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.
The beat rolls on for Waterhouse and Bott
They are in a purple patch of late and the training partnership of Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott continued their rich vein of form with a quinella in the Kia Ora Prague Handicap over 1400m
Race favourite Zouphoria ($2.50F) managed to get her head down on the line in a thrilling go with only a half length separating the top five at the finish.
Stablemate Rocketeer Girl ($5) was a half head away in second after trying to lead them a merry dance in typical Waterhouse/Bott fashion. Cross The Rubicon ($8) made steady ground late and only finished a short half head back in third place.
Stable representative Neil Paine was impressed with the dogged win, and believes the daughter of Zoustar could stretch out over more ground.
"It was an enormous win I think. She was slow out, a little bit lost behind but she just kept giving and giving," Paine said.
"She showed that she'll get over further by the looks of it."
Winning rider, apprentice Jett Stanley, wasn't always confident during the run but believes his mount has plenty of upside.
"Out of the gates I was a bit worried, she got a bit hot and just missed it by a little bit. But she was able to muster really quick," Stanley said.
"Got into a beautiful rhythm and got around the corner she got a bit off-balanced and wasn't getting into stride.
"But once she flattened out and balanced up she showed a good turn of foot."
Bargain buy takes out Highway
She was only a $6,000 purchase and the Marc Quinn-trained Bomarea ($14) has more than repaid connections with a zippy Highway win.
After bouncing straight to the front from gate eight, the Dissident progeny was able to stride along freely in the lead for hoop Mikayla Weir and had enough at the post to beat Florino ($10) by a length. Acappella Sun ($5.50) was three quarters of a length back in third.
Quinn explained he has a high opinion of his three-year-old filly and could be looking for longer than today's five furlong sprint.
"I've always liked her, I think this filly is untapped," Quinn said.
"If all goes well she'll come back here for a 1200m Highway in a fortnight and then we'll assess whether we have a look at the Country Championships this year."
Having won on her at Muswellbrook in September, Weir was happy to see a plan come together.
"Marc had this race mapped up about six weeks ago, so it's all been a work in progress and we pulled it off," Weir beamed.
"She hasn't done a lot. She's only lightly raced and I still think the penny is going to drop with her yet."
Boston Rocks brings diamonds for Doyle
He finished a lowly eigth on the Kensington surface on debut but Boston Rocks has grown a leg since joining the Nathan Doyle barn.
The three-year-old gelding has since produced three wins and a second from just four outings for Doyle including taking out the TAB Handicap over 1100m today.
Jumping a $2.70 favourite, Boston Rocks didn't let punters down and is sure to come on with that first-up effort now under the belt.
Doyle had only given the son of Hellbent one trial leading into today's contest, and is now hopeful of bigger fish to fry later in the campaign.
"It was a good win, he travelled up to them well," Doyle said.
"Only had one trial going into today, I think if he has that second trial there would've been a lot more of a ping there.
"He's a nice horse and we may head to the Gosford Guineas now. He loves Gosford, he gets around well there.
"He jumps, he bangs himself there on speed. It's a good asset there to have."
Winning jockey Tim Clark wasn't disagreeing with Doyle's plans for black type.
"I definitely won't be telling him to rethink those ideas, it looks like it will be a good race for him to aim up at," Clark said.
Quote Of The Day: "When you get the win you don't really feel like you've lost that much weight" - Apprentice jockey Jett Stanley after getting down to 50.5kgs to salute on Zouphoria.
