Archer reigns for one day at least

By Jordan Gerrans

When Archers Reign first came into Josh Sweeney’s Gold Coast stable a couple of years ago, he was telling anyone that would listen about the galloper's potential.

He would rush home from trackwork and inform his family about his $8,500 online purchase that he and his work riders believed was going to be a city-level horse - at a minimum.

In Sweeney’s own words, Archers Reign has been a 'disappointment' since.

While the gelding’s career hasn’t lived up to early expectations just yet, he had his day in the sun on Saturday which the conditioner hopes spurs him on to better things in the future.

The son of Epaulette bolted in by almost a dozen lengths on the Polytrack on Saturday to hand Sweeney and apprentice hoop Courtney Bellamy one of their biggest victories in terms of distance in their time in racing.

The official margin was 11.8 lengths over the 1900 metre journey.

Gold Coast caller Mitch Manners declared Archers Reign had won by an ‘absolute paddock’ after the event.

The team of Archers Reign, Bellamy and Sweeney finished second at Doomben last month prior to Saturday’s Gold Coast assignment.

But, no one was expecting a performance that followed.

“He ran really well at Doomben at the start before and I thought we had him right back on track after that run,” Sweeney said.

“He came through that week really well and in this race at the Gold Coast, there was no speed in the race so I thought he would lead.

“If he got a soft lead, I thought he would win – but I definitely was not expecting what he did.

“At the 800 metre mark and she started increasing the lead, I went from being a bit worried to thinking it was all over at the 600 metres as he was just bolting.

“If you can lead and travel like that on that track, it is a big advantage.”

Following Saturday’s result, Archers Reign is now a two-time winner from 21 attempts with seven other minor placings.

Sweeney owns the galloper himself and he has brought in $66,520 to the kitty.

But, that is chump change compared to what the Gold Coast conditioner dreamed of winning when the gelding was nearing his debut effort a couple of years ago.

Josh Adams - a multiple black-type level winning hoop – was riding work for Sweeney at the time and he felt the same way as the horse’s trainer and owner.

“We didn’t know what we had on our hands because Josh has been around and ridden a lot of good horses,” the trainer recalls.

“From day dot, we really liked him. After every gallop we gave him, we just kept thinking how lucky we were to have a horse like him.

“We really thought that at a minimum, we had a town horse on our hands. From there on, he has just been a disappointment.

“He always travels in his races and everyone that has ridden him says that he feels like a nice horse until you let him go and he goes for a stride – he just doesn’t finish off his races.

“He would always travel like the winner and as soon as the jockey would pull him out and let him go, there was nothing there.”

Bellamy fired Archers Reign out of the gates from a middle barrier and was in a race of her own from there on.

“He gave me a great run along in transit,” Bellamy said.

“It was a great feeling to not hear another horse around you (laughs).”

Sweeney – who has been preparing his own team since the 2018-19 campaign – is optimistic that Archers Reign will live up to his early hopes following Saturday’s big performance but laughs that he ‘is not holding his breath’.

“We are really hopeful it’s a maturity thing and he might turn into the horse we thought he was early on,” he said.

“We have been waiting a while. He has had his chance. His Doomben run was really encouraging and hopefully he can go on with it from now.”

The 39-year-old Sweeney has four in work and posted his career-best season as a trainer last term, collecting nine victories.

Archers Reign will be back to the races later this month at the Gold Coast.