Ceolwulf delivers pleasant surprise

An explosive winning performance at Rosehill from our exciting homebred prospect Ceolwulf took Joseph Pride by surprise.The Group 1-performed son of Tavistock had finished an eye-catching sixth when resuming on the course and the Eagle Farm trainer was taken aback by the arrogance of his victory against his BenchMark 100 rivals over 1500 metres.“I would have been happy to see him grind home, he’s still an immature horse and I never get too far ahead of myself, but he’s pretty special,” Pride said.Ceolwulf showed his quality last season when runner-up at Group 1 level in the Australian Derby and the Randwick Guineas.“He’s so far ahead of schedule and we all know he’s good, but I’ve been trying to play it down a bit,” Pride said.“It’s nice to see him fulfilling his potential and he’s on his way to somewhere pretty special.“The plan was to go to the Kingston Town Stakes (G3, 2000m) next, and he’ll probably still go there.”Rider James McDonald had Ceolwulf back in the pack off the rail before improving four wide near the turn and the four-year-old thundered home to win by nearly two lengths.“The game plan was to settle where I was and he was brilliant, he really put them away and I loved the way he attacked the line,” he said.Ceolwulf was sold for us by Sam and Hana Beatson’s Riversley Park at New Zealand Bloodstock’s Ready to Run Sale where he was knocked down to Pride for $170,000.He is a son of the unraced Shamardal mare in Las Brisas, whose Almanzor sold to agent John Foote for A$240,000 at this year’s Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale and the mare is due to foal this season to Sword Of State.Las Brisas’ half-sister Nantyglo was a Listed winner with four-time Hong Kong elite level winner Wellington, G1 Irish Oaks heroine Moonstone and the G1 Prix Saint-Alary winner Cerulean Sky adding to an international pedigree.