Toby West take outs inaugural North v South sprint
The final round of the inaugural North v South challenge took place at Murray Bridge on Sunday night, with the two very strong finals taken by a pair of deserving victors. The three round series had already produced some fantastic results from quality chasers, and that theme continued into the finals on Sunday.
The 395m ‘short course’ final went the way of the ‘South’ team with Victa Kurt using box one perfectly to take out the race with a cracking 22.25 gallop. After winning the Gawler heat the Sunday prior, he went into the race a firm second favourite behind Classy Chaos, who went much quicker when she took out her Gawler heat. When the boxes opened on Sunday, their was plenty of pace from those drawn wide, but despite this, Classy Chaos was able to muster quickly to find the front, but then lost the turn which provided a fantastic opportunity for the tight railing Victa Kurt, and that opportunity was quickly taken as he powered through on the rail, defeating Classy Chaos by a length and half. That took Victa Kurt’s career record to 17 wins from 64 starts, which isn’t bad for a ‘fourth stringer’ from the Fernando Bale x Victa Victoria litter!
The traditional 530m ‘sprint’ final proved to be a cracker, as we hoped it would with the strong lineup assembled. Spring Agatha went into the race off the back of an electric Gawler heat win, whilst Spring Phoebe was a close second favourite after drawing terrifically in box one. When the lids opened, it was Spring Phoebe that jumped the best and quickly gained a three length lead on the field. Her first challenger was Toby West, as he mustered beautifully to land in second whilst Spring Agatha started her run down the outside. Hitting the turn, Toby West was able to get underneath Spring Phoebe, before winning in a quick 29.93, holding off a fast finishing Spring Agatha. The win continued the amazing form that Toby West is currently in and it was quite pleasing for trainer Adam Manton.
“It was a very good run. Just before they hit the bend I thought he had the race, because I knew he was a bit stronger than the one dog (Spring Phoebe), but then when he bumped with her halfway around the bend I thought we were in a bit of trouble. I knew the eight dog was coming (Spring Agatha), she was right there as well. He (Toby West) ran a little bit wide, and I was a bit worried coming down the home straight, that’s for sure!” said Adam Manton
Going into the race, Adam wasn’t concerned with drawing box six, and considering the form of Toby West, he had a sense of confidence that he would run well.
“I was happy with the box draw, I was saying to someone after the race that if he had box one I wouldn’t be standing here (On the winners stall after the race). Was I confident? A little bit, I said to a few people that the first 100m will tell the story. He actually began quite well for him.”
“As soon as he balances up he’s strong. That’s why he’s on the circle track, his back straight is his best part of his racing because he gets around the bend and he powers on, he’s always had that. At the moment he’s just racing in really strong form. Coming around the home bend he decided he wanted to rail whereas normally he will just stay outside of them, but he made the decision that he wanted to go on the inside. Jane said that he is actually racing very smart at the moment, he thinks about where he wants to be and where he wants to go. He’s just full of confidence, it’s unreal!
With the Adelaide Cup looming, the option is there for Toby West to have a crack at the Group 1 series, but Adam will take his time and see how well he is racing when the heats roll around.
“I was gonna back him up Thursday night but Jane talked me out of that. If he’s in the form he is now then yes I will (Nominate for an Adelaide Cup heat), but that’s still 6-8 weeks away. He’s a grade 3/4 everywhere he goes now so I will probably just mix it up a little bit.
“He’s having 10-12 days off now, I will probably just nominate him for next Thursday night. There's also a match race coming up soon as well.”
