Mighty Ronaldo joined an elite few when he became the most recent westbred horse to earn in excess of $1million in stakemoney, a feat that many can only dream of.
Bred by Trevor Lindsay and purchased by his large ownership group managed by prominent owner Glen Mortimor at the 2019 Perth Yearling Sales for a very modest $22,000, the journey over the next five years has been no less than a fairy tale, with ‘Ronnie’ claiming more than his fair share of features and his current form indicates he’s showing no signs of slowing down.
Not overly large in stature, Mighty Ronaldo wasn’t originally in Justin’s book to look at in the sales, but whilst waiting to see another of Trevor Lindsays horses on the day, he spotted the then colt, and he liked what he saw.
“I kind of looked at him in the stall and I thought he looked like a really nice type and Trevor sort of said you have to get him out, he’s a real nice horse.
“I really liked the look of him, and I went back and spoke to John Lohman and he was actually written down in the book as a double Westbred, so we thought let’s have a crack.
“We used the money that Major Martini had won, he won the Sales race that year, we just bought Mighty Ronaldo with the syndicate money of him, and it turned out to be a pretty good buy.” Prentice said.
Unfortunately, it was later revealed that Mighty Ronaldo was in fact only single westbred, not double westbred as the book first indicated.
Mighty Ronaldo made his debut as an early two-year-old but missed out on making the Sales Classic Feature that year when he ran fifth in his heat.
He soon redeemed himself when he won his maiden just two starts later at Gloucester Park, his first win of three that season, with Mighty Ronaldo later going on to claim the G1 Golden Slipper in July, just two weeks after finishing second in the Westbred Classic behind Give Us A Wave.
With all signs pointing to the fact he was a very nice two-year-old, his size was Justins only concern, with the young trainer at the time questioning whether he was just a good two-year-old and whether he would go on with it as he matured.
Those concerns were soon washed away with Prentice realising he had a serious horse on his hands when he won the $200,000 G1 WA Derby in April 2021, as a three-year-old.
Lightly raced, Mighty Ronaldo has had just the 72 starts for 16 wins and 22 placings, with his stake currently sitting at $1,000,360, and Prentice is confident he has plenty of racing left in him.
“I’ve probably just always programmed him around the bigger races and this is the first time I’ve raced him through the winter, so he’s obviously not racing all the best horses, but he’s still doing things he probably hasn’t in the past.
“His Nullarbor run was super, he was probably a bit disappointing in the Fremantle Cup, but he probably didn’t back up as well as he generally does.
“I’d say he’s definitely going as good as he’s ever gone.”
Mighty Ronaldo took out the 2023 Fremantle Cup with Emily Suvaljko in the seat, and besides a grazed knee from tripping in jog work at home, he’s been the picture of health in his six years with the stable.
“He’s always been such a sound horse, good gaited horse and held us in good stead, and for him to race as long as he has.
“He’s probably been in three or four Pacing Cups and he’s been unlucky in a few of them as well, but obviously the way he gets driven, that’s going to happen.”
Mighty Ronaldo backs up again this week at Gloucester Park when he starts in the August Cup.
Ashleigh Paikos
Image: Pacepix