3 minute read

Race experience came to the fore in Friday night's two-year-old race when Golden Prince blitzes his rivals in the $65,000 Open Class race over 1200m.

The juvenile by Red Dazzler came into the race as the individual with the most runs under his belt – four, two more than the next, Mission Empire, while the rest were a mix made up of one-race starters or debutants.

The fact that three of his four runs had shown some promise, including an eye-catching fourth to Pitstop in the Group 2 Aushorse Golden Horseshoe (1200m) probably accounted for his short odds of $16, but Hogwarts Express, who beat him by a neck at his debut in that race, was predictably more popular in the market, starting as the odds-on favourite.

But it was the second-elect who came up trumps in the end, as Golden Prince (Danny Beasley) exploded away inside the last 300m despite coursing out wide for most of the way, scoring by just under five lengths from Hogwarts Express (Jose Verenzuela). Newcomer Chi Lin (Soo Khoon Beng) ran third another neck way.

Beasley, who has been associated with the Alvin Tan-trained gelding at his last two runs, said last Tuesday's gallop had convinced him he would put up a sterling run.

“He's a good horse. All his runs have been good except for the first one,” said Beasley.

“After last Tuesday's gallop, I told Alvin he's improved further and the penny is starting to drop for his horse.

“Tonight, I just rode him like a good thing and he produced it. I just gave him an easy run up to the half-mile and let him do his own thing.

“He's still learning what racing is all about and he won on just natural ability tonight.”

Tan said Golden Prince would be even more effective over more ground.

“From the feedback I got from Danny, he needs more distance,” said Tan. “His last run in the 2YO series was very good as it was in a strong field.

“Tonight, it was a smaller field and I gave him a good chance but I still had plenty of respect for horse No 1 (Hogwarts Express). I told Danny to try and keep him away from the inside as he's a horse who needs plenty of galloping room.

“In the end, he won very easily even though the time (1min 12.19secs) was pretty slow. Maybe the yielding track suited him.”

Golden Prince is raced by the Shiny Stable and cost only $17,000 as a yearling.