3 minute read
A snapshot of the racing at Randwick.
Colletts combine with Ripped
Former New Zealand trainer Richard Collett has celebrated his first win since relocating to Australia late last year and fittingly, it has been delivered by his son, top jockey Jason.
The pair combined to take out the Midway Handicap (1600m) at Randwick on Saturday with Ripped, much to Jason Collett's delight.
"It is really good for the family and it means a lot," Jason Collett said.
Ripped had been thereabouts in his four Sydney starts but hadn't managed a top-three placing, prompting Richard to make a key gear change and add blinkers.
The ploy worked and his trainer was hoping the horse could go on with it now he had found winning form.
"We will keep plugging away in races like this," Richard Collett said.
"He is bred to stay and I think with the blinkers on at six-years-old for the first time we can find a bit more out of him."
Where there's Smoke, there's fire
A carefully considered plan to pull off a Highway Handicap win with Smokeshow has come to fruition for up-and-coming Goulburn trainer Danielle Seib, who has now set her sights on a Kosciuszko call-up.
The mare has only been with Seib this preparation but Saturday's Randwick race has been on her radar for some time.
"Often plans don't come off in racing. This was our target for a long time with her, fourth-up in a Highway," Seib said.
"She has had a couple of setbacks in her career and it's nice to get her into the stable and get her right, set her up into the Highway system and dare I say it, perhaps she could be a Kosciuszko chance."
Smokeshow was dropping back to Highway grade after racing competitively in benchmark 72 company and appreciated the class difference to score.
Ridden by leading apprentice Tyler Schiller, Smokeshow ($10) finished hard along the inside once clear to down Crafty Eagle ($4 fav) by a head with Gallant Star ($5.50) another three-quarters of a length away in third.
Group 1 plans for Perfect Thought
Carbine Club Stakes winner Perfect Thought and smart sprinter Quantico enjoyed a spin around Randwick on Saturday in an exhibition gallop between races, with the former holding a narrow advantage on the line.
A rangey son of So You Think, Perfect Thought struggled to produce his best on a spate of heavy tracks during the Sydney spring but showed his true potential with a classy victory in the Carbine Club Stakes (1600m) at Flemington on Derby day.
Trainer John Sargent is upbeat about the three-year-old's autumn prospects and keen to get Perfect Thought to Group 1 grade.
"He will run here in two weeks in the Eskimo Prince (Stakes), two weeks into the Hobartville (Stakes) and then either the Australian Guineas or Randwick Guineas," Sargent said.
"Any horse that wins the Carbine is an exciting horse.
"He seems to have come up nice and strong this time in and that will be his main aim, to get him peaking third-up (in a Guineas)."
The John O'Shea-trained Quantico has shown tremendous promise in winning six of his 11 starts but has raced just once in the past 14-months, his most recent appearance coming in the Newmarket Handicap in March when he finished midfield.
The six-year-old has been plagued by a combination of wet tracks and untimely setbacks, but has the makings of a top-class sprinter if O'Shea can get him right.
Banana Queen brings up hat-trick
There was a time when Sterling Alexiou feared Banana Queen would never regain the confidence she lost on Sydney's wet autumn tracks, but happily for the trainer the mare has resurrected her form.
After making a promising start to her career, Banana Queen was beaten a total of more than 27 lengths in three unplaced starts on heavy tracks during the carnival.
She then had another setback when she bumped her joint on the barriers first-up at Newcastle in October but she hasn't looked back since, her victory in Saturday's Fujitsu General Handicap (1600m) her third in succession.
"She was plagued by those wet tracks like a lot of horses," Alexiou said.
"It is pleasing to get her back to where she was because we thought we'd lost her for a while.
"Racing on those heavy tracks, she just seemed to lose a lot of confidence on them and it knocked her around a bit."
Alexiou said he and co-trainer Gerald Ryan hadn't looked beyond Saturday's race but were keen to eventually get Banana Queen back to black-type grade.
Ridden by Brenton Avdulla, the $4.60 favourite stalked the speed before bounding clear to score by 1-3/4 lengths over Ella Te Ama ($9) with race leader Nothinsweetaboutme ($13) holding on for third.
Quote of the day: "We wanted to make a statement and make sure he knows what racing is all about and he delivered in spades."- co-trainer Peter Snowden after well-bred juvenile Don Corleone made a winning debut.
