September 30, 2016
Last Saturday, Famechon Baroness took out the $10,000 Battlers Cup, the 2160 metre BM 55 test of stamina that topped Gympie’s bill.
The Haradasun mare, whose connections hail from Chahpingah near Kingaroy, punched on too strongly for her rivals in the Southside bout that equated to fifteen rounds in the ring.
The $11 chance led with her chin by going on the front foot at the mile marker.
There was no sign of the towel being thrown in when Toowoomba rider Melody O’Brien asked Bob and Dorothy Black’s galloper to deliver the final, telling blow in the straight.
The decisive victory came on the back of trainer Tom Moloney’s astute conditioning program that included assignments at Dalby, Kilcoy and Doomben over 2000, 1900 and 2050 metres respectively.
Travelling on the sand was not a worry for the thoroughbred with some regally bred relatives.
Her only previous Gympie essay yielded a respectable fourth placing, while her Wondai record stands at 4: 2-0-1.
Interestingly, Famechon Baroness’s four wins to date have all been with females aboard and her only grass success was for O’Brien at Dalby in September 2015.
The seven-year-old’s maternal line traces through The Baroness (her dam), Viscount, Antwerp and Our Diamond Lover to Eight Carat, a blue hen in breeding terms courtesy of her male descendants Mouawad, Kaapstad, Octagonal and Lohnro.
Zamazaan and Quest For Fame are also in her ancestry.
The paternal side of the pedigree includes Sir Tristram and Circles of Gold, mother of Elvstroem, and Highland Reel’s dam Hveger.
Unfortunately it is too late for Moloney and the Blacks to push for the $10,000 Roy and Glenis Radunz Wondai Cup (BM 65) in two weeks time, to be staged over 2400 and not 1465 metres.
If that were the case, Famechon Baroness would be likely to start at Muhammad Ali (nee Cassius Clay) odds.
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The Burnett’s Mixed Bag
Hivesville conditioner Lindsay Gordon had an unusual day at Gympie.
His grand money-spinner Glenthorn Avenue picked up the runner-up cheque behind the super track specialist Shoulda To Shoulda in the open sprint while Hopetoun Street, the Kaphero mare he formerly trained, saluted for the Glenn Richardson stable in the BM 50 (1030m) with Ian Coombes in the stirrups.
Taroom’s meeting last weekend turned into a debacle.
After I Am Relentless (Nathan Evans) added to Toowoomba trainer Tom Dougall’s opening event wins at Esk and Nanango, the stewards reported that after the running of this race, stewards and riders inspected the track from the winning post to the 500 metre due to concerns with the racing surface.
The concerns related to the issue of horses breaking through the firm racing surface into soft soil due to recent rainfall.
A number of large divots were identified and track officials were requested to drag the track in an endeavour to rectify to issue. Following these works the track was inspected again.
At this point, the riders informed stewards of their unanimous decision that the track was unsafe for racing, and the remainder of the meeting was abandoned at 3:10pm.
The loss of four races meant that Kumbia’s James Curtain did not get an opportunity to saddle up his chances Sequoia Miss and Lady Wivenhoe.
Smoother sailing is desired this weekend with Curtain, Richardson and Peter Blackwell all providing acceptors at Tara.
Bevan Johnson and Patrick Sexton, who also missed starts with stock at Taroom, will try again there too.
Glenn Richardson is in for a busy period. He also has engagements for Correyvreckan (Sunshine Coast, Friday night), Henegan (Toowoomba, Saturday) and nominations for Canid,a Tara acceptor, and Man of Law for the Gold Coast, next Wednesday.
Apprentice Hannah English must be glad that September is almost over. After booting home All Natural at Ipswich early in the month, she has recorded five second placings.
Hopefully three rides at the Sunshine Coast on Friday and seven at Toowoomba the next day will trigger a breakthrough.
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More Money Than Sense
The move by Racing NSW and the Australian Turf Club to increase prizemoney from October 1 has a questionable component.
While it is obviously a welcome boost to have purses lifted to a Saturday minimum from $85,000 to $100,000, the section of the payouts that has the largest percentage increase is for those that fill sixth to tenth berths. Those also-rans will pick up $2,000.
The strategy is supposedly aimed at increasing field sizes. However there seems to be an assumption that connections will put their horses in races that they can’t win but will earn “appearance money”.
This is a curious message. Probably it could encourage the use of actual races as alternative to barrier trials.
Queensland would love to have an overflowing treasure chest that would allow such “extras” to be thrown around.
Sydney’s authorities would have been better off funding research into the problem. Money for the unplaced brigade is already in place and field sizes are still a concern.
This Saturday’s Epsom-Metropolitan-Flight Stakes program is overshadowed by the quality and depth in Melbourne for the Moir Stakes and Turnbull Stakes fixtures.
The Sunshine state’s winter weather does provide a marketing asset.
The success by Sacred Elixir in the Caulfield Guineas Prelude franked the benefits of horses spending time racing (or spelling) in or near Brisbane while it is cold in the south.
If you are having a bet this weekend, check out which runners were in the north during (or after) the carnival months.
It is an old formula that has helped in the development of countless thoroughbreds.
