2022 COFFEX COFFEE SA OAKS & SA DERBY FINALS – REVIEW
Last night at Angle Park Yahiro Bale trainer Daniel Gibbons produced a last to first victory in an amazing run to take out the Group 3 Coffex Coffee SA Oaks final.
Sent out a warm favourite the daughter of Feral Franky and Dyna Zesty was well supported after her brilliant win in the heats seven days prior however a slow beginning was not what the punters or connections wanted.
As the start was affected Yahiro Bale found herself back last with kennel mate McKeon Bale as Miss Scallywag for Tony Rasmussen flew the lids to challenge for the early lead with Melissa Keeping for Matthew Lanigan driving hard to her inside. It was tightly bunched leaving the winning post on the first occasion with Melissa Keeping spearing through to lead Miss Scallywag with a blanket over the remaining 6 runners as they jostled for position. Yahiro Bale had made ground quickly to be poking in between runners looking for a gap to appear.
Into the back straight and Melissa Keeping railed hard to lead clearly from Ava Blazer for Jeff Britton however railing even harder to her inside was Yahiro Bale who amazingly moved to second as the Group 3 field entered the back straight. Miss Scallywag was pushed back to fourth and looked to hold her position as the remainder of the Oaks field looked to make ground.
Off the back straight and Yahiro Bale moved up powerfully to challenge Melissa Keeping for the lead as they broke away from Ava Balzer who was holding third just ahead of Miss Scallywag. In a twinkling of an eye Yahiro Bale was now in the lead and racing away from her rivals in a brilliant display of chasing. She gave her opposition a start and a beating as she sped away from her rivals to win by 3 lengths in a slick 30.52. Melissa Keeping just couldn’t hold of the late finish of Ava Blazer who grabbed second on the line relegating her to third, while Miss Scallywag was also claimed by the late finishing burst of Zipping Daria for Ed Burrett who claimed fourth.
Owned by Brendan Wheeler and in the care of Rebecca Gibbons the $25,000 first prize took Yahiro Bale’s prizemoney to just over $60,000 and the impressive record of 9 wins and 6 placings from her 20 lifetime starts.
The SA Derby final always showcases some of the best young male chasers in the land with a wonderful field lining up for the Group 3 feature however it was the race favourite, Deadly Class who won the $25,000 first prize and wrote his name into the prestigious honour roll.
Trained by Anthony Azzopardi the son of Barcia Bale and Elevated had suffered two close seconds at Angle Park in the last fortnight however deservingly broke through for a sensation win when the pressure was on. He began very well from box 2 to move quickly towards the lead however was burnt off by kennel mate Salad Dodger who showed blistering acceleration to assume control out of the front straight. Local hope Rushes Raw for Kim Johnstone and the highly promising Hector Fawley for Lisa Cockerell both began ok but found some trouble on the first turn putting them out of play. Multi Matt for Jeff Britton moved to third out wide on the track while WA visitor Columbus Monelli for Morgan Turner railed hard to move to fourth after being being towards the tail of the field.
As they entered the back straight Salad Dodger led but looming large in his rear-view mirror was Deadly Class with clean air to make ground. Multi Matt was third and Columbus Monelli was fourth as they raced down the back straight. Off the back straight Salad Dodger was starting to shorten stride as Deadly Class first looked to go to his inside then swung wide as they turned for home. Making ground quickly was Multi Matt along the rails while Columbus Monelli would have the final crack in the home straight. Mid way down the home straight and they claimed Salad Dodger with Deadly Class finding the front and then withstanding a late finishing burst from Columbus Monelli to go on and win by a nose from the WA sprinter with Salad Dodger claiming third just ahead of Multi Matt.
Deadly Class ran 30.73 for the 530m journey and is owned by Adean Manolitsis from Victoria. His win took him past $44,000 in stakemoney with the exceptional record of 6 wins and 2 placings from 12 starts.