North England bounces back in Kindergarten Stakes

There is nothing wrong with the prize-money if you have got a good two-year-old, a fact highlighted by the exploits of North England, the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott trained Farnan colt who kicked off Day One of The Championships at Randwick with a hard-earned win in the Group 3 Kindergarten Stakes.

The $140 000 prize-money takeaway from the win pushed North England’s stake earnings up to a lofty $826 600 from only five starts.

The race epitomised the Waterhouse and Bott’s stable’s ability to produce a horse rock hard for a tough assignment while also having that fitness, focus and determination linked in telling fashion to Tim Clark’s extraordinary ability to get the best of out his mount as they work together to make the task as difficult as possible for their rivals , even in the most of trying and demanding of circumstances.

Jumping as the third favourite at $3.90 in an open betting race, North England was best away at the break which allowed Clark to pick his spot in the running and he was happy to let the $17 chance Stormland, who wanted the lead, go to the head of affairs.

North England then tracked the leader in a close-up second spot until the field straightened for home.

North England surged to the lead with 300m left to run but, as had been the case throughout the running, he had his two market rivals King Of Pop (the $3.40 favourite) and Beskar (the $3.50 second favourite) in tow with both posing a lively threat as they looked to apply pressure on the Waterhouse / Bott trained runner.

North England, with a clear run to the line, was kicking on strongly though and when Zac Lloyd forced King Of Pop out around the heels of North England and into a brief, bumping duel with Beskar hard to his outside, the rhythm of those two runners was compromised for a moment, albeit only marginally … and then their chase was back on.

Try as they might though, they could not find any chink in the armour of North England, who continued to power to the line, doing enough to hold off the faster finishing King Of Pop by 0.22 lengths with Beskar a further 0.30 lengths back in third place.

The race did go to a protest (third against second) in the steward’s room before the result was made official. The protest was dismissed.

North England has only known feature race company since his debut in the Group 3 Breeders’ Plate back in October 2024, a race in which he finished third, just 0.30 lengths behind King Kirk.

A month later North England won the $1 million Golden Gift, beating West Of Snowden who would go on to finish second in the Silver Slipper at his next start.

Then it was on to serious Group racing company for North England with runs in the Todman at Group 2 level and the Group 1 Golden Slipper where he finished just off the placings in both of those starts.

A $280,000 Inglis Classic purchase from Valiant Stud for China Horse Club, Newgate Bloodstock, Go Bloodstock and Trilogy, North England is now a two-time winner from five starts with that $826 600 safely in the bank translating into an impressive return on investment.