26 Jul 2018
Cambridge Stud’s exciting young stakes producing Fastnet Rock sire HIGHLY RECOMMENDED gave notice of even bigger, better things ahead last Friday.
The second crop sire had son GLENGALLON facing the starter for the first time at Kranji, but the talented youngster made light work of the debut challenge, clearing out from opposition by 2.5 lengths at the post.
Glengallon is raced by Ascot Stable’s Bruce and Maureen Harvey (pictured below), who were not overly surprised by the ou...tcome of the Tan Kah Soon-trained 3YO gelding.
“No, the win didn’t come as too much of a surprise at all. He was expected to run well,” said Bruce Harvey.
Evidently, the horse has already amassed quite a following.
“It doesn’t matter who you talk to, everyone who has had an involvement with this horse has been impressed. Be it his breaker, Darrel Lang who was his former NZ trainer, trackwork riders or Craig Grylls, who rode him on Friday, they all get off and tell you ‘this horse has a motor’,” explained Bruce.
"We had followed Glengallon with interest in New Zealand after Darrel Lang had said he thought a bit of him, so when bloodstock agent Phill Cataldo told us he was for sale, we jumped at the chance to buy him."
Glengallon is, in fact, one of four progeny by Highly Recommended that the Harveys have been involved with, with three yearlings also purchased at Karaka in January.
“We always keep an ear to the ground and cottoned on to the Highly Recommendeds pretty early. We knew Darrel had a good one, and it was obvious that Sumstreetsumwhere and Waldolf were going well. When you combined this with the comments at the trials and the track from trainers, we couldn’t help but sit up and take notice of him.
“Importantly, we like what we see with his progeny. They look like racehorses and are good, strong types with natural muscle and a good strong colour. With respect to their temperaments, what you see is what you get – they eat, they sleep and they love to work.
“The more we have to deal with them, the more we realise what easy horses they are to deal with. They want to be racehorses. In fact, you can’t wait ‘til the next day to go work with them, because you know they’ll be at the gate waiting for you.”
-GLENGALLON-
Breeding: Highly Recommended -Yeogor Lass (Sir Chromar)
Breeder: Mrs KA Barrett & Mrs NE Iles
Trainer: Tan Kah Soon
Owner: Bruce & Maureen Harvey, Ascot Stable