Newcastle, Tamworth previews: Coyle’s ‘Sweet’ on newcomer

A daughter of Charge Forward, Slightly Sweet counts as one of Coyle's 24 stakes-winners.

She contributed two of Coyle’s seven Group 3 wins, winning the Keith Nolan Classic and James HB Carr Stakes at Royal Randwick.

Prior to that, Slightly Sweet finished ahead of Winx in the Light Fingers and Surround Stakes before Winx pegged one back when both fillies finished unplaced in the 2015 Vinery Stud Stakes.

Slightly Sweet’s heroics were part, but not all, of the reason why Semibreve was such an expensive yearling by Classic sale standards at the 2023 Riverside auction.

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It was there and then that Coyle, who has carved out a reputation as a bargain buyer, forked out the not insignificant sum of $180,000 to secure the filly.

“It was probably more than I expected to pay for her being by Winning Rupert but on the flip side, knowing the family, I feel like something will come out of it sooner or later, hopefully this is the filly that does that,’’ Coyle says.

“The nice thing is that so far, she is probably worth that as well. She only has to win a few races and graduate herself to hopefully a metro grade and flip her over a broodmare in a couple of years, you’ll probably come out of that quite nicely.’’

Selling or breeding with Semibreve is the furthest thing from Coyle’s mind.

He, and the filly’s band of owners, have been counting down the days to see her go around for real after a series of encouraging trials.

“She is a lovely filly,’’ Coyle said.

“She has got a great attitude. She’s always improved in her work at home and I thought all the trials have been that of a filly on the up.

“It will be really nice to get her to races.

“All her trials have been at home, so the trip away is another learning experience for her but she seems a fairly no-nonsense filly who seems to handle everything really well.

“If she can handle race day, go out there and get all the favours first half, then the way she’s been closing her trials off, you could easily see her giving it a bit of a shake.’’

Coyle is understandably less bullish on the winning prospects of stablemate and travelling companion Castaway Coral who contests the opener on the Newcastle card today.

The mare has so far been unable to place in her 14 starts but has, on occasion, performed creditably.

“She has run a couple of nice races but at the end of the day, her record speaks volumes of where she is at ability-wise,’’ Coyle says.

“I think a lot has to go her way.

“Hopefully she just gets everything fall into place and she can be a top three or four chance

“She is really well in herself.

“She works so much better than what her record shows which is probably true for a lot of horses in training but I definitely thought she would have won one by now.’’

Today marks the 16th anniversary of Coyle’s win in the Baillieu with Onemorenomore who would go onto win the Group 1 AJC Champagne Stakes (1600m) just two starts later.

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FREQUENT Championships participant Wayne Wilkes gives himself a ‘good chance’ of winning this Saturday’s Country Championships Final with Sumo Fish and could well be at HQ again in 2026 with home-bred King Larry.

Sumo Fish is a $34 chance with TAB Fixed Odds to take out this weekend’s Final.

The son of Taree-based stallion Sebring Sun has won six of his 20 starts including the MNC Qualifier ahead of making his final approach to Saturday’s $1 million feature via a midweeker on Randwick’s inner-track on March 13.

“He’ll have his final gallop (this morning) and that’ll just tell me where he is at,’’ Wilkes said.

“We’ve ticked all the boxes in travelling down there. He has handled that quite well so come the day, if we’ve got him right, he is going to be in there with a very good chance.”

Before that, Wilkes and star apprentice/daughter Shae have business to attend to at the Tamworth Cup Prelude meeting today.

Most interest, short and long term, from a Wilkes stable point of view, centres on the lightly-raced and clearly well-regarded King Larry who adds considerable presence to an already ‘deep’ Class 2 to end proceedings.

“Once he learns what it is all about, he is going to be a very handy horse and he is going to win some real good races,’’ ardent admirer Wilkes said.

“He has got to put it together himself but he could possibly turn into a Country Championships horse next year.

“He is just probably 12 months away from those sorts of races and good enough to win in a Highway.’’

Wilkes will saddle-up two runners in the 2025 Tamworth Cup Prelude led by the appropriately-named Black Duke together with Your Temptation who is lining up for just his second start since contesting last year’s MNC Qualifier.

“I am very happy with (Your Temptation),’’ Wilkes said.

“He is going to get over a lot further but this is the next stepping stone for him.

“We just don’t know whether he is fit enough for it, second run after 12 months off, I think he will be.

“He is going to be doing his best work late, that’s for sure.’’

Black Duke, a son of the Melbourne Cup winner Fiorente, is anchored with top weight in the race but for a reason.

Originally published as Newcastle, Tamworth previews: Coyle’s ‘Sweet’ on newcomer