Just a day after being handed a lengthy suspension, apprentice Josh Adams got back to business on Wednesday with a winner at Canterbury.
Adams was handed a seven-month suspension on Tuesday after testing positive to an unnamed banned substance in a urine sample taken at Gosford races on April 5.
He will start his ban on Sunday.
The 19-year-old had to wait until the final race of the day at Canterbury to get into the winners’ circle when he came with a well-timed run on the Mark De Montfort-trained Volcanic Warrior to take out the Guineas Restaurant Handicap (1250m).
“I’ll just get through the next few months, stay positive and come back better than I am now,” Adams, who will have his suspension cut to five months should he satisfactorily undergo counselling, said.
“It was good to win on him today, it’s been a bit hard the last couple of days to stay positive but I’ve done my best to stay in the right mindset and coming here today I still had a job to do.”
Earlier in the day first starters Queen Cleopatra and Eshan provided Gai Waterhouse with a two-year-old double and the champion trainer has spring ambitions for the promising pair.
Queen Cleopatra, a filly by Commands, led all the way in the Rosehill Gardens Event Centre Handicap (1100m) just 35 minutes before stablemate Eshan got up along the inside to take out the TJ’s Champagne Bar Handicap (1100m).
“She (Queen Cleopatra) is an Oaks-type filly and he (Eshan) is a Guineas horse in the making,” Waterhouse said.
“Both are still green and are big rangy two-year-olds but they both have oodles of ability.”
Waterhouse said the main focus in the short-term was to boost Queen Cleopatra and Eshan’s prizemoney.
“They should go on to Saturday class now because they need the experience of harder racing and also they need prizemoney so they can get into better races down the track,” she said.
“They are really nice horses. I expected them both to come here today and be very competitive.”
Sydney’s leading rider Nash Rawiller was in the saddle for Eshan’s win and made the decision at the top of the straight to switch back to the inside of eventual runner-up San Jose.
Under Rawiller’s urgings the colt by Exceed And Excel finished strongly to defeat San Jose by a neck with 1-3/4 lengths to Suits Us in third place.
Queen Cleopatra’s 1-3/4-length win brought up a double for in-form hoop Tim Clark who also won on the Les Bridge-trained Zak in the opening event.
Clark took his season tally in Sydney to 55-1/2, with Rawiller leading the way on 81 wins.
AAP TURF
