Heartbreak City to kick off winter jumping season
HEARTBREAK City went desperately close to winning the 2016 Melbourne Cup, but before it comes back for another Cup tilt, the European runner will begin a new campaign over the jumping circuit.
The Tony Martin-trained stayer is being prepared for the Cheltenham festival later this year, with Australian international recruiting scout Leigh Jordan stating it was “common practice” for European trainers to switch horses from flat to jumps racing.
“It’s very much what they do over there, their jumps racing is extremely strong and most trainers find it as a good change of routine especially during the winter months,” Jordan said.
“Heartbreak City is probably like a lot of the horses who end up coming to Australia, they often have a jumping background.”
Jordan confirmed that Martin is bringing Heartbreak City back for another Melbourne Cup campaign ($21 at Sportsbet) and he could be bringing more than one runner.
“Tony is of course very keen to go one better and he also indicated that he could have multiple runners over the spring this year in Melbourne,” Jordan said.
“They were naturally elated with how well the horse went in Australia and they thoroughly enjoyed their time here.”
Heartbreak City resumes in the Handicap Hurdle in Dublin and Australian punters can bet on Irish jumping markets at Bet365.com.
Centrebet takes stance against Queensland’s minimum bet rule
Centrebet announced a further enhancement to its current product offering and will now allow punters to win $1000 on Queensland bush racing.
The offer was sparked when Racing Queensland announced that it would not implement a minimum bet rule for corporate bookmakers, but Centrebet has gone above and beyond by guaranteeing limits for punters betting on all Queensland racing.
Centrebet’s existing offer has limits of $5000 on Saturday and $2500 for midweek metro racing and the Queensland bush limits will start at 9.30am every race day starting from January 20.
Professional punter Nathan Snow praises the initiative shown by Centrebet.
“Centrebet’s expansion into Queensland racing is great news for those that bet in the Sunshine State. Their market leading odds and limits on metropolitan racing have been a fantastic initiative for all punters,” Snow said.
Owner of Senior Council puts faith in stewards
The owner of Senior Council, the horse in which disgraced jockey Josh Cartwright rode to controversy last Saturday, is putting his faith in the stewards to make the correct decision.
Ted Geracitano has denied rumours that he wants to take legal action against Cartwright and said he has faith in the South Australian Thoroughbred stewards.
“I don’t know where those stories came from because they certainly haven’t come from me,” Geracitano said. “I’m not thinking of suing the guy, I’m not thinking about calling the police.
“I’ve raced 50 or 60 horses over the years and I’ve been in the game for 35 years.
“I’ve heard 4000 conspiracy theories and, as far as I’m concerned, the only people who can get to the bottom of it are the stewards.
Geracitano has been impressed with the stewards’ handling of the case so far, but his main annoyance was that his horse was given no chance to win.
“The stewards have been brilliant,” Geracitano said.
“We’re upset that our horse was used in this incident. The first thing I thought was the horse had broken down again. The welfare of the horse and the other horses and jockeys are my only concern. We thought the horse could win.
“If you watch the replay, I was jumping out of my chair at the 300m because I thought he was going to win. He was travelling like a winner.
“They’re the things I’m upset about. As far as the jockey and what will happen to him, that’s entirely in the stewards’ hands. It’s nothing to do with me.
“I have 100 per cent confidence in Johan and his stewards to do the right thing and whatever they decide, I’ll be happy with that.”
It is expected that Cartwright’s penalty will be delivered next week.
Hard Call on target for The Valley
Trainer John Salanitri is showing confidence that Hard Call can win the VOBIS Gold Star at Moonee Valley on Saturday.
Salanitri is hoping the predicted rain arrives which will give his runner a better chance of toppling current $1.75 favourite Burning Front.
“I give him a really big show,” Salanitri said.
“I’m just hoping we get a bit of rain to take the sting out of the track.
“The only way he can really fail is if the tracks are just too firm for him.”
A better barrier draw and the addition of blinkers helped Hard Call win by 2.5 lengths at Caulfield last start, but the five-year-old has been dealt a tricky barrier of seven this Saturday.
“I’ve been having a real bad run with barrier draws, and it still continues, and it goes to show you once they draw a barrier what they can do,” Salanitri said.
“We were blessed with the little bit of rain we had as well.
“So I’m hoping we do get some sort of rain to help his chances on Saturday.”
Hard Call is currently $4.40 at Sportsbet.com.au to win the $100,000 Ranvet VOBIS Gold Star.