Written by Paul Vettise
Tony McEvoy is banking on a fondness of travel as the catalyst for Sunlight (Zoustar) to stage a form reversal when the sprint queen runs in this Saturday’s G1 The Goodwood H. at Morphetville.
McEvoy, who trains with his son Calvin, was floored by Sunlight’s dismal performance in the G1 Robert Sangster S. when she dropped out alarmingly to tail the field home and the worst performance of her career.
The mare was subject to exhaustive veterinary tests afterwards, but was none the worse for wear so McEvoy took the unusual step of sending her back to the Flemington arm of his operation.
“She’s really good. I sent her to Melbourne as I just felt she might be getting complacent here and enjoying the country lifestyle too much and got too casual on me,” he said.
“We couldn’t find a thing wrong with her after that run, internally or externally and she got a completely clean bill of health so she just had a day off.
“She’s always loved travelling. She’s travelled a lot since her 2-year-old days so I thought I would whip her back to Melbourne. We can finalise her preparation there and come back for the race.”
“She’s travelled a lot since her 2-year-old days so I thought I would whip her back to Melbourne.” – Tony McEvoy
A three-time Group 1 winner, Sunlight had finished runner-up in the G3 RN Irwin S. when resuming from a break before her failure in the Robert Sangster.
By contrast, younger stablemates Game Keeper (Fastnet Rock) and Ringbolt (Dream Ahead {USA}) sparkled at their most recent appearances when stepped up in class.
The former won twice in the lower grades before he stepped up in class to claim the Listed Adelaide Guineas over 1600 metres and McEvoy is confident he can reach a higher mark.
Game Keeper | Image by David Mariuz courtesy of AAP Photos
“I’ve got a lot of time for him as well. I ran him in the G1 Blue Diamond S. and he got it all wrong so we gelded him and turned him out. He didn’t come up that next preparation so we just stopped again and now he’s come back and is unbeaten this prep,” he said.
“He’s a horse that I think will run a mile and a-half and he would have been going to Queensland, but he’ll go to Melbourne for a 2000 metre 3-year-old race and then we’ll back off.”
Confidence in pedigree
Bought out of Coolmore’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale draft for $175,000, Game Keeper has a pedigree to back McEvoy’s belief.
His dam My Tusker (NZ) (Volksraad {GB}) won six times up to 2100 metres, including Group 2 success in the Championship S. and the Sir Tristram Fillies’ Classic and was runner-up in the G1 Waikato International S.
My Tusker, who is out of a half-sister to the G1 Melbourne Cup winner Brew (NZ) (Sir Tristram {Ire}), has produced four winners and among them the dam of the G1 Queensland Derby winner Mr Quickie (Shamus Award).
Game Keeper as a yearling
Meanwhile, Ringbolt was at long odds when he won the G3 South Australian Sires’ Produce S., but the only surprise to McEvoy was that the youngster didn’t do the same thing at his only other start.
“I took him to a little race at Balaklava expecting him to put a space on them and he just got it all wrong and made a lot of mistakes,” he said.
“He still ran well for fourth so that’s why we thought we would put a set of blinkers on him and put him in the Group race. I wouldn’t have done that if I didn’t have a lot of time for him.
“There’s a lot of upside to him and he’s a lovely sound horse and very well-balanced. He’ll go the paddock and make into a really nice style of horse in the spring and lots to look forward to.”
