Kronenbourg all the way for Brisbane Handicap upset
Kiwi-bred gelding Kronenbourg (NZ) (Vadamos) capped a big day for trainer Tony Gollan in Brisbane on Saturday with a boilover in the A$300,000 Listed Cricks Highway Brisbane Handicap (1600m) at Eagle Farm.
It was Gollan’s fifth win on the card, following on from his earlier victories with Savagery Vibe, Bundella, Listed Calaway Gal (1200m) winner Boomella, and also the New Zealand-bred War Decree mare Give Giggles.
Those earlier winners were all at single-figure odds for their respective races, but Kronenbourg went out as a $91 outsider for the Brisbane Handicap after being unplaced in four runs since winning at Doomben back in the spring.
The seven-year-old Vadamos gelding bounced back in style on Saturday. After jumping from the outside gate in the hands of apprentice jockey Emily Lang, he pushed forward to take up a clear lead within the first 400m of the race.
That was where he stayed, digging deep when challenged in the straight and holding on by three-quarters of a length. The runner-up was the favourite Cote Atlantique, who was seen in New Zealand earlier this year when second in the Gr.3 King’s Plate (1200m) on Champions Day at Ellerslie.
An eye-catching fourth placegetter under 61 kilograms was the winner’s stablemate, the multiple Group One-winning Kiwi-bred star Antino.
The Brisbane Handicap was the 10th win of a 32-start career for Kronenbourg, who has placed on another five occasions and has earned A$596,524.
“I have had an ordinary time with drawing bad barriers in the last few weeks,” Gollan said. “I’d had a lot of seconds and thirds, but it has turned around lovely today.
“We knew this horse had to step up today and show us that he’s still the horse he was. I just tried to vary it up a bit with the blinkers and tongue tie. His work has been great in them. He’s an older horse, and sometimes just changing things around a bit does the trick.”
Kronenbourg was bred by Stephanie Hole and is by Vadamos out of the four-race-winning Anabaa mare Angel Child. Four of Angel Child’s progeny have raced and all four have been winners, including Listed Dulcify Stakes (1600m) runner-up and subsequent Hong Kong winner Pushy (later renamed to Top Gun).
Wentwood Grange offered Kronenbourg in Book 1 of Karaka 2020, where Awapuni trainer Bryce Newman bought him for $45,000. Newman trained Kronenbourg for the first two starts of his career in the autumn of 2022, recording placings at Wanganui and Otaki before he was sold across the Tasman.
