A training masterstroke by Chris Waller and winning decision by Hugh Bowman to ride Shoot Out put the gloss on the gelding’s George Main Stakes win at Randwick.
Shoot Out ($4 fav) went to Saturday’s 1600m Group One event for his first start since he finished second to More Joyous in the Doncaster in April.
Bowman went to the race having chosen Shoot Out over stablemate Danleigh but it was another Waller-trained horse which almost denied him.
Veteran Rangirangdoo ($5) fought hard but the margin on the line was a neck.
The two were in a league of their own with Secret Admirer ($4.80) another 2-1/4 lengths away.
Waller deflected attention away from himself for Shoot Out’s performance.
“I don’t know that’s it’s much about me, it’s about good horses,” Waller said.
“They get themselves fit. They don’t know how to get beaten.”
Shoot Out had three barrier trials to get him ready for his George Main assignment while Rangirangdoo ran fourth in the Tramway Handicap under 61.5kg.
Waller said the plan had always been to run Shoot Out first-up in the George Main as a pipe opener for the Epsom Handicap in two weeks for which he is equal favourite.
“He wasn’t ready for the Warwick Stakes,” he said.
“We could have run him in the Chelmsford but decided to wait.
“He will go to the Epsom now. He is attractively weighted in that because More Joyous has compressed the weights.”
Bowman said he was honoured to ride a horse of the calibre of Shoot Out who recorded his fourth Group One in the George Main.
“It’s a privilege to ride a horse like him,” he said.
“Two great horses fighting it out, it was a bit of an honour and I was just hoping the other one wasn’t going to come back.
“When Nash (Rawiller on Rangirangdoo) let him go and he couldn’t get past me quickly I thought I had the wood on him.
“My bloke loves the track and Chris has done a great job to prepare him first-up.
“It was my decision to ride him. It was hard getting off Danleigh because I’ve ridden him a lot but I was just very taken by this horse’s trial the other day.”
Danleigh finished sixth, once again showing his vulnerability at Randwick.
Corey Brown said the fact Secret Admirer was being prepared with longer races in mind showed in the way she travelled.
“She ran great. She hasn’t got that real rip to the line like she used to have,” Brown said.
“Grahame (Begg) is obviously training her to get over a bit further this time in but she’s just getting that bit older and she’s getting a bit more dour.
“She’s hitting the line but just not flashing at it like she used to.”
The jury remains out on three-year-old All Too Hard who ran home into fourth after missing the start again.
“He’s just costing himself by not leaving the barriers,” jockey Chris Munce said.
“He’s just not jumping. It’s not helping him.”
Senior trainer John Hawkes said the plan was to push on to the Caulfield Guineas with the half brother to champion Black Caviar.
“I don’t make decisions on race day. He still ran a good race,” he said.
“At home or in trials he never misses the start. I don’t know what it is.”
