Emerald Kingdom, racing from an outside draw and starting at odds of $31, upstaged all of his rivals to win the Group 3 BRC Sprint at Doomben a year ago. The win came on the same day that Zaaki won the 2021 Doomben Cup and, like his more illustrious contemporary, Emerald Kingdom is back at Doomben tomorrow seeking to complete a major feature race double to add to already impressive twelve win race record.
The BRC Sprint is never an easy race to win … as evidenced by the fact that last year’s runner-up Tofane went on to win the Group 1 Stradbroke at his next start … and history adds another layer of difficulty to the task facing Emerald Kingdom this time in as you have to go all of the way back to 1999 and 2000 to find the last horse to do the race double … that horse being Pleasure Giver.
A year ago, Emerald Kingdom was second-up going into the BRC Sprint. This time he is third-up, fresh after posting a big second up win in the inaugural running of The Archer at Rockhampton … again at double figure odds … which put another $275 000 going into his prize-money kitty.
If nothing else, the win in The Archer, in which Emerald Kingdom outgunned the more than useful Apache Chase in the last strides, showed that the seven-year-old son of Bryannbo’s Gift is still a very capable performer and getting close to returning to the top of his game.
Emerald kingdom is currently quoted at $11 … just the type of position on the betting boards from which he likes to strike!
The fact that the winner of Saturday’s BRC Sprint will gain automatic entry into the $1.5 million Stradbroke Handicap always provides that extra edge in the race … which, this year looks to be a particularly open affair, as indicated by the fact the current favourite Buffalo River is still easy to back at $5.
