Jameka colt Sir Bailey salutes at Sandown for Maher & Eustace
Ciaron Maher & David Eustace have unearthed yet another promising young galloper with the win of the impressively bred Sir Bailey in Race 2 over 1300m at Sandown Hillside on Wednesday afternoon.
The colt was having his second start at the races after a slightly disappointing third on debut at Pakenham as an odds-on favourite. The punters were willing to stick with the son of Impending, though, as he again started as a short-priced favourite, this time rewarding punters with a length-and-a-quarter victory.
The talented two-year-old is the first foal from Caulfield Cup-winning mare Jameka.
Jameka is a multiple Group 1 winner who amassed more than $4.8 million in prizemoney during her racing career. She won six races which also included the VRC Oaks and the BMW Stakes (now known as the Tancred Stakes).
Some of the same owners of Jameka are also in on Sir Bailey, who carries the same colours as his superstar mum.
Co-trainer David Eustace was optimistic about the colt’s future.
“He’ll take an awful lot of benefit from that. He had to sort of just knock one out of the way and he’ll learn a bit from that as well,” Eustace told Racing.com after the race.
“He will continue to progress, he’s a lovely horse and it’s exciting to see what lies ahead for him.”
When asked what does lie ahead for Sir Bailey, Eustace suggested a race won by his mother, the Group 2 VRC Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m).
“You’d think a race like the Sires’ would suit,” he said.
“It obviously makes sense to go to that race. I’m sure Ciaron would be keen to target that.
“Hopefully he can win a couple of the others that she won as well.”
The Maher & Eustace team are trekking a proven path towards VRC Sires’ Produce success. The event won by Sir Bailey today was the same race that the Peter Moody-trained colt Lightsaber won last year before taking out the Group 2 event, which is to be run at Flemington Racecourse on March 5.
Jockey Jamie Kah was also optimistic about the direction the youngster is heading in.
“I really liked his last 100m, I reckon the penny’s just finally dropped with him,” she said.
“I thought his first start was good. I didn’t really expect him to come out and be explosive. I thought he was obviously going to want a bit of ground.
“But today I was happy with more so after the line, he wanted to just keep running through and I think he’s going to be really nice over a bit further.
“When they crossed he got a little bit keen. Obviously winkers first time too. I think they sharpened him up a lot more than we thought they would and he just wanted to overdo it a touch, which makes the win even more meritable (sic).”
With a mother as good as Jameka, Sir Bailey has big shoes to fill, but he certainly looks destined for bigger things than Wednesday’s $50,000 midweek handicap.