3 minute read
From Left Of Centre with Steve Morris
Let’s get straight into racing this week.
I felt that the 2yos were going to be the stars of the show over the weekend and that is exactly how it panned out.
GERALD WAS JUSTIFIED
The hype surrounding the Gerald Ryan-trained colt Rubick was enormous heading into his debut run on Saturday.
To say that he did not disappoint is a total understatement.
The colt jumped out and sat outside the speed, but it was at the top of the straight when Brenton Avdulla asked the question that the blue-blooded colt really impressed.
He lowered beautifully and ran an incredible 56.39sec. Purchased for $460,000 at last years Magic Millions Sales by David Raphael, Rubick is sure to attract much interest from stud farms across Australia, particularly given the circumstances surrounding the ill-fated Northern Meteor, another talented son of Encosta De Lago.
Earthquake, the filly that Rubick overtook in Blue Diamond Stakes betting, trialled well at Cranbourne on Thursday when being nosed out by the unraced Mick Priced-trained More Radiant.
The latter will bypass the Blue Diamond with the Golden Slipper being the main target.
RICH VEIN OF FORM
Rubick is certainly not the first horse to develop an enormous reputation before making their debut. One of those horses was a colt by the name of Danerich.
He made his debut as $1.55 favourite in early October 2004, after a sizzling four-and-a-half-length trial win two weeks previous.
He was touted an absolute world-beater and despite going onto a successful career on the track, he never quite delivered on the initial hype that surrounded him.
It’s taken more than nine years from the time Danerich first bounced to prominence, but he’s finally hit career best form - this time in the breeding barn.
Danerich has recently had the emergence of his most promising galloper thus far in Lord Of The Sky, but it is the sheer number of winners that has been most impressive.
In addition to this, he notched up a double at Moonee Valley on Friday night, with his best performed son Richie's Vibe claiming G2 success and 3yo Neat Feat showing them a clean pair of heels over the 955m dash to claim his first city win.
Breeders could do worse than look at this Danehill son of former gun 2yo Millrich.
Lord Of The Sky will be aiming to become Stakes winner number 5 for Danerich this Saturday at Caulfield.
It's still a little bit of calm before the storm this week with CF Orr Stakes Day next weekend. Nevertheless some very nice horses will be gracing the turf this weekend.
We see the return of some talented three year olds. Fast 'n' Rocking, Bull Point, Prince Harada, The Quarterback and Monkstone all clash in what looks to be a wide open yet intriguing Manfred Stakes.
Bull Point is the one I'm most looking forward to seeing as I feel he has enormous upside. He doesn't need to be winning this but I'd like to see an encouraging first-up run.
Laidback Larry continued his progressing in Sydney last start and is strongly favoured to make it five in a row by winning the Mornington Cup Prelude.
In the G3 Chairman's Stakes for 2yos it will be interesting to see whether race experience comes out on top with Bugatty and Nayeli best supported. Eqdaam is also well in the market whilst Tahni Dancer, a Sebring filly out of former smart sprinter Tahni Girl, has been well supported at a price.
Until next week…good luck and good racing!