Eagle Farm produces nine winners from eight races
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Nexgen and Sequestrate head for home to tie while Colonial Lass (outside) follows in third (Noel Pascoe photo) |
Close race finishes add that extra excitement to a raceday, and the dead heat declared in the Racetree Handicap 1400m at Eagle Farm on Saturday, February 16 was no different.
Winners Nexgen and Sequestrate both began nicely with Nexgen (G5 Genuine JPN-Solouise) getting right to the front dictating the pace with Messiaen. Sequestrate (G5 Sequalo-Silk Dancer) raced a few lengths behind in fourth. As they raced along the straight for home, Nexgen continued momentum and Sequestrate bounded up to the leader on the outside.
They battled it out but no difference could be found and a dead heat awarded. Race favourite Colonial Lass (Christian Reith) put in an excellent effort coming from dead last well behind to claim third by a head.
Nexgen and Sequestrate were ridden by Stathi Katsidis and Tony Pattillo respectively. It was the second win of three that day for Katsidis after winning race two the TCL Electronics Handicap 1400m on topweight Red Sphere. Katsidis’ third win was on another topweight, Sectagonal in the $50,000 Luke King Classic Handicap 1000m.
Sectagonal (G6 Octagonal NZ-Lady Secola) was fast away from the outside barrier but Devil Inside (Michel Palmer) was even quicker and led the trip until the 100m where Sectagonal pulled away to beat the race favourite by one and a quarter lengths. Bold Reason (Jason Taylor) followed home for third by another one and a quarter lengths.
Sectagonal’s trainer Brett Bellamy always knew Devil Inside was going to be the hardest to beat. “I’ve unfortunately run into her a few times with other horses. I know what she can do so but I knew he’d very competitive against the rest of them. He has been competitive in Listed company. The others didn’t pose too much of a threat to him, I knew he was going good but I always thought the Devil was going to be very hard to beat, which she was,” he said.
Not having raced since July last year, this was an excellent resumption for Bellamy. “I was always going up there very hopeful. We knew he was going good. There’s been a fair bit of work due to the wet weather and we had our fingers crossed that everyone else had been in the same boat.
“His form had always been very good first up. I think the first start we ever gave him he won at Eagle Farm and that was only a mid week but it was a very strong race. A lot of good horses came out of that race.
“As a rule we weren’t that worried about the outside barrier because he’s always performed very credible out of outside gates. He’s a big striding fella. We were hoping that the race would be run exactly the way it was run actually. Funny things happen,” he said.
Plans for the gelding include the Queensland Winter Racing Carnival. “At this stage he’s going to go in a run in the Listed race in two weeks time on March 1. Depending on how we get through that and everything else, we’ll have to take them as they come. He’s starting to get up in the weights a bit in the normal handicaps.
“At this stage we are looking towards running in the Listed races, with a fair few of them coming up in Brisbane in the next few months. Basically we’re going to pick the eyes out of them and hopefully have a bit of luck,” said Bellamy.
QUEENSLAND Racing web news: Hollie Roberts – January 18
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