áSaturday proved a most entertaining day's racing at Rosehill, with Peter Snowden's outstanding Elusive Quality colt Sepoy making an absolute mess of them in the Golden Slipper. And having kept their powder dry for a couple of weeks whilst he drifted out to $3.40, suddenly punters decided it was time to forgive and forget his Todman Stakes 'failure' (a gutsy second on a shifting track constitutes a failure these days) and slammed him into $2.60 as if unbeatable. From a Sires Produce point of vie
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Saturday proved a most entertaining day's racing at Rosehill, with Peter Snowden's outstanding Elusive Quality colt Sepoy making an absolute mess of them in the Golden Slipper. And having kept their powder dry for a couple of weeks whilst he drifted out to $3.40, suddenly punters decided it was time to forgive and forget his Todman Stakes 'failure' (a gutsy second on a shifting track constitutes a failure these days) and slammed him into $2.60 as if unbeatable. From a Sires Produce point of view for this coming Saturday, the best Slipper run was that of Elite Falls should John O'Shea decide to back her up. However, she certainly won't get it all her own way, with controversial late-Slipper scratching Smart Missile out for bloody revenge.
More Joyous and Sepoy aside, the most effortless win of the day was probably that of Mirjulisa Lass, who toyed with her more fancied rivals in the Storm Queen at any old odds. Favourite Brazilian Pulse endured a wide run throughout and was very brave, whilst I also thoroughly enjoyed Corey Brown's drawn-out victory salute. It's not as if he was rubbing it in to punters either, having been spruiking the filly in the media all week as his best ride for the day. In the George Ryder, Chris Waller's much-improved Triple Elegance put in an outstanding Doncaster trial for third, and he will be very hard to beat - even accounting for the presence of the irrepressible Waterhouse mare - when he drops 8kg for the big Randwick mile.
Having assessed the sectional times, the best run of the day for mine was that of King Gladiator in the Tulloch. Winner Fast Clip's final 400m was run in 22.88 compared to King Gladiator's 22.96. However, King Gladiator's final 200m was run in an excellent 11.48 - the third-quickest time of the day behind sprinters Swift Alliance (11.42) and Cardinal Virtue (11.38) (totally excluding the Slipper, by the way, as I haven't yet been able to track down the sectionals!) - with Fast Clip going home in a still impressive 11.71. King Gladiator, a son of Galileo out of the Bahhare mare Star of Gretchen, is of stout staying blood and could be the boilover in the AJC Derby should anything prove capable of upsetting New Zealand star Jimmy Choux. Oh, and he's trained by that Chris Waller bloke, which I guess could be considered a small positive too.
Others to impress sectional-wise were David Payne's Testa Rossa colt Cocky Raider in the Group 3 Baillieu, who motored home his last furlong in 11.58 - quicker than boom Cummings colt Do You Think (11.78) - though Bart's new potential star (he just keeps reeling them off!) took it pretty easy in the end. Ilovethiscity didn't enjoy a smooth passage and his 22.26 final 400m measured up favourably in the George Ryder, whilst Victorian visitors Base and Kutchinsky were definitely the best of the closers in the Queen's Cup; Base in particular running an enormous race after looking gone for all money approaching the turn. This 4-year-old Zabeel gelding looks to be another very promising staying type for Team Williams and may prove a big player in the spring.