A filly got a much deserved Group l triumph, a familiar duo dominated a feature day while an unbeaten filly sparkled in town. All that and more in this weeks edition of ‘The Good, The Bad and The Ugly’.
KEY NEWS:
Gypsy Goddess Wins Oaks
David Vandyke has been long saying that Gypsy Goddess is the best horse he has trained and the filly repaid that confidence with a Group l win on Saturday, taking out the Queensland Oaks (2200m) at Eagle Farm under a 12/10 steer from Willie Pike, who presented the filly at the right time and away she went for a dominant win.
J Mac/Waller Dominate Eagle Farm
A Group l raceday and surprise surprise, J Mac and Chris Waller dominate, with the pair winning three races at Eagle Farm on Saturday. The key winner of the three was clearly Political Debate, with the well bred, pricy colt, now assured a run next Saturday in the Group l JJ Atkins after taking out The Phoenix (1500m).
Passive Aggressive Remains Unbeaten
Outside Eagle Farm, there was some fairly ordinary racing across the board, but Passive Aggressive remains unbeaten, bolting up to win the get out at Flemington in dominant fashion, and potentially setting up a mouth watering clash with Star Patrol in the Creswick Final.
PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK:
The effort of Carindal Gem to get as close as he did at Flemington was just extraordinary. He was ridden positively by Jordan Childs and 400m out, he looked the winner, but just as he was about to burst up on the fence, Arran Bay hung in badly and crashed inwards, causing Cardinal Gem to hit the plastic rail hard and he was lucky to stay up. He picked up and surged hard late to run fourth. He’s on the podium for sickest beat of 2022, but the effort was just enormous given the circumstances.
DEBUT OF THE WEEK:
I reckon Chris Waller has a smart colt on his hands in the shape of Osipenko. Debuted at Rosehill on Saturday and despite being bred for further, he showed good change up speed over 1300m and in the end, he spanked them in an impressive display. Ran good time for the meeting and while it’s easy to get carried away with off season form, I think he goes pretty good.
RIDE OF THE WEEK:
I said in my preview of the race that W Pike showed zero initiative in the Bracelet aboard Gypsy Goddess, essentially ridden as if it was a barrier trial for the Oaks. Fast forward to the Oaks and drawing the wide gate, Pike did the right thing in snagging back, but he had a couple behind him. The brilliant steer came halfway out where he got into the three/four wide line, getting the perfect drag into the race, then on the turn built up the revs, gave her clear air and full momentum, and away she went. Brilliant ride from a jockey who I think will be seriously challenge J Mac for the Sydney title next year.
SLAUGHTER OF THE WEEK:
At the time of writing this (Saturday night), there is no Stewards Report for Rockhampton on Friday. When it’s published, I’ll be fascinated to see race three and what they say about Divine Courage. All that is available is a Stewards Summary (Race Incident Comments). For Divine Courage it says “Slow To Begin”. I would like to think the question was asked of Robbie Fradd and what he was doing because watching the replay on a number of occasions, there was zero intent to win. Also noteworthy that the horse was $1.40-$1.85 the last 10 minutes of betting. Hopefully the Stewards Report gets released and we get some sort of explanation, whether there was something wrong with the horse.
HORSES TO FOLLOW:
Osipenko – He’s a smart one
Skyman – Ready to win now. Just needs to draw a gate
Grande Rumore – Knocking on the door
Cardinal Gem – Oh my days
Passive Aggressive – She’s Stakes class
Oceanic Flash – He’s a coming winner
ONE MORE CHANCE:
Military Mission – Nice horse, he’ll win races…just not a Spring Carnival horse
Palladas – Costly…but one last chance
NEVER EVER AGAIN:
Fox Fighter – Well backed and he failed to fire. He’s warming the pine
Yamazaki – Dare say that was her last run. If not, it should be
Le Gai Soleil – The sucking in from her has stopped