Royal Randwick was the host of a staggering 21 heats of barrier trials this morning while the sun was still shining before the afternoon storms set in. With a staggering number of nominations (171) last week, some of the heats were forced onto the Polytrack which as a result saw quite a number of scratchings.
The stable saddled up 7 runners to go around who are all in varying stages of their campaigns.
Heat 2 was on open trial over 1038m for 2 year olds and we sent around promising colt BRASH SAMMY in the stable colours. Having won his first trial back in September, he was then sent back to the trials at Hawkesbury where he finished in 4th place. John decided to give him another trial this morning and after jumping with the pack, he showed good gate speed to lead the heat and kick away on the turn, winning very impressively by just under 6 lengths under the ride of apprentice Cejay Graham. Running the last 600m in 0:35.29.
Brash Sammy is now likely to head to a race this weekend either in Canberra or Newcastle.
Heat 10 was for the 2 yr old colts & geldings over the 735m and in this heat John saddled up the exciting Bullpoint colt ENCOUNTABULL. In his first trial last month, he caught the eye of a lot of people when he showed an explosive turn of foot to finish 2nd by just under two lengths. On the back of impressing the boss in his first heat, the horse was sent down to Melbourne to make his race debut on one of the biggest days in the racing calendar – Cox Plate day.
Lining up in the $500,000 Inglis Banner with top jockey James McDonald in the saddle, the youngster settled toward the rear of the field before again showing his explosive turn of foot to storm home for 4th beaten less than a length. Having impressed John, Encountabull was sent for a short spell in Melbourne before making his return to the stable earlier this month.
Again showing his blistering turn of foot this morning, Encountabull jumped well and settled on the rail in 4th position before McDonald stayed on the rail as they swung for home and ran into second. With 200m to go in the heat, the horse has dug deep and wore the leader down to win the trial by over 2 lengths. He is now on track to his next target which is the Inglis Nursery on Villiers Stakes Day (14th December) at Rosehill for $500,000 in prizemoney.
Heat 11 was another heat also for the 2 yr old colts & geldings over the 735m and this time we stepped out 2yr old Sidestep colt EASY CAMPESE (out of Up And Over) for his first outing to obtain his barrier certificate.
After jumping with the field and being at least 5 wide on the turn, the youngster named after the great David Campese, showed that he was another one to watch when he continued to go through his gears and take out the heat by a length and a half. On the back of his trial he will now head out for a short spell with John taking to the racing calendar to find a debut for the colt in the coming weeks.
Heat 19 being run over the 1080m on the polytrack was reduced to just the three runners after all the scratchings, however, 3 year old gelding HOLY SUNDAY took his place. Another that also jumped well from the gates and showed good speed throughout his trial was successful in taking the honours running the last 600m in 0:36.25 with Jay Ford in the saddle.
Holy Sunday will now also head to the races in the coming weeks once a suitable target has been identified for him.
Good Luck to all connections and staff associated with those runners that will be heading to the races shortly to commence their respective campaigns.
All video replays of the trials at Randwick can be viewed from the Racing NSW website.
