Sundance being set for Sunshine State riches
TRAINER Toby Edmonds will run quality juvenile Sundance in the feature race at Warwick Farm on Saturday, before returning to the Sunshine State for the $2 million Magic Millions 3YO Guineas.
The three-year-old has been well-backed at $4.80 with Sportsbet to win Saturday’s Summer Sprint and Edmonds knows his runner has the fitness edge over its main rivals.
“There’s good speed in these types of races,” Edmonds said.
“Plateau Gold is a very fast horse, Cosmic Cameo is a fast horse himself and there’s a few resuming with big weights. They might not be that tuned up, who knows?
“It’s an ideal race and with 53kg he fits the bill. I’m not sure if he’ll lead or sit outside of them, but he’ll be bang up there. [His settling position] will be determined by the pace.”
The son of I Am Invincible is a winner of three from eight starts, including a last start win at the Sunshine Coast and Edmonds is contemplating a return trip to Queensland.
“It will be difficult [to back Sundance up], but we’ll have a look at it,” Edmonds said.
“I think he’s just a natural three-year-old. He won as a two-year-old, but I just think he’s come back better this time in after we gelded him. He’ll be fine and he loves the soft tracks.
“We’re always on the lookout for these types of races. Logistically it can be difficult, but we’re not that far away from anywhere at the moment which is good. He left on Wednesday night and he arrived on Thursday morning.”
Edmonds also lines up Magic Millions 2YO Classic chance Houtzen which is currently a $1.30 chance to win at the Gold Coast on Saturday.
Canberra Racing trying to attract international interest
Canberra Racing is looking to attract interest from New Zealand and Singapore for the Black Opal Stakes.
Singapore Airlines are now running direct flights from Singapore and Wellington, which could enable offshore interest for Canberra’s highlight race day.
Canberra Racing chief executive Peter Stubbs said the club is happy to start off slowly and gradually build with time. It has arranged a golf day as a part of a package, which also includes a lunch on the Friday leading up to the $900,000 day.
“We’ve launched that as a result of the direct flights with Singapore Airlines to Wellington and Singapore,” Stubbs said.
“Probably in the first year it would be good to start off smaller and tinker with the tour for future years.
“We won’t be disappointed if it’s not that successful this year because we’ll build on it for next year.
“Racing in both New Zealand and Singapore is very popular so it really fitted in with racing in the ACT and in particular with our feature race meeting.”
The Group 3 Black Opal Stakes is now worth $300,000, which makes it a key lead-up race to the Golden Slipper in March. There is a two-week gap in between the races, which is ideal for trainers, and the Canberra Guineas has also been boosted up to $130,000.
“It’s certainly one of the races if you win it the prizemoney is enough to get you into the Golden Slipper, there’s no question about that,” Stubbs said.
“Anyone that needs to get prizemoney to get into the Golden Slipper, the Black Opal will certainly do that for them.”
Lindsay Park juveniles running hot
David Hayes rates his current crop of juveniles as the best he’s trained in 10 years and believes they will make nice older horses.
The training team of David Hayes, son Ben Hayes and Tom Dabernig is on fire with recent juvenile winners including Tulip, Catchy and Formality, which made quick work of its rivals at Werribee on Thursday.
Hayes has four of the top seven horses in the Blue Diamond Stakes, with Tulip the current $10 favourite at CrownBet.com.au after an impressive debut win.
“This is my best crop since the one 10 years ago, which included Miss Finland, Nadeem, Nicconi, Eagle Falls and All American,” Hayes said.
“This crop, like them, will also train on when they are older horses and they won’t be pushed as two-year-olds.
“The advantage of the old Lindsay Park (at Angaston) was the way we could develop two-year-olds and now we’ve got the same thing happening.
“We work them on our hills and take them to the races sound and we don’t push them on the track.”
Hayes lines up Catchy at Caulfield on Saturday where it’s currently $1.90 to win the opening race. Hayes is expected another top effort.
“Catchy has trained on extremely well. She will be better suited over 1100m at Caulfield rather than 1000m at Moonee Valley,” he said.
Hayes confirmed that both Tulip and Formality will be heading towards the Blue Diamond and stablemate Madeenaty will be set for the Golden Slipper.