Cover image courtesy of Ashlea Brennan
Written by Paul Vettise
Smart 2-year-olds Ingratiating (Frosted {USA}) and Stay Inside (Extreme Choice) look set to challenge for higher honours after posting stylish wins at Flemington and Randwick respectively.
Godolphin’s Ingratiating collected the second Listed victory of his career with a dominant performance in the Talindert S. at Flemington while the Richard and Michael Freedman-trained Stay Inside romped to success in the Silverdale Farm Pierro Plate.
James Cummings’ Ingratiating won the Listed Maribyrnong Trial S. on debut in the spring and finished runner-up in the G3 Maribyrnong Plate before a break.
Ingratiating was again second in the G3 Chairman’s S. behind the highly-regarded Enthaar (Writtenn Tycoon) and a rivalry that be renewed in the G1 Blue Diamond S.
“We’ll see how he pulls up and James will make that decision during the week,” Godolphin representative Sean Keogh said. “He’s a professional 2-year-old and was one of our most precocious in the spring.”
“He’s (Ingratiating) a professional 2-year-old and was one of our most precocious in the spring.” – Sean Keogh
Ingratiating sat close to the pace and moved into contention 400 metres from home and stayed on strongly to beat the Peter moody-trained pair of Gimmie Par (Not A Single Doubt), a half-sister to last year’s winner Ole Kirk (Written Tycoon), and Birdsville (Sooboog).
“It was a very good win. We put the blinkers on and he obliged nicely after he got to the front a fair way from home,” Keogh said.
Regular rider Damien Oliver agreed the addition of the headgear had provided the desired effect.
“I’ve always had a good opinion of him and always thought he might need blinkers,” he said. “We put them on during the week and he really improved.
“The concern was the 59kg, but he did a good job and was too good.”
Slipper shortener
A debut winner on the course last month, Stay Inside’s performance to remain unbeaten saw his G1 Golden Slipper S. odds cut from $21 to $15.
“He’s exciting, it was a pretty handy win. I was surprised first time out and more confident today,” Michael Freedman said.
“He did everything right to keep the dream alive, he had to win, and win well as he’s going to be going to another level in three weeks’ time.”
He was given a perfect run in the trail and the colt exploded clear to score by 4l from Godolphin’s Vianello (Teofilo {Ire}) with winning jockey James McDonald barely moving a muscle.
“He was the ultimate professional. He’s close to the top and I love his attitude and he’s going to the Slipper and will be hard to beat.”
Stay Inside was bred and sold by Kingstar Farm to Newgate for $60,000 at the Magic Millions National Weanling Sale and subsequently purchased by the Freedman brothers and Rick Connolly Bloodstock for $200,000 as a yearling at the Gold Coast.
