‘The best thing beaten you will ever see in a race.’ That was the race caller’s comment after Go Wandji had just missed reeling in the frontrunner Siesta Key at Doomben on Saturday.
The Tom Dougall trained gelding arguably produced the run of the day when coming from more than ten lengths off Siesta Key when turning into the home straight. The four-year-old son of Wandjina built steady momentum down the straight, to the point where he was absolutely flying in the finish and he would have erased the half-length deficit to Siesta Key in another stride and a half.
That took Go Wandji’s race record to six wins, two runner-up finishes and one third place from only nine starts.
“We are all very happy with the run,” said Dougall. “As I said before the was always a query that the 1200m might have been a bit short for him. It was a terrific run.
“Even though he got beat, everyone is really happy and he has pulled up great … and he is improving, I think. I think he is improving each run which they need to do.
“Go Wandji went into the race in very good order. We only scratched him a couple of weeks ago because of the wet track. We think he will handle the wet, but we just thought it might be another tough run after his tough first-up run … so we went that way.
“That’s the beauty about owning them yourself. You can do as you please. If you are right or wrong, it doesn’t matter.
“We are not a hundred percent sure of where we will go next,” continued Dougall.
“Normally we have got a pretty solid plan, but this time we are just going to wait and weigh things up at the end of the week.
“Before the race, we were going to take the conservative road and just tread water a bit while the carnival was on … to let him find his feet a bit more … thinking that by next year’s carnival we might be in the thick of it, but his run was so good on Saturday that we are just considering our options again.
“We haven’t made up our minds yet. As I say, we’ll do that later in the week.
“It’s just that the carnival has probably come six months too early for him, but we are patient people and pretty laid back. We’ve looked after him this far … so, I am pretty sure that we will still take the conservative road and just poke through while the carnival is on … but a final decision on that has yet to be made.”
Go Wandji’s six wins have come at six different tracks over distances ranging from 1200m to 1400m with those successes being achieved on both good and soft going.
Larry Cassidy, who rode Go Wandji on Saturday, has partnered the gelding in his last three wins.
