The rejuvenation skills of Joe Pride have been on show again with the trainer coaxing the enigmatic Gatsby’s back to winning form at Randwick.
The gelding won the Listed Rosebud (1100m) in 2024 and was fifth to Switzerland in the Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m) that spring but hadn’t managed to get his head in front since his stakes success.
Transferring to Pride this campaign, Gatsby’s finished midfield on debut for the stable earlier this month and found the right race in Saturday’s Racing And Sports Handicap (1200m).
“I came here today reasonably confident because I thought the first-up run had a lot of merit from a wide gate,” Pride said.
“There is a decent amount of improvement to come.
“He’s a horse who has got a pretty good record still. He has run around in some good races. It wasn’t a matter of finding out if he had any ability, it was just a matter of recapturing that. It was a good result.”
Chad Schofield urged Gatsby’s ($6) to the front halfway up the straight, and the gelding maintained his advantage to the line to score by a length over Bundeena ($4 fav) with Uzziah ($12) another head away.
Pride will look for another similar target and says his biggest takeout from Saturday is that Gatsby’s still has a will to compete.
“It was just a matter of, has he got the desire anymore? And I liked the way he was challenged in that last hundred metres or so and he fought on really well,” Pride said.
“I think he’s a horse who hasn’t fulfilled his potential yet, so hopefully we can get a few more wins.”
Pride also reported stable star Ceolwulf had responded well to treatment for a minor leg knock and would take his place in a 900m barrier trial at Randwick on Tuesday.
“It was very minor, but you just do not take risks at this point of the preparation,” Pride said.
“He is absolutely fine and that’s evident in the fact we are trialling him on Tuesday.”
Ceolwulf is scheduled to have a second hit-out a week later ahead of his return in the Apollo Stakes (1400m) at Randwick on February 14.
