Having been out of the placings in his five trials since the spring, the John Thompson trained Clear Proof snuck under the radar in the Castelvecchio At Arrowfield Maiden Plate, sent out as the second outsider of the field at an official starting price of 100-1.

Whilst Duncan Ramage was not one of those at Randwick clutching a nice winning ticket in his hand; “I have not had a bet for years!,” he was surrounded by some very happy part owners.

“He was the first Randwick runner for one of the owners who drove up from Canberra and he was very excited. He said: ‘how easy is this ownership caper!'”

With some owners snapping up even bigger odds, there were certainly a lot of smiles in the winner’s circle and Duncan was deservedly one of the happiest having secured Clear Proof as a yearling at the Inglis Classic.

One of the 81 live foals from Justify’s second Australian crop (and his 38th local winner from 78 runners), Clear Proof was bred by Katom and was withdrawn from the 2023 Magic Millions before making his way through the Classic sale ring.

Sold by Ridgmont Farm to Duncan Ramage’s DGR Thoroughbred Services and John Thompson Racing for $300,000, Clear Proof was in the top 20 sellers and was the highest priced Justify.

“The price tag tells you all you need to know about what sort of yearling he was,” Duncan said, on the day warning John Thompson that “we are going to have to pay a bit more than we usually do for this one.”

“We had been watching the previous crop of Justifys and we liked what we’d seen. Learning To Fly had not yet raced but she was deemed to be pretty good so he was a stallion we targeted.”

And targeted successfully, also purchasing for $280,000 at that year’s Magic Millions a Justify half-brother to subsequent Listed Fireball S. winner Infancy (Wandjina).

Named Perfect Justice, the John Sargent trained gelding was second in a recent trial and is set to debut at Wyong in a couple of week’s time.

Noting that the race Clear Proof won was rather strong in regards to breeding and expensive purchases, Duncan joked that even trials are full of exceptionally well credentialled horses.

“Perfect Justice was only just pipped in his trial, and it took a half-sister to Winx to beat him!”

That horse being the Michael Freedman trained Wings Of Desire (Pride Of Dubai) who has been retained to race by breeder John Camilleri.

Duncan was amazed by the strength of the race Clear Proof contested, noting, “we added the prices up of the runners and there was about a million dollars worth of horses, and that’s not counting an I Am Invincible colt who didn’t go through the sales.”

Noting that there is never an easy maiden to win, Duncan was very happy to see Clear Proof poke up on the inside of his more fancied rivals and, despite the price, he was not particularly surprised.

“In each of his trials his riders, including Chad Schofield (who was aboard for the debut) got off and said ‘he is better than that.'”

“The theory from every one who rode him was that he is such a good mover that he just couldn’t show his best on the sorts of tracks he was trialling on.

“So we set him for this race with the idea that at this time of year the Kensington track, with its slow 7, was as good as you were going to get. And I think judging by the quality of horses in the race that others thought the same thing.

“We had to take a leap of faith in his riders,” he said, pleased that their judgement proved spot-on.

Providing Clear Proof comes through his first start well, the bay will stay in work with early three-year-old stakes races in late winter and early spring the target.

Clear Proof is raced by a number of stable clients with Think Big Stud whose interests remain under the DGR Thoroughbred Services banner with the late Dato Chin Nam’s children still very much involved in the racing side of things.

“They decided that they are not interested in breeding but they have been happy to support me buying yearlings and filling them around them.”

“Think Big’s last two home-bred horses to win stakes races have both been retired,” he said, referring to the 2021 G2 Adelaide Cup winner Good Idea and the 2020 Listed Sandown Cup winning, G2 Brisbane Cup runner-up Carif, both sons of Think Big’s star So You Think (NZ).

There is still joy in Duncan’s voice when he talks so proudly of that globe-trotting multiple Group 1 winner who he describes as “a marvel!”

“With the win of his son Punch Lane in the Listed Glasshouse H. last weekend he just got up for third in the sire’s premiership,” he said, happy to see So You Think finish in the top three by earnings three years running; as the runner-up over the last two seasons.

“He is still one of only two stallions, with Galileo the other, to have had three Group 1 winners on one day,” he said, happy to reminisce about the day (April 9, 2022) that saw Knights Order (Ire), Think It Over and Nimalee take out the G1 Sydney Cup, the G1 Queen Elizabeth S. and the G1 Queen Of The Turf S.

“I follow all the So You Think runners,” he said, noting that debutant Queen’s Rhapsody trained by David Pfieffer ran a debut second in the race before Clear Proof’s win.

“I was reading a form guide comment that said So You Think is a good sire of middle distance and staying horses but if you check the sires charts he is in the top ten for sprinters and milers as well.”

Ramage recalls being “pilloried” by the media when So You Think was sold to Coolmore to race in the northern hemisphere but the commercial decision was a wise one with the popular horse able to show off his talent to another audience.

“I think people forget that he won five Group 1 races in Europe in the northern hemisphere and he is the only Australasian horse to do that. Some of our best have travelled and have been lucky to win one Group 1, the closest any has got to his record was Choisir with his two.”

Whilst Duncan is no longer looking at stallions from a breeding perspective, he is still keeping a close eye on them both at the races and at stallion parades so that they are in his mind when he heads to the yearling sales.

“I no longer have those decisions to make regarding which stallions to use, instead I have the luxury to judge them later, when their yearlings are at the sales.”

Such as was the case with Justify who has been visited by Clear Proof’s dam a couple more times.

Clear Proof is the first live foal produced by the more than handy Crystal Fountain (NZ) (Stravinsky {USA}) who raced on 15 occasions, winning five races (two at metropolitan level at Caulfield and Moonee Valley) and earning black-type with a close second to Secret Trail (Denman) in the Listed Bright Shadow S. at Doomben.

Story courtesy of TTR AusNZ / Story written by Kristen Manning