Spoils of victory: Darryl Harrison and his partner Alicia at Eagle Farm Racecourse on Saturday with the Group One JJ Atkins Stakes trophy, after King of Colorado saluted in the $1 million event.
A plumber from Stanhope shared the winner’s cricle with a United Arab Emirates Sheikh at Eagle Farm in Brisbane on Saturday when the great leveller that is horse racing brought the pair together for the Group one JJ Atkins Stakes.
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Daryl Harrison is one of the 47 members of the Stable of Stars syndicate, who between them own 75 per cent of two-year-old King Colorado and were on course to see the colt have his second — and by far the most significant — win of his three race career.
Stable of Stars is a new business to the world of syndicate horse racing and the dream result was shared by people from all walks of life — including UAE royalty.
It was a fluke that Harrison, and his partner Alicia, were even at the event — given their sporting commitments as players and coaches of senior and junior sporting teams.
“I had already booked a long weekend trip to Cairns, but as soon as he was confirmed as a starter on Wednesday I booked flights for us from Cairns to Brisbane and back,” Harrison said.
“We flew into Brisbane at 8am on Saturday and back out to Cairns at 8pm that night.”
Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Maktoum bred the horse and retains a 25 per cent ownership stake.
He is the first cousin of the current Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and the head of the Dubai Land Department King Colorado had connections in raptures as he was guided to victory in the $1 million race by Jason Collett, several of the ecstatic part-owners having secured odds of 101-1.
Harrison’s connection to the horse is even stronger by the fact he named the horse.
“I got an email through winning edge investments, which is a tipping service, about the syndicate and decided to join about six months ago,” he said.
The first two horses offered up by the syndicate were, Miss Dynamo who is yet to race, and King Colorado.
“All owners had an option to offer up suggestions and King Colorado got the most votes,” he said.
His sire is Kingman (hence King) and the dam is More Aspen (Aspen in Colorado).
“All members get an opportunity to provide names, the syndicate manager then sends out that list and everyone votes 1, 2, 3,” Harrison said.
“In this case I was the highest votegetter and we then had to get approval from the Sheikh.
“He was happy and the name was approved.”
He settled ninth in the 17-horse field and came from the clouds at the 400-metre mark to win by just under a length, continuing the brilliant training form of Melbourne Cup-winning Ballarat training partnership David Eustace and Ciaran Maher.
They trained Gold Trip to the 2022 Melbourne Cup victory and Harrison was immediately conjuring up images of his new charge’s potential involvement in this year’s Spring Carnival.
It was their 11th Group one win of the season.
King Colorado will now have a short spell and then is likely to target the Caulfield Guineas.
“Fingers crossed be may even be good enough for a Cox Plate run in the spring,” Harrison said.
Harrison said the 81-year-old Sheikh was not at Eagle Farm on Saturday, but would no doubt have been celebrating the result as the colt is now valued at $10 million following the Group one victory.
“The Sheikh bred King Colorado and unfortunately he has full ownership after his racing career,” Harrison said.
“The syndicate has a contract to race him until he turns five, so hopefully we still have a couple of years of fun ahead.”
He said several of the owners — including him — had taken the 101/1 odds on offer for the Group one event before King Colorado’s first win (by one and a half lengths in a 1400 metre Kembla Grange maiden on May 23).
When he saluted in the 1600 metre Eagle Farm event there were several quickly heading to their phones to check the balance of their accounts.
Harrison said the triple-figure odds were still available for a few hours after his maiden win three weeks ago and a couple of his golfing mates got on.
He also said he had a couple of bites at the cherry.
Odds of 41/1 were still on offer an hour before the race, but King Colorado was then crunched into $11 for the start of the race.
Harrison is not a newcomer to horse racing. He had a share in a good horse, Khutulun, who raced on Melbourne Cup day and ran in the Queensland Oaks.
“He won $500,000 in prizemoney, including some good 2000m race wins at Flemington and Caulfield,” he said.
Winner’s circle: Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Maktoum is a renowned racehorse breeder and owner, who has a 25 per cent racing ownership in star two-year-old colt King of Colorado. He is shown with Asiatic Boy, winner of the 2007 UAE Triple Crown.
