|
QR Winter Stakes farewell
for star interstate mares
THE Group 3 Queensland Racing Winter Stakes at Eagle
Farm tomorrow will see the curtain fall on the careers
of two exciting gallopers.
The Sportsman reports that G1 winning sprinter Ancient
Song and dual G1 placegetter, Forum Floozie, will
be retired after the $400,000 fillies and mares classic.
The Winter Stakes has proven a happy hunting ground
for retirees with Porto Roca (2001) and Bonanova
(2000) saluting at their farewell starts.
Ancient Song’s trainer, Peter Moody, said
he felt the time was ripe to bring the five-year-old
mare’s career to a halt.
“She really hasn’t come back since picking
up a virus after her first-up run in the Oakleigh
Plate,” he said.
Fellow five-year-old mare, Forum Floozie, will also
bid race fans goodbye. She deserves a G1 win but
has often been the victim of devilish barrier draws.
“Had she drawn an alley in a few of those
big races I’ve got no doubt she would have
finished with a much better record,” Queensland
stable foreman, Michael Hawkes, said.
“She was never a hope from the draw in the
Stradbroke last start but what she’s done since
has been very strong.”
Lucida overdue for change of luck in QR Winter Stakes
AAP Racing reports that well-bred mare Lucida will
end a frustrating sequence of hard luck stories if
she wins the $400,000 Queensland Racing Winter Stakes
at Eagle Farm tomorrow.
The Kris Lees-trained mare figured prominently in
the stewards’ report when she finished eighth
to Ta Ta Tatiana in the Dane Ripper Quality at Eagle
Farm on June 5.
On that occasion the mare was badly blocked for a run in the straight when
ridden by Scott Seamer. “Scott said had she got a clear run at them she
would have been right in the finish,” Lees said.
“She’s raced without luck for about
12 months and she needs a few things to fall her
way in a race because she likes to get back.”
Lucida has drawn barrier 11 in the capacity field
of 18 (plus three emergencies) tomorrow but she has
fared better than the Peter Moody-trained Royal Mask,
which will have to contend with barrier 19.
“When you get up to this level, luck in running
is so important,” Lees said.
Lucida is already a winner at Black Type level in
The Nivison at Randwick last year and her value as
a broodmare prospect already is guaranteed.
She is by superstar stallion Danehill from outstanding
mare Peruzzi, which won seven of her 14 starts, including
the Light Fingers Stakes and Tramway and Bribie Handicaps.
Lees is also hoping for better luck with Britt’s
Best in the $175,000 Mercedes-Benz Stakes tomorrow
following the gelding’s 11th to Thorn Park
in the Stradbroke.
“Even though he drew barrier six he still
wound up three deep outside the leader with no cover,” Lees
said. “He ended up having a hard run and his
condition just gave out over the final 100m.”
Winter Stakes springboard for Moody-trained filly
THE Sportsman reports that spring carnival-bound
filly, Royal Mask, will put her future prospects
on display when she tackles tomorrow’s G3 QR
Winter Stakes at Eagle Farm.
Aspirations of victory in racing’s premier
season will be put to the test as the three-year-old
rises from the safety net of her own age group for
the first time in her career.
Trainer Peter Moody had earmarked the Stradbroke
earlier this month as Royal Mask’s acid test
but she missed out by one placing.
“It was my fault she didn’t get a start,” he
said. “I thought she would be able to qualify
through winning the Queensland Guineas. It was a
shame because I think she would’ve run very
well with only 47kg.”
Returning to her all-conquering best last start
after her only miss this campaign in the Guineas,
Royal Mask posted arguably her biggest win to date.
Coming back in distance from the Guineas to the
1400m at Eagle Farm, Royal Mask, despite the hefty
impost of 58kg, produced a stellar finishing sprint
to outgun her three-year-old rivals over the closing
stages.
“She came through her last run just fine and
hasn’t put a foot wrong since. The 1500m tomorrow
is just perfect,” Moody said.
Paraca has nice weight advantage in QR Winter
Stakes
ASTUTE trainer Robert Smerdon believes the set weights
and penalties conditions of the $400,000 QR Winter
Stakes at Eagle Farm tomorrow will benefit imported
mare, Paraca.
AAP Racing reports that the four-year-old has raced
eight times this year and been burdened with 56kg
or more on seven occasions.
Smerdon specifically targeted the G3 Winter Stakes
with the former South African mare, knowing she would
be suited by the conditions of the fillies and mares
classic.
“She’s well suited by set weights and
penalties conditions and will be meeting most of
her opposition better than what she would have if
it was a handicap,” Smerdon said.
Two starts ago Paraca carried 60kg in the Dane Riper
quality, finished a creditable fifth, beaten just
over two lengths by Ta Ta Tatiana. She meets that
mare 4.5kg better tomorrow and Dane Ripper placegetters,
With My and Secret Gift, on 5.5kg and 1kg more favourable
terms.
Paraca finished runner-up to Star of Flight in the
Gai Waterhouse Classic at Ipswich last Saturday and
conceded that mare 7.5kg. The pair will clash on
level terms in the Winter Stakes.
Smerdon said Paraca had handled a long campaign
that started in the early autumn in Melbourne, Sydney
and Adelaide before venturing to Brisbane.
“It has to be an issue and they can’t
keep on top of their game forever but her run last
Saturday indicated she’s going as well as she
was previously,” he said.
Motivate to back up in Tattersall’s
Cup
IPSWICH Cup runner-up Motivate will back up in tomorrow’s
$175,000 G3 Tattersall’s Cup after his unlucky
second in the Ipswich Cup a week ago.
AAP reports that Motivate was rated unlucky by jockey
Michael Rodd and the Bryan Guy stable when he charged
home for a long neck second to Portland Singa at
Ipswich.
“Michael was able to save a lot of ground
through the race but coming to the turn he was just
held up for a few strides and the winner was able
to pinch a break,” stable spokesman, Daniel
Guy, said.
Motivate will run in the Tattersall’s Cup
and dodge another clash with Portland Singa, which
has been targeted at the Caloundra City Cup on July
3 by trainer Neville McBurney.
“He was unplaced in that race last year when
the distance proved too far,” Guy said. “He
was there until the furlong but the 2400m up the
hill just found him out and he finished sixth.”
Motivate will give Rodd the opportunity of winning
a feature race during the winter carnival before
leaving on August 5 to take up a riding contract
in Hong Kong.
He has also been booked for Star of Flight, the
winner of last Saturday’s Gai Waterhouse Classic
at Ipswich, in tomorrow’s $400,000 QR Winter
Stakes.
Cant reunited with Patezza in Mercedes-Benz
UNDERRATED jockey, Matthew Cant, will be striving
to maintain his outstanding strike rate aboard Patezza
in the $175,000 Mercedes-Benz Stakes at Eagle Farm
tomorrow.
AAP Racing reports that Cant has ridden Patezza
eight times for five wins aboard the son of Rubiton
and leapt at the opportunity to partner the five-year-old
when contacted by trainer Guy Walter.
Disenchanted with Sydney racing after losing the
mount on Patezza last spring, Cant decided to head
north to reignite his career in Queensland.
“I never gave up hope that I would be able
to get back on him at some stage and I knew if he
got a light weight in some of the feature races up
here I might be a chance of riding him,” Cant
said.
“It was a pity he didn’t make it into
the Stradbroke field because that race would have
suited him down to the ground.”
It is obvious Cant has a soft spot for Patezza,
which has overcome a career-threatening injury to
compete against the best sprinters this season.
“He had a greenstick fracture of his cannon
bone and had to have a metal plate screwed into his
leg,” Cant said. “It kept him away from
the track for nearly two years but to his credit
he’s made it back and has gone from strength
to strength.”
Patezza has been kept fresh by Walter since finishing
third to Tru Glo and Falkirk in the BTC Sprint at
Doomben on May 29.
“He was really competitive against horses
like Thorn Park at weight-for-age last year and was
runner-up to that horse in the Premiere Stakes carrying
57.5kg and beaten only a long head,” Walter
said.
“ That’s why I always felt he would be perfectly placed in these
races where he would be down in the weights.”
Rawiller loses appeal against 10,000 suspension
VICTORIAN jockey Nash Rawiller will begin a careless
riding suspension after tomorrow’s Tattersall’s
Cup meeting at Eagle Farm.
The Racing Appeals Tribunal this week dismissed
Rawiller’s appeal against an eight meeting
careless riding suspension and $2,500 fine for his
ride on Our Egyptian Raine in the Doomben 10,000
on May 22.
Rawiller is free to resume riding on July 11.
Alfonso to chase Glasshouse
Handicap
AAP Racing reports that consistent sprinter Alfonso
cleared the decks for a feature Sunshine Coast assignment
with is decisive win at Doomben on Wednesday.
Ridden to perfection by apprentice Yoshi Yamazaki,
Alfonso scored a comfortable odds-on win from Laud
Atlas with McLaren Vale third.
Trainer Michael Nolan immediately declared Alfonso
would have his next start in the $150,000 Reed Property
Group Listed Glasshouse Handicap at Corbould Park
on July 3.
“He has been up a long time but he keeps putting
the runs on the board,” Nolan said. “It’s
a tough 1400m at the sunshine Coast with the uphill
run home that should suit him.”
QUEENSLAND Racing carnival roundup – Courtesy
of various news organisations – June 25.
|
