Photo: Bruno Cannatelli
An all-the-way victory in the A$1 million Gr.1 Might And Power Stakes (2000m) at Caulfield on Saturday marked a career-defining triumph for New Zealand-bred gelding Globe (Charm Spirit).
The weight-for-age feature was the first appearance at Group One level for the seven-year-old Charm Spirit gelding, who had previously won five of his 14 career starts headed by the Listed Cranbourne Cup (1600m) last November. In his only previous attempt at the 2000m of Saturday’s big race, he had run third in the Listed Ballarat Cup (2000m).
Trainers Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr threw Globe in at the deep end on Saturday, coming up against four-time Group One winner Treasurethe Moment and last year’s Gr.1 Underwood Stakes (1800m) winner and Gr.1 Caulfield Cup (2400m) runner-up Buckaroo. But Globe went to the front, dictated terms and that high-class pair could not catch him.
Rider Blake Shinn took Globe to the front of the four-horse field and timed the race to perfection, upping the ante just before the home turn and pinching a break on his rivals. Globe held up his end of the bargain and kicked hard down the straight, keeping himself out of Treasurethe Moment’s reach and going on to score by three lengths.
“I knew the tactics had to be right to beat Treasurethe Moment and Buckaroo, who I’ve got the utmost respect for,” Shinn said. “And realistically he wasn’t a proven weight-for-age horse until today, so we were going in as a bit of the underdog.
“But as we’ve seen time and time again in these small fields, it’s quite tactical and an upset can happen more often than not. We went in there with no pressure as the obvious leader. Globe is a natural front-runner, and what a thrill to be able to pull it off.
“Treasurethe Moment came up to us at the turn, but I knew I had saved something up for the last 300m with the run we’d had. I got him to change to his off side fore about the 250m, and then he went into overdrive.
“Full credit to the horse, he gave me a lovely ride. Great work from the trainers, Mick Price and Michael Kent Jr. This is our second Group One winner together this season, and they've been great supporters of mine.
“This ownership group, Roll The Dice Racing, they put a lot of people into the game with their syndication. They've been big supporters of mine as well and just great people. So it's lovely to be able to reward the big ownership group here today.”
Globe has now had 15 starts for six wins, four placings and A$1.21 million in stakes.
“We get up every day and dream these dreams,” Price said. “This is fantastic for the owners, a big bunch of them.
“And the horse has spent his whole life earning A$600,000, and he just earned another A$600,000 in two minutes.
“At the start of his preparation, it was never in my mind that we would win the Might And Power with him. But these races can turn up funny results, and I thought, well, it’s going to be a small field. He did get beaten in a Ballarat Cup over 2000m as an immature horse.
“It’s just one of those days where it’s not a mathematical formula – it’s a horse race.”
Globe was bred by Barry Donoghue and is by Charm Spirit out of Bonnie Doon, who is a full-sister to dual Group One winner Booming.
Globe was purchased at the 2020 New Zealand Bloodstock Book 2 Sale from the draft of Cambria Park for $22,000.
A trial winner at Taupo in April of 2022 for the late Toby Autridge, Globe was later bought privately for Roll The Dice Racing by bloodstock agent Phill Cataldo.
Donoghue will offer an Ace High half-brother to Globe as Lot 248 during the New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run Sale at Karaka next month.
