3 minute read
Brenton Le Grand looks back on the ten-race program at Royal Randwick and brings you the talking points of the undercard.
Strait Acer flushes them in the Midway
The Edward Cummings-prepared Strait Acer ($4.60) made it three wins from four starts this preparation with a dominant display in the opening event.
The son of Headwater travelled well back in the field over the early stages before letting down with authority to salute by an ever-widening 3-1/4 lengths under hands and heels riding from Jason Collett.
After settling last on the fence, Slickman ($16) made up steady ground to finish second but was never a threat to the winner.
Racing in his own colours, Cummings explained the process behind designing them.
"They're my stable colours. They are myrtle, green, cream and gold. I wanted the green and gold of my grandfather (12-time Melbourne Cup winning trainer Bart Cummings). I thought I needed something that looked like it had been around for 100 odd years and I thought they came up pretty good."
Wizard Of Oz gets home for Williams in the Highway
He's only had Wizard Of Oz ($5F) for three starts but Goulburn-based conditioner Danny Williams has already repaid connections with a stirring victory in the Highway.
After just missing the placings in a Highway at the first run for the stable, the Exceed And Excel progeny ran into one better in a similar contest last time out.
On Saturday rider Jason Collett got the five-year-old entire into a beautiful position, tracking the speed on the fence, before pushing through a gap to overpower a brave Iron Will ($10) by a half neck on the line.
The second horse certainly would not have lost any admirers having to do all the work to get across to the lead from gate 15.
The win brought up a race-to-race double to start the day for the former Kiwi hoop.
"He's on fire, he's riding really well Jason. I think he's the king of the Highways as far as percentages, really happy to have him on," Williams said.
European Import impresses in local debut
It was his first run in the southern hemisphere but the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained import Just Fine ($11) showed he is already comfortable in his surrounds.
The six-year-old put them to the sword in the Ikon Services Handicap over the mile storming away from race favourite Tazaral ($3.40F) by 2-3/4 lengths after travelling on speed for replacement jockey Rachel King. King picked up the ride after Regan Bayliss was dislodged at Wyong on Friday.
The win was even sweeter for the training duo of Waterhouse and Bott, with both celebrating their birthdays.
"It's a great day and what a way to celebrate with a lot of fantastic people and fantastic owners here at the start of the spring carnival," Bott said.
As to what the future holds for the son of See The Stars, both co-trainer and jockey were optimistic of stepping out over a longer trip.
"He could be a real Metropolitan horse for us, I think he'll stretch out over a bit further," Bott said.
"His turn of foot was awesome for a horse that's probably going to be even better as he gets over further, " King agreed.
Athabascan too strong in the Listed CTC Cup
It was a heady race move before the turn by jockey Tom Sherry that proved to be the winning one with John O'Shea galloper Athabascan ($13) taking out the Listed Sydney City Lexus CTC Cup over 2400m. As the leaders tired upon cornering, Sherry caught them napping to win by 2-1/2 lengths over Serpentine ($4.60) with Verona ($5.50) a further 1-1/2 lengths back in third.
Sherry has been putting in a lot of hard yards for the O'Shea camp, and his association with the stable is paying dividends.
"We had a real tricky gate but I was confident after riding him last start," Sherry said.
"I said to the team beforehand 'if we are right on top of them at the corner I'm confident he will keep giving'. I didn't expect to hit the front as soon as I did, but he responded really quick and credit to him he stuck to the task."
Stable representative Tom Charlton believes there are bigger fish to fry for the French import.
"He's a stayer to be reckoned with. He's going to stay further and hopefully he's going to go to another nice race this spring," Charlton said.
Quote of the day: "Not too bad. Obviously Timmy (Clark) and Regan (Bayliss) are very lucky as well. It just shows our sport we are in, things can happen anytime" - Jockey James McDonald on how he was feeling after all three riders suffered falls at Wyong's Friday meeting.
