The Racing Weekend In Review 10/4

All the attention was on Day 1 of the Championships at Royal Randwick with the four classic Group 1’s in the Sires, Derby, TJ Smith and Doncaster Mile. Whilst in Melbourne, Caulfield played host to some off season racing with a few nice winners to come out of the meeting. 

Randwick

The Group 1’s kicked off with the Sires where Godolphin colt Anamoe was well supported after his massive run in the Golden Slipper. He justified his price as he loomed up around the final bend to destroy his rivals with James McDonald easing him down to win in a canter. There wasn’t much to get excited about behind with the exception of Hilal and Captivant who both ran on well. Whilst Queen of Wizardry is crying out for more distance. The winner looks hard to beat in the Champagne Stakes in two weeks if they decide to push on with him this preparation but whatever he does from now on is a bonus with a career at stud all but sewn up.

The win of Anamoe also brought up the 50 Group 1 mark for James McDonald who is the quickest jockey to reach that feat in history. He didn’t stay on 50 for long, taking the tally to 51 in the TJ just 90 minutes later. 

Before the TJ the focus shifted to the ATC Derby where Explosive Jack caused an upset taking it out at $16. In a three way go to the line ‘Jack’ got the better of Young Wether who was almighty close in 2nd ahead of Lion’s Roar who only finished 0.3 lengths back in 3rd. For winning Jockey John Allen it was his 11th Group 1 victory and incredibly his 6th Derby victory at the highest level. The favourite Montefilia was solid back in 4th after getting the best of runs along the inside she couldn’t quite match it with the first three across the line. If they still head to an Oaks next weekend she will still be incredibly hard to beat. For Explosive Jack, connections have an eye on the South Australian Derby and even a crack at the Queensland Derby if all goes well. 

The TJ Smith Stakes was touted as a potential Everest preview with the best of the best sprinters in the country. After jumping well Eduardo got the front surprisingly easy but coming down the straight couldn’t hold off the powerful Nature Strip who showed why he is one of the highest rated horses in the world. His victory over the weekend made it back to back TJ’s with his sights firmly set at this year’s Everest again. Before then he heads to Queensland for one run in the Winter Carnival before a deserving break. An upcoming galloper that the Chris Waller gelding needs to keep an eye on is Masked Crusader who rocketed home to finish 2nd. Another preparation under his belt and if he settles a little closer in The Everest he can certainly take it up to Nature Strip in the richest race in Australia later this year. 

Rounding out the Group 1’s was the Doncaster Mile which is always a great race. Usually a big field and a plethora of chances nothing was different in this year’s instalment with Mugatoo starting a $5 favourite. This year it was the story of Jamie Kah on Cascadian who flew home to pip Icebath right on the line. Kah has been dominating in Melbourne and was finally able to head up to compete with the best of the best and showed Sydney she is the real deal. Cascadian has only had one win since arriving in Australia but demonstrated he is right up to Group 1 class after Saturday’s victory. Runner-up Icebath was incredibly unlucky to go down by 0.2 lengths after getting pipped at the post by another Godolphin runner in Colette in last year’s Golden Eagle.  

Caulfield 

Down in Victoria, the Caulfield meeting didn’t have any races at the top level but there are certainly some horses to follow coming out of the meeting that may be racing at that level in no time. 

None more so than Liquero who was backed off the map straight after Explosive Jack took out the Group 1 ATC Derby in Randwick. Liquero got the better of Explosive Jack in the St Leger Trial at Bendigo last start and punters continued to pile into the Cindy Alderson runner at Caulfield as soon as the form was franked. He got the job done by only less then a length but looks like he’ll stay all day with the South Australian or Queensland Derby great options for him. 

Annavisto is another horse on the rise taking out the three-year-old feature in front of Mozzie Monster. She got the gun run and ran away with the race demonstrating she may be ready to head back to Group company after two cracks at Group 2 level in her first preparation.

Popular horses such as Missile Mantra and Brimham Rocks also returned off breaks in fine fashion with Missile Mantra taking out Race 2 which was a small but competitive field. Whilst Brimham Rocks who isn’t a noted first up performer flew home to finish 2nd and almost stole it at $20. 

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Looking ahead to next weekend…

We move on to Day 2 of the Championships with four Group 1’s headlined by the Queen Elizabeth, which sets up to be some sort of race. Verry Elleegant, Addeybb, Sir Dragonet and Mugatoo just to name a few. Whilst in Melbourne it’s the VOBIS feature raceday with some nice races on the card to complement the big day of racing in Sydney. Meanwhile Morphettville plays host to a couple of Group 3’s ahead of the upcoming South Australian Autumn Carnival. 

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