Cover image courtesy of Racing SA
Reserve Bank (Capitalist) burst on to the scene winning his debut by 5.5l and subsequently started short in some handy races with mixed results. Last week we spoke about his progression and suggested the $9 in early betting was worth a play. We owe Jamie Melham a beer, or whatever she drinks, because her decision to stay inside of runners won the colt the race.
Melham's ride wins Goodwood
The field fanned around the corner in search of the better lanes: four of the first five races were won by horses in lanes three to eight but the last four events saw winners use lanes nine to 18. As Giga Kick (Scissor Kick) went wider and wider from the 600 metres, Melham was able to accelerate as the favourite continued to move laterally. There was nothing between them at the 600 metres but Reserve Bank was 1l ahead at the 400 metres and 2l in front at the 200 metres.
Giga Kick clocked the best last 200 metres of the day but that only got him into third. Reserve Bank’s overall time was almost 2l below standard but given he conceded the mark almost 11l at the 600 metres, this was an above average performance.
Memorable Morphettville moments
Cleo Cat (American Pharoah {USA}) made it seven wins from eight starts and was the only leader to hold on at Morphettville when she took out the G3 Proud Miss Stakes (1200 metres). Her overall time was bang on average for the grade but given she was leapfrogging from BM78 racing, this was quite a feat.
Litzdeel (Dundeel {NZ}) is the half-sister to Melbourne Cup winner, Vow And Declare Declaration Of War {USA}), and she has plenty of his fighting qualities. In fact, when she dug deep to win the G3 SA Fillies’ Classic (2500 metres), she reminded me of Vow And Delcare winning during Cup week as a 3-year-old. Junipal (Reset) was the hard favourite that day but Vow And Declare rallied underneath to win over 1800 metres at Flemington.
Litzdeel will need to improve a bit to win a Cup but one thing we keep seeing in her times is that this filly is a real stayer.
The highest-rated performance of the day in Adelaide belonged to Private Legacy (The Autumn Sun), who took out the Listed Centaurea Stakes (2017 metres). She has natural ability in spades but needs things to go her way. By that we mean, fast tempo and clear passage. She got both on Saturday and smashed standard time by 8l.
Rainy Queensland delivers interesting horses to follow
We’ve been big on Floozie (Zoustar) in this article since she arrived at Tony Gollan’s after two wins in benchmark grade, Gollan gave her a sniff at stakes racing when he threw her into the Listed Silk Stocking (1400 metres) on the 7-day back-up at the Gold Coast.
The mare passed with flying colours beating standard time by 3l, which given the significant step up in grade, is a huge effort.
I’ve had quiet a few messages from people who follow my post race reports asking “is Floozie Stradbroke Handicap material?” I don’t think so. She would need an even steeper progression to get there within the next few weeks. But in terms of beating class expectations, she was the win of the day yet again in Queensland.
Beadman (Snitzel) looked amazing winning the G3 Ken Russell Stakes (1200 metres). Breaking down his times he’s basically set a genuine to fast tempo and handled that race shape better than his rivals. They were falling off the cliff as he kept going. He led, went quick and only the runner-up clocked a better last 200 metres.
To be honest, off these figures, the rest aren’t much good. He’s beaten standard time by 3l and the winning margin was 8l. That tells you the rest are below average for that grade.
This weekend the feature race is the Group 1 Doomben 10,000 (1200 metres). Favourite is Overpass (Vancouver) at $3.50 with Sunshine In Paris (Invader) next. Flying under the radar is Mazu (Maurice {Jpn}) at $21 -a last start winner, who has a peak rating above most of these, rain forecast - he loves mud; Nice each-way play. Happy punting.
