3 minute read

Trainer and jockey quotes after Private Eye takes out the Group 2 Toyota Forklifts Shorts at Randwick on Saturday.

Race Result:

1st: Private Eye (J Pride/N Rawiller) - $12
2nd: Overpass (B Baker/J Parr) - $5
3rd: Buenos Noches (M Smith/D Gibbons) - $7.50

Winning Time: 1:02.66 Last 600m: 33.35

Margins: Long Head x ½L

PRIVATE EYE makes a statement in the SHORTS! @PrideRacing @nashhot @ProvenTbreds pic.twitter.com/OIxo712qBv

— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) September 16, 2023

Winning Trainer: Joe Pride

On the horse: "I know there is a fair bit of improvement to come. I've said all week, he starts his preparations off really well, he's a good fresh horse. But I've trained him a bit differently this time in. I haven't been too hard on him and I'd be surprised if he didn't improve significantly at his next couple of runs.

"A bit of thinking to do whether we go to the Premiere with him or straight to The Everest, but we'll take a deep breath and have a think about that.

"He's an absolute chameleon. I was saying to my guys today 'I've got to stop trying to psycho-analyse this horse'. I swore this morning he was going to come here and be a real handful, run well but be a real handful, and he came here and he was as quiet as a lamb.

"He's a horse that's run a mile, he's a horse that's now won a Group race over 1100m. He's an unbelievable horse but he keeps changing and I've got to keep up with him as he's changing."

On the connections: "I'm pretty confident, all things being well, I'll have two runners in The Everest. The two horses deserve to be there. That was exciting, I figured he was going to come back to what he was doing last spring, but you can never count on it.

"What you do at home doesn't simulate that kind of pressure and it was the race pressure that was going to go either way for him today. He thrived on it, he looked a little bit tired late but he kept finding."

Winning Jockey: Nash Rawiller

On the horse: "It's an emotional day, isn't it? Great to see Think It Over back and sad to see another old champ leave (Eduardo).

Thanks to my manager and the same with Joe (Pride). The writing was on the wall a month ago that I may not have an Everest ride and he said 'if something happens and Eduardo's not there for us, you can ride this bloke'.

I knew he'd come good for us at the right time, he's just a magnificent horse."

On the run: "I had Hawaii Five Oh in front of me which didn't want to go to the fence. I thought I'd been riding alright today but that took the race out of our control a little bit. I just had to try and get the horse to travel in the right frame of mind and he did that. The way he quickened up coming over the rise, he's going to be very, very hard to beat.

Full credit to the second horse, he fought on strong."

On his day: "Full credit to everyone around me. I've had my son up here the last few weeks helping me out, I've been helping him out too. It's good to have someone to train with. My manager, we work hard and we've been together a long time. He still manages to get me on these good ones on the right day. It means a lot."