St Jean
Trish Dunell
One-time Caulfield Cup fancy St Jean is eligible to win a $1 million (NZ) bonus if he can continue his winning ways in New Zealand.
The former Aaron Purcell-trained stayer was one of the early favourites for the 2014 Caulfield Cup before he suffered a tendon injury following a win at Moonee Valley in September that year.
After recovering from his injury, the son of Teofilo's return to racing in Australia was delayed in 2015 and his racing career appeared in jeopardy when he continued to return inconsistent positive and negative tests to the anti-inflammatory drug Ibuprofen, which is a prohibitive substance over a certain threshold under the rules of Australian racing.
Though the horse was no longer being treated with Ibuprofen, a drug that at the time was commonly used in the recovery process from tendon injuries, it is believed the drug can possibly accumulate in a horse's kidneys.
St Jean was then spelled again and aimed at the 2016 spring carnival but when he continued to return inconsistent readings to Ibuprofen, Purcell, who is also a part-owner in the horse along with a number of his family members, said it was a case of either find somewhere he could race legally or retire his best horse.
"We contacted a number of governing bodies in different racing jurisdictions and the rules and threshold limits regarding Ibuprofen use varied a lot," Purcell said.
"Although you can't race with the drug in your system in New Zealand either, they have different interpretation of the rule and when he was tested over there they deemed the amount to be minute and not performance enhancing.
"By now he might have been right to return to racing in Australia but it was a frustrating process for the owners who were paying a lot of money to keep him in work and it got the point where we needed to do something."
The decision was then made by the ownership group to transfer the stayer to the New Zealand training partnership of Donna Logan and Chris Gibbs.
Purcell said the decision to move the horse was justified when he won his third start in New Zealand in the $200,000 (NZ) City Of Auckland Cup (2400m).
"If he had of gone over there and been uncompetitive it would have been a real waste of time and effort and it was great to see the owners rewarded for all their patience," he said.
"If he runs that well again or can even improve he'll be hard to beat going forward."
Despite his impressive Australian form, St Jean was sent around a $46 chance in the City Of Auckland Cup following unplaced runs in the weight-for-age OMF Stakes (2000m) and Group 3 Waikato Cup (2400m) at his first two runs for Logan and Gibbs.
Logan explained the horse's Waikato Cup run might have been due to a tongue control bit that the horse resented.
"We were hoping he'd have gone a bit better at Te Rapa but he was wearing the tongue control bit and he lugged the whole race," Logan said.
"We reverted back to a tongue tie and rode him differently as to how the Australian owners explained he races best and it worked well."
Logan said St Jean will have his next start in the Avondale Gold Cup (2400m) on February 18 en route to the Group 1 Auckland Cup (3200m) in March, where he can claim an additional $1 million bonus if he can add those races to his victory in the City Of Auckland Cup.
"He's very clean-winded and a real gentleman to have around the stable and the further the horse goes I think the better he'll be and I've always thought he'd be a great Auckland Cup horse," she said.
The former Aaron Purcell-trained stayer was one of the early favourites for the 2014 Caulfield Cup before he suffered a tendon injury following a win at Moonee Valley in September that year.
After recovering from his injury, the son of Teofilo's return to racing in Australia was delayed in 2015 and his racing career appeared in jeopardy when he continued to return inconsistent positive and negative tests to the anti-inflammatory drug Ibuprofen, which is a prohibitive substance over a certain threshold under the rules of Australian racing.
Though the horse was no longer being treated with Ibuprofen, a drug that at the time was commonly used in the recovery process from tendon injuries, it is believed the drug can possibly accumulate in a horse's kidneys.
St Jean was then spelled again and aimed at the 2016 spring carnival but when he continued to return inconsistent readings to Ibuprofen, Purcell, who is also a part-owner in the horse along with a number of his family members, said it was a case of either find somewhere he could race legally or retire his best horse.
"We contacted a number of governing bodies in different racing jurisdictions and the rules and threshold limits regarding Ibuprofen use varied a lot," Purcell said.
"Although you can't race with the drug in your system in New Zealand either, they have different interpretation of the rule and when he was tested over there they deemed the amount to be minute and not performance enhancing.
"By now he might have been right to return to racing in Australia but it was a frustrating process for the owners who were paying a lot of money to keep him in work and it got the point where we needed to do something."
The decision was then made by the ownership group to transfer the stayer to the New Zealand training partnership of Donna Logan and Chris Gibbs.
Purcell said the decision to move the horse was justified when he won his third start in New Zealand in the $200,000 (NZ) City Of Auckland Cup (2400m).
"If he had of gone over there and been uncompetitive it would have been a real waste of time and effort and it was great to see the owners rewarded for all their patience," he said.
"If he runs that well again or can even improve he'll be hard to beat going forward."
Despite his impressive Australian form, St Jean was sent around a $46 chance in the City Of Auckland Cup following unplaced runs in the weight-for-age OMF Stakes (2000m) and Group 3 Waikato Cup (2400m) at his first two runs for Logan and Gibbs.
Logan explained the horse's Waikato Cup run might have been due to a tongue control bit that the horse resented.
"We were hoping he'd have gone a bit better at Te Rapa but he was wearing the tongue control bit and he lugged the whole race," Logan said.
"We reverted back to a tongue tie and rode him differently as to how the Australian owners explained he races best and it worked well."
Logan said St Jean will have his next start in the Avondale Gold Cup (2400m) on February 18 en route to the Group 1 Auckland Cup (3200m) in March, where he can claim an additional $1 million bonus if he can add those races to his victory in the City Of Auckland Cup.
"He's very clean-winded and a real gentleman to have around the stable and the further the horse goes I think the better he'll be and I've always thought he'd be a great Auckland Cup horse," she said.