He was born to travel. Carl Spackler was foaled in Ireland, auctioned off in England, and flown to the United States. Last month owner Bob Edwards of e Five Racing Thoroughbreds sold the three-time Grade 1 winner to Yulong Investments. The Australian superpower shipped him back to England, where on Tuesday (June 17) he’ll race in the mile Queen Anne Stakes (G1), the opener of the prestigious five-day Royal Ascot meeting.
Yulong couldn’t have picked a tougher spot for the 5-year-old son of Dubawi to make his overseas debut.
Even though Carl Spackler was 7-for-10 in graded stakes for trainer Chad Brown, he’ll be a longshot. His early odds with English bookmakers are 16-1 in a field of 11 headed by multiple Group 1 winners Rosallion (5-2) and Notable Speech (5-1). Victory earns an automatic berth in the Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1) on Nov. 1 at Del Mar.
“It’s a very unique scenario, to purchase a horse to be trained by an Australian, to run at Royal Ascot,” Will Bourne, head of bloodstock for trainer Ciaron Maher, told sportinglife.com. “A stiff mile at Ascot is a big ask coming from America, although his times there really stack up.”
Carl Spackler is the namesake of Bill Murray’s wacky character in the 1980 comedy “Caddyshack.” The eccentric groundskeeper at a golf course spent the movie chasing a destructive gopher and dreaming of winning the Masters. “What an incredible Cinderella story,” Spackler mumbles to himself. “An unknown comes out of nowhere.”
Remarkably, that’s the life story of multibillionaire Yuesheng Zhang, who grew up tending his poor family’s livestock in Mongolia and dreaming big. He left his tiny village in the Gobi Desert and drove a taxi before becoming a coal miner. He saved his money, started a coal mining and transportation company in 2000, and got rich. Seventeen years ago, he founded Yulong and gradually grew it into a racing dynasty.
Last October, Zhang’s best horse, the mare Via Sistina, won the Cox Plate (G1), one of Australia’s most coveted races. Success on the world stage is Zhang’s passion, and he acquired Carl Spackler with an eye on repeating in the Cox Plate. He supplemented him to the Queen Anne for $71,500 after the colt looked sharp while training at Newmarket.
“The rider [Jamie Spencer] said when he gave him a little squeeze late in the gallop that he really exploded,” Bourne said. “This isn’t an easy task, but he is just an absolute dude, and I think he is going to run a big race.”
Carl Spackler’s new partner will be New Zealander James McDonald, one of the world’s best big-race riders and a four-time Royal Ascot winner. McDonald won the Cox Plate on Via Sistina and is “happy to come over and ride him,” according to Bourne. “He has watched his tapes, and he is getting very excited about the horse.”
Although Carl Spackler is 8-for-12 with seven stakes trophies, he’s never faced a field as deep and talented as this one, not even in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Mile. Carl Spackler moved into contention in the stretch before fading to sixth. And how will he handle the demanding, undulating course, a straight mile with an uphill finish?
“I’d say his big challenges will be the conditions and the track,” Bourne said. “The stiff mile at Royal Ascot is probably the biggest ask, coming from America. It would be amazing [to win]. The Queen Anne is going to be a red-hot race, but we think Carl Spackler is a pretty good horse, and hopefully he can show up on Tuesday.”
Winning would be difficult but far from impossible. Nine years ago, Mark Casse sent champion mare Tepin from the U.S. to take the Queen Anne, the only time an American trainer has won it. If you’re in the mood to speculate, you could win a lot by betting a little on Carl Spackler.
