3 minute read
Trainer Sarah Cotton has always had a decent opinion of her lightly raced five-year-old Did You Decide and in Launceston tonight the gelding has the chance to live up to her expectations.
Did You Decide won on debut last season and followed up with a minor placing before he was sent for a decent spell.
He resumed with a game second to in-form mare Zewinna and just over a week ago he was second to Thousand Guineas aspirant Cloudy Nights in Hobart in a maiden-class one over 1600m.
The gelding stays at the same trip in Launceston on Friday night and would only need to replicate what he did last start to take out the Ladbroke It Class One Handicap over 1620m.
The gelding meets two last-start winners in Lago Approach and Wheelknot, both from the in-form John Blacker yard, but they both won on New Year's Day at Longford in what were much weaker races than that in which Did You Decide has been contesting.
Most of the others have been trying to win a race for ages and while showing glimpses of talent, the form doesn't stack up against that of Sarah Cotton's gelding.
The other standout on the eight-event card looks to be Blacker's grey mare Zewinna that has won her past two and is a $2.10 favourite to notch the hat-trick.
The four-year-old mare defeated Did You Decide two starts back and last Friday week she delivered a great effort to outgun the Adam Trinder-trained Imagine Howe in a BM62 (1400m) and that horse franked the form by winning a BM62 impressively in Devonport on Wednesday.
When jockey Siggy Carr dismounted from Zewinna last start in Hobart she commented that the mare was happy being involved in a bumping duel with other horses in the home straight, so she obviously doesn't mind a stoush.
There looks to be natural speed in the race with Diamond Bay in with only 51kg on her back courtesy of a three-kilogram claim for apprentice Brooke Hanham, but Zewinna has early tactical speed and could land second or third and be poised to strike whenever Carr decides to hit the go button.
Talented sprinter And Beyond has been given the task of carrying top weight of 62 kilograms in a benchmark 72 handicap over 1120m.
And Beyond comes off a gallant second to Coronation Keith in a BM72 over 1400m in Hobart last Friday week and connections are hoping dropping back to the shorter trip will be enough for him to cope with lugging such a big weight.
He has been handicapped to carry 63-1/2 kilograms, but apprentice Erica Byrne Burke will claim 1-1/2 kilograms to reduce the burden.
The Tanya Hanson and Kyle Maskiell-trained gelding was beaten was beaten less than a length last start and he emerged triumphant the only time he stepped out over the trip on the Launceston circuit when wining his maiden on debut in October 2020.
