Robert Britton has enjoyed phenomenal success in recent years with the progeny of Fernando Bale and Tears Siam, most notably with champion stayer Tornado Tears, as well as Group 1 winners Here’s Tears and Rippin’ Sam.
Britton’s affinity with the potent ‘Tears’ line also includes Tears Siam’s litter brother Space Star, a three-time G1 winner and The Meadows 725m record holder.
Britton is assured of adding another win at Geelong this afternoon, with Race 4, a 520m maiden, at 5.03pm, comprised entirely of six members of the fourth Fernando Bale x Tears Siam litter, whelped in July 2020.
The six bluebloods, bred by Michael Ivers, are trained by Britton’s son Tim, and raced by the master distance conditioner and wife Mary.
Two have raced – Ryebuck Tears and On The Off – while the other four – Play Nice, Surprise Tears, Hooroo Tears and Wipe The Tears – are all on debut.
“I’ve never had the entire field for a race before,” Britton said.
“I could see they were going to be really short of noms and they were all ready to go, so I basically made my own race up.
“I’m not going to run them in anything shorter than 520m, so it was a good opportunity to get them going, because getting a 520m maiden away from the city is impossible.
WATCH: Regally bred RYEBUCK TEARS (8), a younger full sister to the great Tornado Tears, ran third on debut at The Meadows on January 26.
“They’re very raw and it’s hard to pick one out but if I had to, I would say the bitch that’s raced (Ryebuck Tears – Box 2).
“But it wouldn’t surprise me if any of them won. One will improve one week and another one improves the next week, so hopefully they keep improving.
“It’s going to be a real test because they dug the track up and it hasn’t been used for three weeks. I trialled there today (Monday), and it was incredibly slow, so we’re not going to learn a lot.
“Michael (Ivers, breeder) decided he was going to sell the litter, so I jumped in and bought them when they were about eight months old, otherwise I was going to lose them.”
Britton had two older Fernando Bale x Tears Siam brothers in action on the opening night of the Australian Cup Carnival at The Meadows last Saturday night and met with mixed results.
Here’s Tears, winner of the G1 Super Stayers in 2020 and Sandown Park ‘s 715m record holder, was never a factor in the G1 Zoom Top, finishing seventh to Gypsy Wyong at his third appearance in the invitational event.
Here’s Tears is a doubtful stayer in this weekend’s G1 Super Stayers heats, with Britton unsure about his future, but Torpedo Tears will step up to elite company after claiming his third straight win in a Mixed 4/5 event over 725m.
“Very disappointing,” Britton said of Here’s Tears.
“I’m weighing up whether to keep going with him, to be honest.
“Torpedo Tears is going well but whether he can step up and take the other bloke’s place remains to be seen.
“He tends to run a little bit wide, but I think he’ll be a different dog if he gets to the front. Whether he can get to the front is another thing!”
UPDATE: On The Off ($9.40) won the ‘Battle of Britton’ at Geelong on Tuesday afternoon, opening his account at his third attempt, clocking 30.68sec, defeating debutante Hooroo Tears ($9.10) and Ryebuck Tears ($2.80).
Torpedo Tears claimed his third straight win at The Meadows last Saturday night.
