Bain expresses confidence in ex-Waller gelding Officiate
Angaston trainer Aaron Bain remains hopeful that Officiate, a Stakes-placed gelding, will prove to be a profitable acquisition in the long term, despite the ongoing effort to recoup his purchase price.
The four-year-old, who commenced his career with Chris Waller, is set to contend for his first win since his relocation to South Australia in the upcoming Hahn Handicap (1569m) at Morphettville Parks on Saturday.
Having earned over $16,000 in minor placings across his initial two starts for Bain and Ned Taylor, the son of Justify is now vying for a $27,300 winner's purse. Bain still finds it hard to believe he secured the horse for $60,000 via Inglis Digital back in May.
"We probably didn't think we'd be able to get him for that, to be fair," Bain revealed.
"I knew a few people from Chris's and reached out and they said he was sound, happy and healthy and he's been all of that."
"The way he's performed in a lot of those class races was going to be good enough to measure up in Adelaide for a couple of seasons and target some better races."
"There was a lot of upside from our perspective."
The $60,000 Bain paid is significantly less than the $700,000 Yulong invested at Magic Millions' 2YO Horse In Training Sale for the horse, who had previously fetched $300,000 as a yearling.
He arrived at Bain's with only a single career win, but with placings in the Listed Super Impose Stakes (1800m) and a start in the Group 1 Spring Champion Stakes (2000m) last spring, plus the Group 1 Australian Guineas (1600m) earlier this year, indicating his quality.
His South Australian tenure began with a third over 1250m on July 11, followed by a second to Centu Cavaddi over 1600m at Morphettville two weeks later.
Bain maintained his fitness with a 600m jumpout at Murray Bridge on August 6.
"He's in a great spot, we're just drawn a little bit tricky for the Parks track, but he probably brings in a class factor and he should be going close," Bain commented.
Officiate was assigned barrier 10 in the 12-horse field, but will now start from barrier eight following scratchings, with Jackson Murphy to ride. The gelding is currently rated $7 in the betting, behind the $4.80 favourite, Michael Hickmott's Extinguish.
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