Brad Widdup can’t recall having trained a longer priced metropolitan winner than Art’s Alive in Saturday’s Asahi Super Dry Hcp at Rosehill Gardens. The three year old filly looked to just scramble home as you’d expect from a $51.00 “pop”, but perhaps her winning margin should have been greater. Art’s Alive began fast as is her custom, but it was obvious Jay Ford was intent on riding her off the pace.
As the field linked up with the course proper Storm the Ramparts led from Stratafy, with the well supported Lilacs perfectly placed on the outside of Panic. Art’s Alive was poised in fifth spot ahead of co-favourite Polyglot with Stagnum in front of only two horses. It was obvious Art’s Alive was in trouble immediately after straightening when Stratafy the horse directly in front of her, was unable to take her any further. Ford attempted to come across the heels of Lilacs, but Polyglot whipped up quickly and shut her in again. They were inside the 100m before Ford was able to switch across Polyglot’s heels at which point Stagnum had also joined in wide out. Polyglot looked the winner fleetingly but was edged out by Art’s Alive and Stagnum who both swamped her in the last few strides.
Art's Alive dives between Stagnum (outside) and Polyglot to win at Rosehill - courtesy Bradley Photographers.
The winner returned to scale in stony silence, but Brad Widdup was seen giving her a quiet handclap. He’s always delighted to win a race for long time owners BK Racing and Breeding who’ve had horses in the stable since 2017. “Brad and Kylie Hunt have had a horse or two with me since I first set up shop at Hawkesbury,” said the respected trainer. “They breed some of their horses and also have a presence at yearling sales. They were rather taken by this filly at the 2023 Inglis Easter Sale. She’s by Snitzel from a winning Written Tycoon mare and ticked all boxes. She was knocked down to the Hunts for $350,000 and I was thrilled to be asked to train her. All of the BK racehorses are professionally managed by former jockey Ben Vassallo with whom I have regular contact. It’s a special thrill to win a race in Brad and Kylie’s well-known lime green and silver hoops with a matching cap. A Saturday metro win is the icing on the cake.”
Brad has won many races for BK Racing including the Ortensia Stakes at Scone with Vulpine. Jay Ford rode the mare and also piloted Art's Alive on Saturday - courtesy Bradley Photographers.
Art’s Alive ran second at Warwick Farm at her very first start prompting Brad to continue her two year old preparation. Her second run was in the Golden Gift in which she finished midfield after brushing the fence at the 800m and being held up twice in the run home. She was unplaced but not disgraced in the Inglis Millenium when she finished 4.5 lengths from Fully Lit, after working hard from barrier 13 and racing outside the leader. Then came a fourth in the Canberra Black Opal after which Brad made the call to abandon any further autumn plans and send the filly to the paddock.
Art’s Alive resumed with a pleasing fourth in a Hawkesbury maiden last July after which Widdup devised a plan which would take the filly to the far north coast on Coffs Harbour Cup day. A year earlier the Inglis organisation had announced their “Xtra Bonus Series” whereby they would provide a $100,000 bonus to the winners of fifty designated maiden races around NSW. The Coffs club was given the inaugural race in the series to complement its Cup day programme. With Andrew Adkins in the saddle the Snitzel filly was obliged to race three wide throughout but knuckled down to her work over the last 100m to score a gutsy win over De Forza and Sammy Conquers All, both trained by Noel Mayfield-Smith. Total prize money (bonus included) of $122,000 made the long trip north a worthwhile exercise.
Following a “freshen” in early spring Art’s Alive resumed with an emphatic Cl 1 win at Kembla Grange, ridden once again by Andrew Adkins. The filly didn’t go quite as well when only seventh at Randwick on Boxing Day, and similarly when fourth on the Kensington track three weeks later. Those back to back Randwick failures were obviously the reason for her huge starting quote at Rosehill. To overcome difficulties and score as well as she did on Saturday, has convinced Brad to give her one more run this preparation. He hasn’t dismissed the possibility of looking for a lower grade black type race for fillies and mares in the early part of the autumn carnival.
Just twenty minutes after the win by Art’s Alive, trainer Widdup positioned himself in front of a Sky Racing monitor to watch another three year old filly compete at Newcastle. Calyx Rose had done very little at her first two race starts prompting the trainer to send her to Cowra for a $50,000 Super maiden on January 19th. With Zad Wadick on board she won convincingly enough to warrant an upgrade to a Cl 1 over 1500m at Newcastle. Wadick was required for several mounts at Rosehill on Saturday prompting Widdup to seek the services of a visiting Irish jockey who caught his eye recently. “I’ve been impressed with Ronan Whelan since he came out to spend some time with John O’Shea and Tom Charlton at Randwick,” said Brad. “He won on Canny Queen for me at Newcastle the previous Saturday and the ride was faultless. I was happy to give him another opportunity on Calyx Rose and he got the money again. When nobody was keen to lead on Saturday, he quickly let her stride to the front, and judged the speed beautifully to win easily. He rides well and I’ll be using him again.”
Calyx Rose (Ronan Whelan) won for the Widdup stable at Newcastle less than 20 minutes after the Rosehill win by Art's Alive - courtesy Bradley Photographers.
Brad Widdup was eminently qualified to launch his own training career much sooner than he did, but chose to continue working under the tutelage of high profile trainers. Over some nineteen years he’d worked for Rod Craig, Brian Smith, Liam Birchley, Graham Rogerson, and Kevin Moses, followed by an extended period with the Darley come Godolphin operation under both Peter Snowden and John O’Shea. He made the call to finally go it alone when the late Bob Ingham made the shock decision to sell his entire thoroughbred enterprise to Sheik Mahommed for a mind boggling half a billion dollars.
Since hoisting his own banner in 2017 Brad Widdup has announced his presence as a very serious horse trainer. Halfway through the current season he’s in seventh spot on the NSW trainer’s ladder with a very healthy 37 winners. This follows strong performances over the previous three seasons - 2021/2022 (63 winners), 2022/2023 (58) and 2023/2024 (61). His team has slowly built to the seventy horses he has in work today. That team is split up over four barns on his Clarendon property in the bustling Hawkesbury racecourse precinct.
Halfway through the current season Brad is in 7th spot on the NSW trainers premiership ladder - courtesy Bradley Photographers.
Many thought Brad by now would have bestowed upon the property the name of the wonderful mare who took him to the big stage over four memorable years. Under the painstaking care of Brad Widdup, Icebath raced 39 times for 5 wins, 16 placings and $5.2 million. She won only one Gr 1, but was beaten narrowly in four others. She also won The Invitation, a $2 million dollar race devoid of group status.
It was a night of mixed emotions for Brad when Icebath was knocked down to Yulong Investments for $2.3 million at the 2023 Inglis Chairman’s Sale. “I visited my old mate during the Melbourne Spring carnival and found her with a stunning Alabama Express filly at foot,” said the man who took Icebath to dizzy heights.
“To date I haven’t given my Hawkesbury base an official name because I’m not really into that sort of thing, but I’ve been thinking about naming our four barns after horses who’ve helped me along the way. It will come in handy when I’m directing staff to the whereabouts of certain horses. You can bet Icebath’s name will be on one of those barns. You can imagine my feelings when I saw her first foal recently. I’m allowed to dream that one day her first foal might land at my place. If you don’t dream a little you shouldn’t be in this business.”
Brad's all time favourite Icebath wins The Invitation at Randwick 23/10/2021 with Kerrin McEvoy in the saddle - courtesy Bradley Photographers.
(Banner image - Art's Alive (lime green and silver colours) got out of a pocket very late to grab Stagnum (outside) in the last bound at Rosehill - courtesy Bradley Photographers.)