Jardin Rouge making up for lost time

Cover image | Nuptse, a previous city winner for Brian Wakefield

By Bren O'Brien

Eagle Farm-based Brian Wakefield admits Jardin Rouge (Red Element) has tested both his patience and his training prowess in her short career but is hoping she can improve on her already impressive record of five wins from eight starts at Rosehill on Saturday.

Jardin Rouge, who Wakefield and vet Mark McGarry paid $34,000 for as yearling, has always possessed plenty of ability, but a litany of injuries means she'll mark her sixth birthday next Thursday having been to the racetrack on just nine occasions.

She is one of 'those' horses, where when you ask the trainer why she has been so lightly raced, he just laughs and says 'where do I start?"

"She's had a run of things since she was young that took her a while to get over. They were never anything major, but they all took her a while to get over," he said.

Jardin Rouge's first issue came in her first campaign as an early 3-year-old where after finishing a good fourth on debut at the Sunshine Coast, she pulled up with cardiac arrhythmia at Ipswich.

"We gave her a 12-month spell after that to let her get over that and when we were bringing her back ready to race again, and after she trialled she pulled up with a hamstring injury, quite a nasty one," he said.

"It got to the stage where we had to tip her out again. She then injured herself in the paddock and had a bit of a nasty cut to the side of her mouth which needed stitches and time to settle down when she was out."

"Then she developed a quarter crack in one her hooves, and we had to ease off her again. I used a farrier, an old mate of mine, who is now in Townsville, Mick Kidner. He was the only one I knew who could fix these quarter cracks and he used the lace-up method and sorted her out."

"She's just been one of those fillies that has lots of niggling things."

Wakefield and the large group of owners in the horse looked to be rewarded for their patience when Jardin Rouge returned from an 18-month break for a second campaign which she rounded off with four consecutive victories at Gatton, Gold Coast and then twice at the Sunshine Coast.

But a dry winter in 2018 in Queensland took its toll and another soft-tissue injury in her fetlock saw Wakefield again send her to the paddock, this time for a 10-month break.

Resuming the winning streak

Taking the extra time to ensure she was sound coming into this campaign, Jardin Rouge has shown no ill-effects, resuming with an impressive win last month at Ipswich.

"She pulled up from that run really well. I had intended to run her at Doomben a couple of weeks back, but she came up with a really wide barrier and as it turned out the race was won by that horse of the Meaghers, Pippie (Written Tycoon), so I might have dodged a bullet there," Wakefield said.

"I saw this race in Sydney coming up, and while there was a race in Eagle Farm for her, that track has been racing a bit harder and we’ve had a couple of dry weeks. The track here at Rosehill will improve to good, but it won't be firm for her."

It’s not often that Wakefield, who has a team of about 10 in work in Brisbane, takes a horse to Sydney, his last being Denarius (Red Element) two years ago.

He admits it's hard to take on 'the big factories' on their own turf, but has had success previously with horses such as Nuptse (Bradbury's Luck), Pretty Composed (Stravinksy {USA}) and Dave The Dude (Celestial Dancer {Ire}).

"It’s always hard to win in Sydney at any time of year and you have to pick and choose your times when you come down," he said.

"You have to pick the right horses to do it with, travelling horses isn't easy, but it does them a world of good."

"She trialled Tuesday week in between runs and she trialled well and won it in nice time under her own steam. She's earned the right to have a crack at the city."

First impressions count

Picking the then filly out at the 2015 Magic Millions March Yearling Sale seems a long time ago, but the impression Wakefield and McGarry, whose families both own shares in Jardin Rouge, had of her back then has stood up through her career.

"We’d been through the whole catalogue at the March Sale and picked a few out and she was probably one of the standouts. She is a very good walking filly as she is now as a mare and she is a really athletic type," he said.

"She had that bit of a look about her. I liked the way she moved and her conformation. She was just one of those fillies that stood out to me. She's no champion yet, but we’ve had a lot of fun with her."

Her pedigree has stood up well since too, with her younger half brother Akkadian (Nicconi) stakes placed in Victoria for Matt Cumani. Her dam, Garden Of Eden (Blackfriars) is a half-sister to 10-time stakes winner grand Nirvana (Scenic {Ire}) and her yearling colt by Nicconi fetched $120,000 at the Gold coast in January.

Given Jardin Rouge's history, Wakefield is taking it just one race at a time with the rising 6-year-old, but she does look capable of measuring up to stakes company should she stay fit. Saturday's BM78 fillies' race at Rosehill is a good test of those ambitions.