“I just think the trip away now, he’ll just take a lot of benefit from this. It’s his first way of going the Sydney way, too, and he’s conducted himself well there.
“I was going to take him home, but I think I’ll leave him here now and just play it safe and just acclimatise to this hot weather.
“I came here today and I couldn’t remember the last time I’ve actually been to Rosehill. I got lost, but I know where we are now.”
Steely Ninja poised for Guineas
Trainer Michael Freedman believes a more mature Ninja can run a strong mile in the group 1 Randwick Guineas after a commanding on-pace effort to win the Hobartville Stakes (1400m) as part of a group 2 double for the stable.
A luckless, wide-running second in the Magic Millions Guineas (1400m) last month, Ninja faced a small but class field at Rosehill and proved his class. Tommy Berry raced Ninja second to Shangri La Boy before he took over at the 300m and kicked late to beat Napoleonic by one and a half lengths. Autumn Boy was a half-head third.
“The horse’s racing manners have now come of age,” Freedman said.
“If anything, that trip to Queensland has done him the world of good just mentally. He’s come back a much more sensible, much more mature horse where you can ride him wherever you want.
“I do [think he will run a mile]. He was pretty strong there at the end and he probably ran a mile at the Magic Millions Guineas. He gives me every indication he will.”
Freedman-trained Cinsault then showed superior fitness in the next, the group 2 Millie Fox Stakes, to hold off resuming $2.05 favourite Lazzura and complete a huge jump in grade.
The four-year-old Godolphin mare, coming out of benchmark 72 and 78 wins, lifted to beat Lazzura by a long head and give Schofield a treble overall and group 2 double on the day.
O’Shea blasts scratching call
Trainer John O’Shea blasted the decision of Racing NSW vets to scratch unbeaten Bev’s Nine behind the gates before race three, calling it “the greatest mismatch I’ve ever heard of in my 25 years as a trainer”.
O’Shea and co-trainer Tom Charlton fronted stewards after Bev’s Nine was declared lame in the off hind and denied a run. Stewards said in the inquiry that Bev’s Nine was seen as not having a normal gait in the parade ring but was allowed to go to the barriers, where it was then scratched.
O’Shea disagreed, saying there was “nothing wrong” with the horse, which had been checked by vets three times during the week, as was the stable’s procedure.
“To have that horse scratched behind the gates lame is the greatest mismatch I’ve ever heard of in my 25 years as a trainer,” O’Shea said.
“Where does that leave us? Do I say to the owners, this horse will not be allowed to run in NSW because the vet determines it has an abnormal gait in the walk?
“We’ve got no recourse here. So at the end of it, when the gait doesn’t change and the horse presents exactly the same next week, and then you guys allow it to run, we just go, oh well guys, sorry about that, to the owners.”
Stewards said they had a responsibility to ensure all horses were fit to run and were guided by their vet’s decades of experience.
Piggyback earns another group 1 shot
The Ciaron Maher stable was looking to the group 1 Tancred Stakes with bargain buy Piggyback after she captured a second group 3.
The five-year-old mare came wide in the straight under Dylan Gibbons to find clear running before finishing over the top of Bois D’Argent and take out the group 3 Parramatta Cup (1900m) by a short neck. She won the Colin Stephen Quality to earn a shot at the Metropolitan, where she came eighth, in the spring and another group 1 beckons.
“A race like the Tancred will probably have to be considered now,” Maher assistant Johann Gerard-Dubord said.
“She had no weight today, so it’s a bit different at weight for age, but she stays and we don’t know how much better she can be.”
Piggyback was a $27,000 online buy for Dynamic Syndications.
Thompson’s Midway star on rise
Randwick trainer John Thompson will use the group 3 Aspiration Quality (1600m) on March 7 as a lead-in to target the Epona Stakes (1900m) two weeks later for Starphistocated after her Midway Handicap (1500m) win.
The four-year-old scored a second Midway victory, using a rails run under Chad Schofield to beat Tartana by a length. Iceman was third and later lost a protest against Tartana for interference approaching the turn. Nash Rawiller was fined $300 for using the whip on Iceman nine times before the last 100m, four more than permitted.
“The Epona is the go,” Thompson said.
“They will be too sharp for her, the better mares I think, in the Aspiration.
“She’s a real 2000m horse. She won today because she’s a little too good for them.”
Parr family in thoughts of winning duo
It was a case of celebration and condolences for trainer Ron Quinton and his former apprentice, Sam Clipperton, after they combined to win with Signor Tortoni in the 1100m benchmark 78 handicap.
Signor Tortoni was strong late to surge past Polyglot and beat him by three-quarters of a length at Rosehill on Saturday. Clipperton was a replacement for Josh Parr, who missed the meeting while mourning the death of his father, Stephen, a former jockey.
The win came a day before Quinton’s 77th birthday and was the first for the trainer and Clipperton together since the rider came out of retirement in December.
“It’s nice to have Sam on a winner,” Quinton said.
“It’s the first ride I’ve given him since he’s come back, so he had to do his apprenticeship again.
“My sympathy goes out to the Parr family. I knew Stephen pretty well and I use Josh quite a lot as a rider.”
Clipperton also offered his condolences to the Parr family after the win, and jockeys wore black armbands on the day.
