Cover image courtesy of Racing Photos
Begg’s mares impress with strong weekend wins
Two mares from Grahame Begg’s yard stamped themselves as horses to follow with fast wins over the weekend.
Niance (NZ) (Swiss Ace) resumed in the Listed Bel Esprit Stakes at Caulfield. She was one of the talking points of the spring carnival winning both starts at Caulfield at Listed and then Group 3 level before a spell. Her trainer Grahame Begg is striking at 30 per cent and is the most profitable stable at Victorian metro level recently. So, when Niance resumed in the Caulfield feature, the punters lined up to back her. She was $2.70 into $2.25, before easing back to $2.40 in the last few minutes. But for a horse resuming at this level, that’s a good push.
Midwest (Zoustar) an even gallop going bang on average for the grade through the first 500 metres. No leader won at Caulfield on Saturday and 5 of the 9 winners were more than 3l off the pace at the 600 metres, suggesting it was a good day for run-on horses. Niance chimed in before they hit the 200-metre mark cruising to victory over the in-form Cleo Cat (American Pharoah {USA}) and talented mare Aviatress (Smart Missile). The winning time was 1.6l above standard and Niance looks set to win more races this winter. Keep an eye out for a horse called Watchme Win (Harry Angel {Ire}), who charged home for fourth. He was slowly away. but clocked the fastest last 400 metres and 200 metres of the day.
Earlier in the day, Begg had French-bred mare Splash Back (Fr) (Le Havre {Ire}) resume in a BM78 1200-metre contest. This import has been stretched to 2000 metres in a previous campaign, yet here she is clocking the second fastest last 400 metres of the day, which was 10l above standard. We blackbooked her in the spring after a huge first-up run when Begg dropped her straight from a BM70 at Seymour to a Group 3 at Flemington during Cup week. She was beaten 5l, but had massive excuses – was back on a day when leaders dominated, plus she was held up. I’m looking forward to seeing her wherever she runs next.
Salty Pearl shows promise with grinding win
Still at Caulfield, and Salty Pearl (Tagaloa) won the 2-year-old event run over 1200 metres. It was the slowest of 4 races on the day at that distance, but this filly’s sectionals were quite flat suggesting she might get a tad further than 1200 metres, which means this win might have some hidden merit – time will tell.
Zebra Finch continues rise toward JJ Atkins
In Sydney, the 2-year-old race was taken out by Godolphin’s Zebra Finch (Exceed And Excel), who was quite impressive clocking the 10th fastest last 200 metres of the day, pleasing as he was a horse to follow in a previous column on May 5 following his Hawkesbury placing.
To quote that article; "Out of that race, Zebra Finch (Exceed And Excel) is one I’d like to follow especially on wet tracks over further. I backed him and thought the cash was gone at the top of the straight but he kept lifting and, for the second time in as many starts, clocked the best last 200 metres of the race."
It wouldn’t surprise me to see him prove competitive in the G1 JJ Atkins on Saturday week. The Brisbane 2-year-olds were forced to plough through heavy ground in the G2 Sires' Produce Stakes last Saturday – the ground deteriorated so badly we’ve elected not to review the numbers. What that means is quite a few will go flat, and this could be the year when a 2-year-old comes from left-field to win the final Group 1 for the juveniles this season.
Codetta flashes late on tough Rosehill track
Race 5 at Rosehill saw Private Eye’s (Al Maher) little brother King's Secret (Shalaa {Ire}) get the cash. They beat standard time by 5l, but you’d expect something like that in a BM72 on a Saturday as this class of race is quite often run at the midweeks. No knock on King's Secret, but the one to follow from the race is Codetta (Nicconi) for Michael Freedman. This filly was resuming on a heavy track and came from well back to clock the best last 800, 600, 400 and 200 metres of the day while still beating standard time by 4.5l.
If you think the King's Secret race is worth following then consider putting Lady Extreme (Extreme Choice) into your blackbook. Her overall time winning the same class race over the same trip was just 0.28s slower than King's Secret but he was race-fit, whereas Lady Extreme was resuming and her data late is suggesting improvement to come.
This Saturday we have the rescheduled G1 Queensland Derby and G1 Kingsford Smith Cup, plus the G1 Queensland Oaks. I can’t work out why Benagil (Manhattan Rain) has drifted to $5 for the Oaks? She was $3 for it before her unplaced run in the G2 Doomben Roses. Even Ray Charles could see she never got a crack at them. Stick with her.
