The Tony Gollan trained Liquor was the toast of the town after taking out the $160 000 Goldmarket over 1110m at the Gold Coast on Friday night, shutting out the opposition with a strong frontrunning performance under an equally determined ride from Emily Lang.
This was the daughter of Spirit Of Boom’s second win in three starts at the Gold Coast (she finished second in the other start) and the six-year-old mare again relished conditions, jumping into a clear lead from the very first stride and she held her advantage, racing on the rail after jumping from the number two barrier, all of the way to the home turn.
Manola Bling ($10) had raced just to the outside of Liquor (an easy to back $12 chance) in the first half of the race, trying to annoy the Gollan trained runner, and she was still the closest runner to Liquor when the field turned for home, but the field had bunched up approaching the home turn so there were a number of runners seemingly lining up to tackle Liquor on straightening.
Lang had been keeping something in reserve aboard Liquor though and, firstly with a firm flick of the wrists … and then with more vigorous all-around effort in the saddle … Lang got Liquor to edge away from her rivals.
The gap back to Minola Bling opened up just two lengths inside the 200m mark and the job was basically done then as Minola Bling could do no more. (She would eventually finish third).
Two runners, the second placed Metalart (the $4.20 second favourite with bookmakers) and fourth placed Golden Boom (the $3.20 race favourite) both compromised their chances with ordinary starts. By the time the field had travelled 150m, both of these runners were caught out of their ground, some fives length off the leader.
Both ran on in eye-catching fashion in the straight and hit the line hard, but neither was ever close enough to seriously threaten the Liquor party.
The fact that Metalart and Golden Boom carried 5kg and 7kg more than Liquor respectively also didn’t make their cause any easier when asked to make up significant ground from behind.
Golden Boom, who is also trained by Gollan, won this race last year.
“I’ve been desperate to win Black Type with this mare,” said Tony Gollan. “She drew low … she’s fast … and she puts herself there.
“Her preparation has been good except for her 1200m run at Eagle Farm … and this was the ideal track and trip for her.”
“It was great,” said Emily Lang post-race. “She is such a honest, tough mare. It was good to draw a nice soft alley on her and she went to the front very nicely.
“I was actually impressed with the kick she gave, but I think that is a credit to how tough she is.
“Tony said to me … if they are in front of you, they are going too fast … so, with the light weight I think his only plan was to have me in front.
“It is quite a tough time for me transitioning from an apprentice to a senior, but with the support of the likes of Tony and being able to get these rides on big nights like this, it makes all the difference.”
