Autumn Plans for The Astronomer

11th October 2008

Promising three year-old The Astronomer (3g Galileo x Foxy, by Canny Lad) made it two wins from as many starts when he surged late to snatch a narrow win in the Ratings 75 event over 1400 metres at Rosehill on Saturday.

Despite being unsuited by the slow tempo, The Astronomer was able to reel in some pretty smart horses with stakes-placed Judge Me Not finishing in second place.

Trained by astute conditioner Guy Walter, The Astronomer earned rave reviews following his debut win at Canterbury on September 24 and did a great job to jump straight from a maiden win into a strong Saturday class race.

“I think he has the makings of a topliner,” said Guy Walter.

“He’s come through today and handled the class rise, so we’ll discuss his future with Mr Moses (his owner), although more than likely he’ll go out now to get ready for the autumn and hopefully we’ll be back here for the Rosehill Guineas.”

A homebred for Mr Tig Moses, The Astronomer is from metropolitan winning Canny Lad mare Foxy, a half-sister to stakes-placed horses Cymbals and Kingwin from the family of stakes-winning sprinter Ombra Della Sera.

Mr Moses grand-son Henry Field, a popular member of the bloodstock team at Coolmore Australia, was on hand at Rosehill to greet The Astronomer on his return to scale.

“Grandad has been breeding horses for more than 40 years and it’s great to see he’s got himself a good horse,” said a delighted Field.

The Astronomer is by the current number one stallion in Europe in Galileo, sire in Australia of Group One performers Sousa and Gallant Tess.