Raging Torrent wins the Godolphin Mile (Dubai Racing Club)
By Ben Baugh
When Randy Bradshaw first saw Raging Torrent, he was impressed by the colt’s physical attributes, and the son of Maximus Mischief seemed to possess a great deal of potential.
“When we got him, he was a really leggy, good-looking horse, a really pretty horse,” said Randy Bradshaw, who broke and trained the colt at his farm in Williston, Fla. “Before we left here and went to the sale (2023 OBS Spring Sale), I thought this horse is really coming around and getting good. We worked him at the sale, he worked in 10 flat. He galloped out in 20 and change.”
The 4-year-old bay colt has been fulfilling his promise, the win on April 5 at Meydan Racecourse was Raging Torrent’s fourth stakes victory, but initially the thought was he would be a route horse rather than a sprinter. Raging Torrent is conditioned by Doug O’Neill, was ridden by jockey Frankie Dettori who scored his 24th Dubai World Cup victory riding the multiple stakes winner and is campaigned by Zhang Yuesheng and Great Friends Stable.
“I really liked the horse, he was a great minded horse, always did everything right,” said Bradshaw. “To me, I thought he was a two-turn horse, when you look at how much leg he has, I kept telling Doug, I think this horse needs to go two turns, he said, ‘yeah, we do too.’ But consequently, it hasn’t turned out that way.”
Going into the 2023 OBS Spring Sale, it appeared that Raging Torrent would return a hefty sum, based on the number of people stopping by Bradshaw’s consignment to look at the colt.
“He was one of those horses we thought we were going to get $250, $300, $400,000,” said Bradshaw. “I thought he was worth that all day long. He was probably out 150 times. I thought we’re going to be in good shape with this colt. I kept telling the owner, who is a great guy, I said, ‘Al (Alfonso Mazzetti) I think you’re going to get paid for this horse. He really is a nice colt.’”
The vagaries of the Thoroughbred business can be befuddling at times, and on the day Raging Torrent was to go through the sales ring, there was considerably less activity, resulting in a change of plans. Raging Torrent brought $75,000 at the 2023 OBS April Sale.
“When it came down to it, the day of the sale, he was in the sale, we didn’t have hardly any vet action on him at all, maybe one or two, and I told him, ‘if you want to get this horse sold, we better drop the reserve down to about $69,000. I said, ‘I’m sorry, I think he’s a ton better horse than that, but if you want to sell him, that’s what we’re going to have to do,’” said Bradshaw. “That’s what happened. In talking to Steve Rothblum, he said, ‘We would’ve went to $200,000.’ That doesn’t help me, if I would’ve known that I would’ve put the reserve higher. At second thought, I wish I would’ve bought him myself.”
A close friendship between Bradshaw and O’Neill that started when they were both in California, has strengthened and deepened their bond over time.
“I’ve kept in touch with Doug the whole time,” said Bradshaw. “I’m really good friends with Doug. When I left California, I gave Doug some of my clients, I thought he was an up-and-coming guy. His horses always looked good, and he’s a quality human being. I always really liked Doug a lot. We got him to Doug, and he’s gone onto to do great things.”
Raging Torrent’s 4-length win in the Godolphin Mile, added to his impressive resume, which included three stakes’ victories during his sophomore campaign, including the Malibu Stakes (Gr. 1), Dec. 26, 2024, at Santa Anita; Pat O’Brien Stakes (Gr. 2) at Del Mar this past summer, and the Maxfield Overnight Stakes at Churchill Downs on June 30, 2024.
“Doug and I both thought that this horse was going to stretch out and be a 1 1/16-mile horse,” said Bradshaw. “Early on, they figured out to put him back to sprinting, and it’s all been history. But he’s a really nice horse.”
The colt is out of the Violence mare Violent Wave and was bred in Kentucky by Rodney Winkler and Alfonso Mazetti.
“Al Mazzetti, the thing about him that’s been good, he still had the mare, he bought her back for $500,000 in November, but then I think he sold it privately to Chris Baccari, so Al got paid pretty well in the end,” said Bradshaw.
Bradshaw is still batting. 1.000 in the United Arab Emirates as both of the runners he’s broken and trained that have run in the Dubai World Cup, have tasted victory.
“I’ve been lucky, I’ve sent two horses over there, won the Dubai World Cup with one, Animal Kingdom, and the Godolphin Mile with the other one, Raging Torrent,” said Bradshaw.
