If the early betting boards are anything to go by, runners trained by South-East Queensland based trainers will hold the upper hand in the second running of The Archer, the richest race in regional Queensland, when it takes place as a Queensland stand alone meeting on April 30.
Robert Heathcote and Desleigh Forster, who saddled first and second past the post respectively in the last year’s inaugural running of The Archer in a spectacular finish are again well represented in this year’s field … and their representation brings an interesting twist to the race.
Heathcote, who will send out his Group 1 Tatts Tiara winning mare Startantes this year, won the race last year with Emerald Kingdom who got up in the last stride to defeat the Desleigh Forster trained Apache Chase … and, while Heathcote will be looking to produce Startantes in winning fettle to remain the only winning trainer of The Archer, the betting suggests the stable’s biggest danger will be the self-same Emerald Kingdom, who has transferred from Heathcote to the Forster stable since his victory in the race last year.
So, both Heathcote (and slot holders slot holders Rob and Leonie Carr) and Emerald Kingdom will be going for back-to-back wins in The Archer, but this time they are in different camps.
Startantes, who will be ridden by Brisbane’s leading jockey Jimmy Orman, is currently quoted at the top of the betting boards with Emerald Kingdom, who will be ridden by Damien Thornton, on the next line of betting along with the David Vandyke trained Weona Smartone. Mark Currie’s Soxagon is next best in the market
But there are big name participants outside of those already mentioned.
When you have the likes of the training partnerships such as Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott as well as Ciaron Maher and David Eustace having runners in The Archer … Surt Dancer and Blaze a trail respectively … you know just how highly competitive a contest the 2023 edition is likely to be.
Throw in the presence of Brisbane’s leading trainer Tony Gollan (who will saddle Group 1 winner Vega One and Count Da Beans) and top jockey Kerrin McEvoy (who will ride the Kacey Fogden trained Maotai), amongst others, and the competitive edge goes up another notch, while the likes of the Steven O’Dea and Matt Hoysted trained Namazu, the Toby and Trent Edmonds trained Alpine Edge and Inver Park, a very interesting European import who will be making his debut in Australia here for Kris Lees, are also certainly not just there to make up the numbers.
Whether the race itself can reproduce the type of thrilling finish we saw last year when only one length separated the first five runners across the line remains to be seen, but there is no doubt that, with the final field now in place, the sense of anticipation and the build-up to Rockhampton’s big down out will only grow from here.
* The twelve starters (with their slot holders) in The Archer are: Maotai (Aquis Farm); Count da Beans (Archer Park); Startantes (Carr’s); Soxagon (KGB); Vega One (Mackemme Racing); Inver Park (GB) (Milne’s); Alpine Edge (Cupid Syndicate); Emerald Kingdom (Bucket List); Namazu (Karla-Peter McPhail) and Wenona Smartone (NZ) (Max Whitby).
