Trainer David Vandyke is experiencing mixed fortunes with two of his stable stars. The unbeaten Orbisyn has been ruled out of race action until the autumn while, on the other side of the coin, Weona Smartone continues on his merry way after making it seven straight wins at the Gold Coast on Saturday.
Orbisyn won four races in a row from in a three month blitz from March 3 to June 2, winning those four starts by a combined margin of 15.60 lengths, in the process, understandably, attracting a lot of attention from prospective buyers.
With the owner knocking back every offer that came her way, Orbisyn seemed destined to make his mark in bigger races in the coming months but, after going lame and with the hot summer months around the corner which might not suit the horse’s character profile, the decision was taken to allow Orbisyn an extended break with Vandyke confident that the chestnut son of Rich Enuff would return a better horse for his time away from the track.
If one horse’s training program has stalled though, another one is going full steam ahead.
After another success at the Gold Coast on the weekend, Weona Smartone has now won seven of his eight starts. All of those victories have come in a row with his only defeat coming on debut.
Weona Smartone has been winning with plenty in hand and his strike sequence of seven in a row puts him in rare company indeed … meaning he is certainly going above and beyond his call of duty in providing the stable with more than a little compensation for the temporary loss of Orbisyn.
The better quality races down south will be a temptation for Vandyke with Weona Smartone now, but the astute trainer will still weigh up his options as the Covid-19 restrictions do not make travelling an easy call.
Wherever he goes next though, Weona Smartone, who has been very much a punter’s friend for the bulk of his career, will have plenty of followers when he looks to land that eighth straight win.
