While Tulloch Lodge typically operates at a high standard, their two-year-old season has been relatively quiet. However, their principal stable rider, Tim Clark, is confident that the current group of juveniles will compensate for lost time as they mature into three-year-olds.
Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott have achieved 14 juvenile winners from 92 starts in the 2025-26 racing term, a decrease from the 20 winners from 119 runners in the 2024-25 season. This follows two consecutive successful seasons, where they trained 35 two-year-old victors in 2023-24 and 37 in 2022-23.
With the initial three-year-old stakes race of the new season, The Rosebud (1100m), just six weeks away, many of this season’s young horses are already commencing their preparation for their seasonal comebacks. Clark believes the future of Tulloch Lodge appears promising.
“The Rosebud and San Domenico Stakes, they come up pretty quickly, so those two-year-olds rising three are starting to roll back in,” Clark stated. “There are some nice horses among them.”
When prompted to identify a horse that had captured his attention since returning to training, Clark pointed to the filly By Choice. Having secured a victory on her debut at Randwick in December, the Written Tycoon filly went on to place in the Magic Millions Classic (1200m) at the Gold Coast and in a couple of Golden Slipper lead-up races.
Clark asserts that she has developed significantly and anticipates her making a notable impact in the early three-year-old races of the season. “I haven’t been on too many of them yet, but By Choice raced through a Magic Millions and lined up in the Slipper lead-ups. Physically, she looks to have really strengthened and come back in good order,” Clark commented. “The Princess Series races might suit her. She gives the impression she will run a strong mile, so she is definitely one that physically looks like she has made good improvement.”
The four-race Princess Series commences with the Group 2 Silver Shadow Stakes (1200m) on August 22 and concludes with the Group 1 Flight Stakes (1600m) at Randwick on October 3. Many are looking forward to seeing how By Choice performs in these upcoming feature races.
Betting on the upcoming Princess Series is now open at leading Australian betting sites.