A win by Lord Of The Sky in Saturday’s Group 1 $500,000 Ladbrokes C.F. Orr Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield could see the stallion head straight to his new home at Kingstar Farm in the Hunter Valley.

Lord Of The Sky, above, is among the nominations for the C.F. Orr Stakes at Caulfield. Photo by Ultimate Racing Photos.

Lord Of The Sky, above, is among the nominations for the C.F. Orr Stakes at Caulfield. Photo by Ultimate Racing Photos.

Trainer Robbie Laing was able to confirm that Lord Of The Sky would be joining the stallion roster at Kingstar Farm for the 2017 breeding season and a maiden Group 1 win would be a boost for his new career as a stallion.

“Kingstar Farm near Denman have bought the horse and they wanted to stand a really quick horse and there aren’t too many faster than him,” Laing told racing.com.

“I’m so relieved because I’m certain he’ll pass on that blistering speed to his progeny. The only disappointing thing is that once again Victorian breeders are going to miss out with another quality speed stallion going to the Hunter (Valley).”

The speedy Lord Of The Sky is among the nineteen nominations for the C.F. Orr Stakes and Laing’s confidence was boosted with the seven year old showing all of his customary speed with race jockey Damien Oliver aboard in winning an 800m barrier trial at Cranbourne on Monday in the slick time of 45.72 seconds.

“He’s run 45.7 in second gear and he probably would’ve broken 45 (seconds) if we’d let him go,” Laing said.

“The idea of today’s trial was just to have a nice hit-out ahead of the C.F. Orr but if I’d known that the 1100m trial was going to be trial one I would’ve run in that.

“Ollie (Damien Oliver) let him run for an extra 100m past the winning post and he had a blow afterwards which is typical of him.”

The front running Lord Of The Sky is yet to win beyond 1200m but Liang thinks that if he can get some easy sectionals in front at some stage during the race, the stud bound stallion will have a great chance of claiming his first Group 1 trophy.

“If there’s no real pace in the Orr, he’ll be in it for a long way,” Laing said.

“He’s in really good form, apart from the Kensington Stakes where he and Amber Sky ran 10.5 (seconds) between the 800m and the 600m.

“We’re only talking about tenths of seconds but his cruising speed is about 10.7 and when he goes quicker than that it just bottoms him out.”

Lord Of The Sky has had two runs back this campaign for a first up all the way win in the Group 3 $150,000 Standish Handicap (1200m) at Flemington on New Year’s Day followed by a sixth to Rock ‘N’ Gold in the Listed $120,000 Kensington Stakes (1000m) down the Flemington straight on January 20.

Lord Of The Sky has been placed twice at Group 1 level when a nose second to Chautauqua in the 2015 $2.5m Darley T J Smith Stakes (1200m) at Randwick and also found himself in the runner’s up stall behind Flamberge in the 2015 $500,000 Darley Goodwood (1200m) at Morphettville

Bookies at Ladbrokes.com.au have installed Lord Of The Sky as one of the outsiders for C.F. Orr Stakes at $34 while the James Cummings trained Hartnell heads the betting at $5 just ahead of the Darren Weir pair of Black Heart Bart and Tosen Stardom at $5.50.

Early betting for the 2018 C.F. Orr Stakes at Ladbrokes.com.au: $5 Hartnell, $5.50 Tosen Stardom, Black Hart Bart, $7.50 Mr Sneaky, $10 Brave Smash, $11 Shillelagh, $13 Levendi, Thronum, $15 Humidor, $21 Mighty Boss, Tshahitsi, $26 Dollar Mr Dollar, $34 Single Gaze, Lord Of The Sky, Harlem, $41 Abbey Marie, Wyndspelle, $61 Pure Pride, $81 Jester Halo.

Nominations for the 2018 C. F. Orr Stakes (1400m)

# Last 10 Horse Sex Age Trainer Ballot Weight Hcp Rating
1 822x12290x HARTNELL (GB) G 7 James Cummings 1 59kg 113
2 75x323529x BLACK HEART BART G 7 Darren Weir 2 59kg 114
3 22x536181x TOSEN STARDOM (JPN) H 7 Darren Weir 3 59kg 115
4 2x6813520x HUMIDOR (NZ) G 5 Darren Weir 4 59kg 115
5 12x054420x SINGLE GAZE M 5 Nick Olive 5 57kg 108
6 344x2123x5 BRAVE SMASH (JPN) H 5 Darren Weir 6 59kg 107
7 0x12741x MIGHTY BOSS C 3 Mick Price 7 55.5kg 105
8 x415x66x16 LORD OF THE SKY H 7 Robbie Laing 8 59kg 106
9 94010x731x SHILLELAGH (NZ) M 6 Chris Waller 9 57kg 110
10 400x72586x ABBEY MARIE M 5 Michael Kent 10 57kg 102
11 x591131x41 TSHAHITSI G 6 Chris Crook & Imogen Miller 11 59kg 105
12 86x515867x HARLEM (GB) G 6 David & B Hayes & T Dabernig 12 59kg 103
13 311x1220x2 MR SNEAKY G 4 Anthony Freedman 13 59kg 100
14 x6822063x3 WYNDSPELLE (NZ) H 4 Michael Kent 14 59kg 98
15 21306x13x1 THRONUM H 4 David & B Hayes & T Dabernig 15 59kg 102
16 7458111132 DOLLAR FOR DOLLAR G 5 Tony McEvoy 16 59kg 100
17 1x1661x LEVENDI C 3 Peter Gelagotis 17 55.5kg 82
18 7×70150689 PURE PRIDE (NZ) M 5 Murray Johnson 18 57kg 93
19 x88x311221 JESTER HALO M 5 Darren Kolpin 19 57kg 78

About The Author

Mark Mazzaglia

Mark is a passionate journalist with a life-time involvement in the racing industry. He spent many years as an analyst and form expert at the Courier Mail and also has hands-on experience working with some of Queensland’s top trainers.