Injury plagued international causes upset in Newmarket Handicap
BOOKMAKERS and historians gave former European and Hong Kong gelding Redkirk Warrior little chance of winning Saturday’s Group 1 Newmarket Handicap, but the injury-plagued runner got the job done.
After racing over 2000m in the Hong Kong Derby, Lindsay Park Racing decided to target the sprint and mile races for the six-year-old which is now a Group 1 Newmarket Handicap winner at Flemington.
Jockey Regan Bayliss positioned the British-bred runner in a forward position down the Flemington straight and it was never going to get beaten as the $35 chance at Ladbrokes.com.au powered away from the field.
“Ever since I was a little boy, all I wanted to be was a jockey,” Bayliss said. “To be here on Super Saturday… I’m just numb.
“He’s a terrific horse, all credit to Lindsay Park, I wouldn’t be here without them.”
Lindsay Park have been known to give the young jockeys their chance and Bayliss took it with both hands on Saturday.
“I owe everything to them. I was very confident, David (Hayes) gave me confidence on how well the horse was going.
“He’s so untapped, he’s had 10 starts for five wins now. The world’s his oyster and I’m so glad I could ride him here today.”
The injury-plagued runner was stopped from racing in Hong Kong after developing feet issues, but Lindsay Park has it firing on all cylinders and the Newmarket Handicap/Doncaster Handicap double is something they are chasing.
“We’ve set him for the Newmarket/Doncaster, which is an optimistic target, but he’s got stage one and a lot of people said he couldn’t do it, but I wouldn’t swap him for many in the Doncaster,” Hayes said.
“We’ve been telling everyone, Tom (Dabernig) and the team at Lindsay that he’s the best horse in the stable, he just hadn’t had a chance to show everyone yet, but I think he put up his hoof today.
“This horse was retired from Hong Kong racing through feet issues…he’s had a wind operation and he’s a superstar.”
Hayes was full of praise for jockey Regan Bayliss and believes he will pick up many more quality rides this season.
“It’s fantastic for Regan to have his first group one victory,” Hayes said. “His career’s about to really launch, he’s had a great year anyway.
“I don’t think people will hesitate to put him in on group ones.”
Voodoo Lad finished off well for second at place odds of $4.30 with CrownBet.com.au. Darren Weir wasn’t overly bullish about its chances pre-race, but is confident of a good campaign ahead.
“He ran great. He ran like he suggested he was at home,” Weir said. “The winner was miles too good, but happy with the run of ours.
“Obviously the Goodwood’s a good race for him and maybe the William Reid in a couple of weeks, but the Goodwood is the realistic race to head to there.”