Dragonstone scorches turf in Bob Charley AO Stakes at Randwick
While off-season racing continues in Sydney, one Listed race was run and won on Saturday at Royal Randwick.
The sprinters did battle over 1200m in the $150,000 Bob Charley AO Stakes, which saw bookmaker favourite Dragonstone reign supreme.
The Mark Newnham-trained three-year-old was able to break a run of second placings and storm away with a dominant 1.75-length victory under Tom Sherry.
2022 Bob Charley AO Stakes Replay | June 11, 2022
Dragonstone, a son of Japanese stallion Mikki Isle, had strong formlines heading into the race, with placings behind Athelric, Andermatt and Passive Aggressive this time in, with the latest of those coming just seven days ago.
“He is a wonderful little horse,” Newnham said.
“He has been ever consistent. He has only missed a place once in his life.
“He has run into a few really nice types along the way, but he never performs poorly.
“This is actually only his second run on a good track and he has won them both, so as well as he does handle those wet tracks, he is probably more effective with his turn of foot on this type of ground.”
Finishing in the minor money was Bjorn Baker’s Prime Candidate, while Mamaragan showed glimpses of his two-year-old form with a good third.
Catching the eye late was Joe Pride’s Snippy Fox, who rattled into fourth after being detached from the field for much of the race.