TWO GOOD! Zahra wins back-to-back Melbourne Cups on Without a Fight as three horses pull up lame
Without a Fight completed the rare Caulfield Cup-Melbourne Cup double on Tuesday as star jockey Mark Zahra went back-to-back in the big one after…
Our Australian hopes – and we’ll include Able Friend in the mix – were disappointing at Royal Ascot over the past two days.
While Shamal Wind didn’t carry the weight of a nation quite like Able Friend, both were a bit plain.
Shamal Wind slipped out of the barriers and had it all to do, but she didn’t run home like she has shown here – but that’s racing.
Criterion was given a pass mark by his trainer, David Hayes, and my take is that he might not have stretched out on the firm track.
But all show the perils of such a trip.
Taking your horse overseas is fraught. Do you have enough time for a lead-up run? Have they settled in and adapted to the conditions? Red Cadeaux, as we know, was one that loved to travel but those types are few and far between.
Able Friend wasn’t himself on that strong mile. He sweated-up up and looked stirred up and on face value, was disappointing. But can you blame him, with the trek over there, settling in, and adjusting – it’s a very gruelling exercise. He wasn’t himself.
Take nothing away from the winner Solow though. He was super impressive; a typical European stayer, and a deserved winner on the day.
Looking ahead with Brazen Beau and Wandjina, certainly Brazen Beau must be a good chance. He’s the main one for us – if he’s settled in. He’s a good colt and even a placing will enhance his value, while a win would send it skyrocketing.
The Munce Racing team
It’s been a great week for the Munce Racing team with Wicked Intent braining them at Ipswich, and Savannah Dream won well on Wednesday too.
It’s worth noting Wicked Intent ran a time of 1min 3.18secs, which is a new class and race record, and the previous record was held by a little horse known as Buffering!
That places me just outside the top 10 for metro winners here in Queensland – we only started notching winners in January.
Wicked Intent is off to spell now as we look ahead to spring, and we have some horses coming into work. Twisted Mountain returns next week all being well to tackle some provincials and we have a couple of horses in work.
A little note to finish with – we’re a dedicated professional team here and if anyone is thinking about ownership or being involved, we’d love to have a chat and talk about the run of success we’ve had thus far. Thanks!