Could Be King Descends In Golden Maiden
Wednesday
Woodside Devil (Fabregas x Yielding) is a dog that has always shown promise, but box manners have continued to let him down. On Wednesday he lined up in a suitable time graded field and from box eight he got the start right, which allowed him to position up very close over the 400m distance. Before the turn he was only a length off the leader and the race was all but over, given how strong he is. Around the turn he put the head in front, before running away in a handy 23.27. He must give his trainer Graham Smith a bit of frustration, but when he begins like he did Wednesday, then it’s good viewing!
Vadim Roz has been doing some serious kilometres in the van recently, having just gone over to the New South Wales for a crack at a couple of Group 1s and one of the chasers that went there was Emerley Zoe, who amazingly found herself back in a time graded race over the 531m trip. From box two she started a warm but drifting favourite, which was of some surprise. The boxes opened and she was led early by the wide running Ninetymile Bull, who gave her plenty to think about. Emerley Zoe was doing a stack of work sitting outside him and looked in some strife up the back straight, but to her credit she toughed it out and eventually proved too strong, winning in 31.48. Certainly a deserved return to the winners list for Vadim!
Tim Richards is certainly not a frequent visitor to Gawler, but came up with a team for the Wednesday meeting, before leaving with a training double. Silk Sonic was the first winner and he was impressive from box eight over the 400m distance. He wasn’t the quickest into stride but handled the wide draw with perfection, sitting out in the deep and working through his gears. Around the home turn he took over and shot to the front, winning in a pretty handy 23.07. She’s Driven then won the next race for Tim, with the old campaigner making the most of box one. After leaving the boxes well enough, she was outpaced early but did find some clear air and was running second. With some fortune approaching the turn, she was able to get a clear lead and ran away from there, with a nice 23.48 win.
Sunday
A monster crowd was on deck for a terrific night of racing Sunday with the final of the Golden Maiden being the feature of the night.
It was a red hot final the Golden Maiden with plenty of chasers given a chance going into the race. The crowd lined up on the fence to get a unique view of the start boxes and when the lids opened it was a good go to the first turn. The Robyn Mackellar trained Ragin’ Riot showed an abundance of speed to head them at the turn and by the time she went into the back straight she had a three length lead. It was looking quite good for the black bitch as she led by quite a distance into the final turn, but a danger did loom in the form of Could Be King (Spiral Nikita x My Kinda Song), who after being eight lengths away up the back straight, was slowly reeling her in. At the top of the straight it still looked like Ragin’ Riot would hang on, but the Ben Rawlings trained Could Be King simply descended on her and gobbled her up to win super impressively in 31.00. His run home time was terrific and he will no doubt have a future over the longer distances. A fantastic race and I am sure there will be quite a few winners to come out of this final moving forward.
Tony Rasmussen finished off what would arguably one of the best weekends of his life, with a treble on Sunday to cap off the Group 1 win the night before. Undoing was the first winner and whilst he is generally awkward in his races, he has always shown ability and he was able to topple the raging hot favourite in the form of Chair Man. He was slow as usual from box one over the 643m distance, but was allowed some clear air on the fence. It wasn’t until the back straight that he loomed as a danger but his strength was doing the talking and in the blink of an eye he went past the leader on the home turn. Once in front he held off a late challenge from Chair Man and won in 37.74. The super consistent Bernando Bowl took out the grade 6 final over the 531m journey, with a pacey all the way win in 30.89, which made it five straight wins for the son of Bernardo. Val Ali rounded out the treble as she landed another deserved win, with an all the way effort from box one over the short trip in a quick 22.74.
Don Turner had a good night at Gawler, with a race to race double with two littermates. Whiskey Roll took out the juvenile race of the night, with a powerful performance from box eight over the 400m distance. He was one of the outsiders, but thanks to some smarts which allowed him to avoid the early trouble on the first turn, he got the fly around and shot to a big lead. It was all over as he led by six lengths up the back straight, before he eventually stopped the clock at 22.99. Rolling Riot was next up and had box five to handle on the corner start. Whilst he is normally a fair beginner, he came out better on Sunday and that allowed him to settle in second and given his strength, he looked awfully dangerous from there. Before the home turn he launched on the inside and went underneath the leader, before quickly putting the race away and running a slick 22.85. Certainly a good night up for Don!