Gem Song wins Group 3 Eskimo Prince Stakes
Gem Song (left) has overcome testing conditions to win the Eskimo Prince Stakes at Warwick Farm.
Gem Song is building a profile that signals he will be up to the better three-year-old races in the autumn, kicking off his campaign by winning the Eskimo Prince Stakes at Warwick Farm.
The Kris Lees-trained three-year-old colt has now racked up four wins from six starts with his victory in Saturday’s Group Three sprint over 1200m.
His win was against the pattern of the day with Jason Collett forced to come up the inside of the track which jockeys had been avoiding because of the wet surface after a storm on Friday night.
“There is a lot of upside to him,” Lees said.
“I thought he might be struggling on the ground but he did it well.
“We’ll go the traditional path with him to the Hobartville and the Randwick Guineas and see where he ends up.”
Gem Song ($5) beat Purple Sector ($31) by a long neck with a neck to Charge ($6).
Favourite Sandbar ($1.80) weakened to fourth after leading for into the straight.
The other feature three-year-old race, the $1 million Inglis Sprint (1100m) heralded a return to the winners’ stall for Fiesta who wore down Golden Slipper winner Estijaab who had not raced since her big win last year.
Winning jockey Glyn Schofield said the Chris Waller-trained Fiesta had travelled well in the pack with Estijaab leading the field.
“I knew what I had to run down,” Schofield said.
“Brenton had a pretty easy time up front.
“The ground is a bit testing but I was smoking my pipe, she was travelling that sweetly.
“Estijaab gave a bit of a kick but Fiesta found plenty.”
Punters could not separate the two who were the $4.20 equal favourites with the margin three-quarters of a length.