Group 1 Racing Takes a Breather As Aus Season Draws to a Close
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DOWN UNDER DELIVERED YOUR BITE-SIZED BULLETIN FROM OZ THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 2019 Invincibella breaks through for her maiden Group One victory in the final of the season. TRACKSIDE PHOTOGRAPHY PREVIEW Group 1 racing takes a breather as Aus season draws to a close Australian Group One In a season where he farewelled in 2019-20 will be run at Randwick on Winx, Waller stood tall as Australia’s August 24 and appropriately it will be action is in hiatus as foremost Group One trainer. the Winx Stakes, a weight-for-age race our stars of the turf He trained 18 elite-level winners she won last year. prepare for a new with seven of those victories belonging Australia’s new season of racing to Winx, the world’s best racehorse who starts on August 1, our horse’s birthday, season of racing. is still creating headlines despite her while the breeding season opens on retirement in April. September 1. nvincibella’s win in the Tattersall’s Winx will embark on the next Stakes racing continues around the Tiara at Eagle Farm last week for chapter of her career when she will country on Saturday with Group Three trainer Chris Waller was the last of visit Yarraman Park poster boy I Am contests the main focus in Perth and I72 Group One races contested across the Invincible in the spring. the Sunshine Coast in Queensland as a nation in 2018-19. Australia’s first Group One event finale to the winter carnival. SHARE THIS EDITION 1 aushorse.com.au DOWN UNDER DELIVERED THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 2019 Group One-winning mare in possible race swansong Galaxy Star’s fate will be determined in the Group Three Strickland Stakes. WESTERN RACEPIX One of the premier among Australia’s most prolific after Group One trophy. Galaxy Star thoroughbred breeders. They have and Great Shot have raced exclusively mares in Western been racing horses for more than four in Perth but in yet another example Australia will face a decades and are constantly upgrading of the healthy state of the Australian crossroads race at their bloodstock portfolio as they access thoroughbred industry, they have the best stallions in the east. amassed almost $3 million in stakes Belmont on Saturday The Strickland Stakes continues between them. as she tries to rebound a sequence of winter weight-for-age Their last-start conqueror Gatting from a surprise defeat. races in Perth. (Hard Spun) also falls into the same While nowhere near as lucrative category but that could change as spring as Perth racing’s summer scene which carnivals loom in the nation’s eastern alaxy Star (Redoute’s Choice) attracts interstate stables, this time of states. is favourite to hit back in the year in the WA capital still has the best Gatting, who relegated Galaxy Star Group Three Strickland Stakes on offer from the locals. and Great Shot into the minor placings Gbut she needs to win handsomely to Galaxy Star is a Group One winner, in the Group Three Hyperion Stakes earn another season of racing. as is her Strickland rival Great Shot over 1600m a fortnight ago, has been Otherwise, the breeding barn awaits (Magnus). mentioned as a WS Cox Plate runner. where she can add even more depth They have taken out the past two The five-year-old ran third in last to owner Bob Peters’ collection of editions of the Railway Stakes, a $1 year’s Strickland but is going better broodmares. million race over 1600m that has stood now and he will be right at home over Peters and his wife Sandra rate the test of time as Perth’s most sought- 2000m. SHARE THIS EDITION 2 aushorse.com.au DOWN UNDER DELIVERED THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 2019 Sunshine Coast hosts a winter finale for premium Queensland racing The Sunshine Coast Turf Club will stage its biggest meeting for the season as Queensland winter racing heads out of town this week. orbould Park is one of the state’s busiest racetracks as a regular Sunday venue and it’s also one of Cthe newest. An expansive racetrack located about 90km north of Brisbane, Corbould Park was built in 1985. It is also home to Queensland’s only synthetic track, installed in 2008. Three stakes races will be decided on Saturday with the Sunshine Coast Guineas carrying the most prestige as a Group Three contest. Run at set weights over 1400m, the Guineas will forever occupy a place in Australian racing history thanks to the champion racemare Winx (Street Cry). Sunshine Coast Turf Club. Winx won the 2015 edition, the first in her sequence of 33 wins that took an insight into his potential in his 2018 Baby was runner-up in the Group Two her all the way to the top of the world victory. Queensland Guineas and rates as one of rankings. Baccarat Baby (Casino Prince) is the state’s best three-year-old fillies. The Bostonian (Jimmy Choux), one among the favourites despite finishing The Caloundra Cup and the of the stars of this year’s winter carnival down the course in last week’s Group Glasshouse Handicap will also be with Group One wins in the Doomben One Tattersall’s Tiara. highlight races, each offering $175,000 10,000 and Kingsford Smith Cup, gave Trained on the track, Baccarat purses at Listed level. Cummings pair chase more success for Godolphin yard James Cummings will (Street Cry) are vying for favouritism after figuring in minor races in Brisbane recall at least one over the past month. sprinter from Brisbane Cummings also kept Organza in winter carnival duties entries for the Glasshouse Handicap, the main sprint race at the Sunshine Coast to chase an off-season on Saturday. black-type win in Organza is fresh from finishing Sydney. second in the Listed Gai Waterhouse Classic at Ipswich after conceding the he Godolphin trainer has accepted winner too much start. with two runners for the Civic Gaulios also competed on Ipswich Stakes, a $150,000 Listed race over Cup day, running midfield in the Listed T1350m at Rosehill on Saturday. Eye Liner Stakes after racing rearward James Cummings. RACING PHOTOS Organza (Street Cry) and Gaulios from a deep barrier. SHARE THIS EDITION 3 aushorse.com.au DOWN UNDER DELIVERED THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 2019 FEATURE Trash talkin’ to Flemington glory Gytrash and Craig Williams cruise to victory in the Listed AR Creswick Stakes. RACING PHOTOS ‘day off’ at the 2017 Inglis “I ended up getting “The colt wasn’t due to go into the Melbourne Premier Yearling the horse for $40,000 ring until the Tuesday but I asked a Sale has well and truly paid mate to bid on him up to $50,000. I Adividends for Adelaide trainer, Gordon but when I found out ended up getting the horse for $40,000 Richards, with nippy 3YO, Gytrash, he’d been sold for but when I found out he’d been sold producing a commanding performance for $70,000 as a weanling, I got a bit in Saturday’s Listed AR Creswick Stakes $70,000 as a worried.” at Flemington. weanling, I got a Clearly his concerns were misplaced It was the second win in a row down bit worried.” as Gytrash takes his earnings to the Flemington straight for Gytrash, but $405,450 following Saturday’s victory the first at stakes level and the Lope de GORDON RICHARDS, TRAINER with the promise of much more to Vega flyer takes his career tally to six come. wins and six placings from 13 outings: “I had won the (Group Three) Training for over 40 years with 20 the only blemish a 10th in last month’s Zeditave Stakes at Caulfield on the in work at his Morphettville base, the Group One Goodwood Handicap after Saturday with Benz and, as I didn’t need laidback Richards adds Gytrash wasn’t a being in the car park for most of the trip. to be back in Adelaide until the Monday, ‘hard sell’. Wending his happy way home to I decided to head out to the Premier “Gone are the days when people South Australia on Sunday morning sale,” Richard recalls. “I wasn’t actually come up to you with a bunch of orders with horse float attached, a buoyant planning on buying anything, but I to buy horses at sales, but my wife put Richards was counting his blessings noticed this Lope de Vega colt being the yearling photo up on Facebook and that he’d decided to venture out to paraded by Maluka Thoroughbreds a I even got a new client – a lady from Inglis’ Oaklands Junction complex two couple of times and then I had him Sydney – who took a share,” Richards years ago. pulled out myself for a decent look. reveals. “There was a lot of interest SHARE THIS EDITION 6 aushorse.com.au DOWN UNDER DELIVERED THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 2019 actually and quite a few existing clients took shares too. Still, I was left with 10% which I had to fill, but I’m hardly complaining.” But what about the name? Gytrash (pronounced ‘gee-trah’)? “One of my owners is Gary McIntosh who, back in the day, was a very good footy player for Norwood. A real character,” Richards explains. “He’s in Benz as well and, given that horse is by Bushranger, Gary wanted to name him Mad Dog Morgan or something like that. “Anyway, when the Lope de Vega came along he suggested Gytrash and, just to get him off my back, I said yes. I then looked the name up on google and turns out it’s some ghost dog that can take the shape of a horse and either leads people astray or puts you on the right road.