After a trip to Sydney and finishing less than two-lengths away from genuine Golden Slipper chances, Grafterbrurners franked that form and carved his own moment and earned her connections good Queensland money in the QTIS Jewel for two-year-olds at Gold Coast.
Kelly Schweida has an eye for a smart young horse and his purchase of smart sprinter Graff for $70,000 at the 2024 Inglis Classic Sale has now netted connections more than six times that amount in prizemoney in five starts.
Racing at least four-wide for the trip from barrier 15 in the $500,000 event over 1200-metres, jockey Cejay Graham let Grafterburners ($3.80 favourite) stride better than midfield and despite being bumped early in the straight, the colt was able to power away to win by a length margin over the Kevin Kemp-trained Pink Vixen ($8) with Betterlucknexttime ($11) in third.
“It was his first run in five weeks and he is pretty casual,” Schweida said.
“I don’t think he ever got in (in the run) and he needed a little push there around the corner, but we knew he’d be strong last and all the form around him has been super.”
Grafterburners’ last start was in the Inglis Millennium (1100m) at Randwick on February 8 and the first two past the post in that race – Rivellino and Within The Law – are at around $10 for next Saturday’s Group 1 Golden Slipper (1200m) at Rosehill.
“I think he toyed with them because once he got there he still had a bit of a run around and a look around,” Graham said.
“This is the best two-year-old I’ve ridden by far and I have to be thankful to Kelly for sticking with me today. It is a big opportunity.”
In the Jewel for three-year-olds over the same distance, Matt Hoysted and Nikita Beriman delivered a repeat performance to snare the half-million event for the second year running.
After winning with Party For Two in 2024, the well-backed Hearts Are Better ($5.50 with bookmakers) is in now line for a Queensland Winter Carnival campaign and removed the doubts over filly by Better Than Ready covering the 1200-metre trip.
“She was pegged as an 800-metre horse early,” Hoysted said.
“She was probably a bit of a speedy squib early doors but she has really started to learn her craft now and relax better.
“It gave us plenty of confidence how strong to the line she was in over the 1110-metres last start after a wide run in transit.
“We weren’t expecting to lead but she was so brilliant out of the gates and when Nikita (Beriman) was able to lead and control the race, she was going to take a fair bit of running down.”
