Richly bred colts finish one-two at Warwick Farm races

Blueblood colt Attica lived up to the hype with a tough Warwick Farm debut victory, delighting trainer Joe Pride who admits he rarely gets horses with such pedigree through his yard. By Lonhro out of Group winner Savatiano, Attica was transferred to Pride after Godolphin shifted horses to public trainers.

“It’s got to be close (to the best), doesn’t it?” Pride said of the colt’s breeding. “When they gave me the horses they said, ‘we’ve given you Attica’ and I didn’t know who Attica was so I looked it up and thought, wow.”

Sent out a $4.40 chance, Attica responded under pressure from Adam Hyeronimus to nail Decorum ($8) – a brother to Coolmore Stud Stakes winner Switzerland – in the final strides. Pride praised the colt’s ability to switch on under race conditions.

“First start in a race and you’ve got to come here and do it under race pressure and as much as he’s shown us at home, he is a very laidback, casual type,” Pride said. “He needed to wake up today and he did that under race pressure, which is good.”

Pride is confident Attica can rise to black type company this preparation.

Kris Lees also looks to have a stakes filly in Cantiamo, who lumped 60kg to win the Precise Air Handicap (1200m) as a $3.10 favourite. It was her second win this campaign, James McDonald guiding her to a determined neck victory over Surf’s Up ($14).

“She’s an exciting filly. She’s not winning by big margins but she’s not the finished product yet either so she is doing a good job,” Lees said. “She is ticking all the boxes so far. We’ll just keep an eye on these better stakes fillies and meet them when the time is right.”

Punters eager to follow Attica’s progression and Cantiamo’s rise can find odds and markets at Australia’s leading betting sites.