Material Man wins the Hyperion Stakes (Western Racepix)
As far as West Australian race fans are concerned, he is ‘The Man’.
On Saturday at Belmont Park, the Justin Warwick trained Material Man captured the Group Three Hyperion Stakes over 1600m: his third stakes win in succession and sixth black type victory overall.
The race continued one of Perth’s great rivalries too with Great Shot second and Pounamu third, repeating the placings from the Group Three Belmont Sprint two weeks earlier.
Material Man edged out Pounamu in January’s Group Two Perth Cup as well, having finished close up seconds behind the horse in both the Group One Kingston Town and Group Two Ted Van Heemst in December, while Great Shot was three quarters of a length the better in the Group One Railway Stakes.
But now Warwick is looking to up the ante – BIG time – and is poised to campaign Material Man in Melbourne. In the Spring. In the Cox Plate. Against Winx!
“I know he’s going to be bumping into the best racehorses in Melbourne and the world’s best for that matter if we decide to run him in the Cox Plate, but he deserves his shot,” Warwick points out.
“We’ve got a couple of options – a thousand options going around in my head actually – with a likely start in the (Group Three) Strickland Stakes over 2000m at Belmont on 30 June before heading across to Melbourne.
“Then we might look at having a tilt at the Group One Makybe Diva Stakes over 1600m at Flemington in mid September to open his spring campaign.
“All things being equal, we’ll have a serious look at the ($5 million) Caulfield Cup or the ($5 million) Cox Plate.”
Warwick has trained a number of top line performers over the years – including (7-time stakes winner) Wink And A Nod, Black Tycoon (another Perth Cup winner) and Quilista, a stakes winner in Perth who would win two Group races in Sydney this year for trainer Darren Weir – but this is his first attempt at the Melbourne spring carnival.
“Yes, it’s really taking me out of my comfort zone,” Warwick says with a laugh.
“Thinking races like the Cox Plate is a huge step, but you can’t shape an entire program around one horse. Based on recent form, Material Man is worthy of trying his luck in Melbourne and we’ll just take it one step at a time.
“The plan at this stage is to head across with Material Man and two others from the stable in Elegant Blast and Dudemanbro. Elegant Blast will target the mares series, while Dudemanbro is just an out and out stayer.
“There are limited opportunities for stayers over here in the West and both he and Elegant Blast are likely to stay in Melbourne after the spring.
“I’d like to keep hold of Material Man though. He’s a very good horse and is likely to surprise a few racegoers come the spring.”
Material Man now has 13 wins and five placings from 22 starts for $1,223,175 in earnings and is raced by Michael and Jill Macdermott, who also bred the 6YO son of Danetime stallion, Vital Equine.
The Macdermotts raced Material Man’s dam, Del Lirio, as well, winning two races in Sydney before the mare ended her career in Perth.
“I’ve been involved in the industry since the early 1980s and own a 100 acre property on the Swan River where I have all my ‘retirees’,” Michael Macdermott, a major property developer, explains.
“I scaled back my racehorses and mares a few years ago due to ill health, but I’ve currently got around seven in work, all of them in WA.
“I used to have a few race in NSW, including Chater Mikado who won a (Listed) Eskimo Prince and ran second in the (Group Three) Skyline Stakes at two, but Material Man would have to be the best I’ve raced. Better still if he wins a big one in Melbourne!”
Material Man is the first foal of Del Lirio, who wasn’t covered from 2013 until last spring, but was eventually sold by Macdermott and is now in foal to Wandjina.
“It’s a very good family,” Macdermott adds.
“Material Man’s fourth dam is Great Klaire, who hails from that wonderful Eight Carat family … Octagonal, St Klaire and the like, while I selected Vital Equine because it brings in a cross of Roberto, who was the best 10 furlongs (2000m) horse of his day.”
Clearly Macdermott doesn’t need reminding that the Cox Plate is run over 2040m!
