Guineas' leading protagonists before the latter's unfortunate scratching.
An unexpected switch to Sydney now sees the first-crop son of sire sensation Night of Thunder (Ire) taking on the form of a legitimate Spring Champion Stakes aspirant, just as Tie The Knot did almost a quarter of a Century ago.
One man best qualified to comment on Cherry Tortoni's Spring Champion claims is co-breeder & co-owner Sandy Tait. He was at the very start when both Tie The Knot and Cherry Tortoni each took their respective first breath, and would easily have the 'best handle' on how much the pair share in common.
"Tie The Knot won the Gloaming and the Dulcify on the way to the Spring Champion Stakes," Tait recalls as if it were yesterday. "Guy [Walter] said that he needed to be racing every other week, otherwise he'd get too big.
"Cherry Tortoni is a slightly different horse. He has more length than Tie The Knot, who was a more rounded horse, but they both get a great many of their attributes from Whisked."
The dam of Tie The Knot and 2nd-dam of Cherry Tortoni, Whisked was an exceptional race filly in her own right. Bred and raced by Sandy and Jill's parents Griff and Daisie Tait, the daughter of Whiskey Road (USA) won the Group 1 The Thousand Guineas during her Melbourne spring 3-year-old campaign, before finishing runner-up in the VRC Oaks at her last run of the same preparation.
Illustrating their likeness, Tie The Knot would later emulate his dam by also running second in the Victoria Derby at the final outing of his spring 3-year-old campaign.
Tait revealed that the decision to switch Cherry Tortoni to the Spring Champion Stakes, as opposed to running the gelding in the Caulfield Guineas as first intended, was made by his trainer earlier in the week.
"Patrick thought the Spring Champion Stakes was a much more suitable option of the two, after coming to that conclusion on Monday or Tuesday.
"There was a fair amount of rain forecast for Melbourne, and instead of taking on colts who'd be doing their utmost to enhance their stud career by winning the Guineas, it made a great deal more sense going to Sydney for a less competitive Group 1 event much more likely to be run on a good track."
Unless anything completely unforeseen happens, Cherry Tortoni will then head straight back to Melbourne to compete in the Vase at Moonee Valley on W.S. Cox Plate day, before contesting the VRC Victoria Derby — his major spring target since an unbeaten sequence of 2-year-old wins in May-July.
"I guess when he won the Gibson Carmichael conceding 4kgs to Alcyone, we then considered him to be a genuine VRC Derby prospect," admitted Tait.
"Tie The Knot went into the VRC Derby via the Norman Robinson [when 3rd to Brave Prince], and was having his 10th start of the campaign when finishing second to Second Coming [at Flemington].
"The initial plan for Cherry Tortoni was to go through the [Caulfield] Guineas and then the Vase, with the Derby being his eighth start of the campaign, though he did have a short break [in August]."
Beforehand, however, there's the not so inconsiderable matter of landing a maiden Group 1 to deal with, and Tait for one is relishing the opportunity to claim a second Spring Champion Stakes close on 25 years after his first.
"It would be something, wouldn't it," says a man who has just about experienced every high Australian racing has to offer and is now looking for the Cherry on top.
