Ceolwulf (NZ) Digs Deep for Neville Sellwood Success

Multiple Group One winner Ceolwulf (NZ) (Tavistock) overcame a testing heavy track and 59.5-kilogram topweight to prevail in a tight finish to Tuesday’s A$300,000 Group Three Precise Air Neville Sellwood Stakes (2000m) at Rosehill.

It was the fifth win from 18 career starts for the Joe Pride-trained gelding, who has banked more than A$5.77m. He was a $170,000 purchase by Pride and part-owner Leighton Howl from the 2022 Ready to Run Sale at Karaka. Ceolwulf has now earned more than 35 times that purchase price.

Ceolwulf was runner-up in the Group One Rosehill Guineas (2000m) and Australian Derby (2400m) last autumn, then went to a whole new level with barnstorming come-from-behind triumphs in the Group One Epsom Handicap (1600m) and King Charles III Stakes (1600m) in the spring.

Ceolwulf began his latest campaign with strong-finishing efforts for fourth in the Group Two Apollo Stakes (1400m), fifth in the Group One Canterbury Stakes (1300m) and third in the Group One George Ryder Stakes (1500m). Tuesday’s Neville Sellwood was a step up in distance and down in class, but the weight and track conditions made it far from an easy task.

Jockey Chad Schofield had Ceolwulf handily positioned in fifth, then presented him on the outside of the leaders soon after rounding the home turn. He slowly but surely wore down the front-running Just Fine (Sea The Stars), snatching victory by a nose at the finish line.

“We were giving some classy horses weight, and I thought the only way that we could get beaten was if we gave him too much to do,” Schofield said.

“He didn't look as dynamic as we hoped, but it is difficult to give rock-hard fit, decent horses a lot of weight and still beat them, which he did. For sure, he has improvement to come.”

Pride agrees that a much better version of Ceolwulf will line up at Randwick for the A$5m Group One Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) on April 12.

“I wanted a good hitout for him over 2000 metres and he certainly got that,” Pride said. “That’s why I wanted to run him over 2000 metres. The majority of my horses, and this horse as well, the second run over 2000 metres they have, they are better – and he'll have to be a lot better next week.

“He presented like he was going to win by a couple of lengths today, but he didn't do that. Chad (Schofield) rode him a treat, rode him beautifully. He had a big weight on testing ground and was jumping up 500 metres, so he'll take nice progression from this run.

“He's still presenting a little bit big. He was 522 kilograms when we put him on the scales yesterday. To put that into perspective, he was in the low 480s when he won the King Charles.”