Gippsland hunk Mr. Audacious was ‘bold and beautiful’ in a heat of the Group 3 Warragul St Leger (460m) on Friday night.
Contesting his first start since June 15, the provincial ‘macho man’ registered his 11th win from 14 starts with a powerhouse exhibition.
The “not for sale at any price” flying machine clocked a smart 25.66sec in Heat 4 – and that was after blowing the start!
He displayed amazing acceleration after ‘hitting the ground’, and that was the end of the penny section.
Prepared at Kilmany (near Sale) by Rachael Busuttil, Mr. Audacious ($1.30F) made it seven wins on the spin.
The G2 Shepparton Cup finalist – which set a new 24.66sec track record winning a heat – is now poised for his first Group race win and a $25,000 first prize in next Friday’s St Leger final, for which he’s drawn box five.
Meanwhile, champion trainer Jason Thompson played the ‘usual suspect’ when recent G1 Maturity Classic finalist Plaintiff ($1.70F) landed Heat 2 in 25.70sec. It was his ninth win from 18 starts.
Plaintiff won the GRV Vic Bred Maiden on Australian Cup night and finished runner-up in both the G3 Launching Pad (winner Wow She’s Fast) and Listed Pink Diamond Rookie Short Course.
Thompson also saluted on the program with staying star Collinda Patty ($1.40F), which took out a GDR (680m) in 38.87sec.
And another training top dog, Anthony Azzopardi, secured a St Leger heats double courtesy of Deadly Class (Heat 1) and Salad Dodger (Heat 3).
Deadly Class ($7.80), which was fifth to Plaintiff in the GRV Vic Bred Maiden, set the heats time standard with a slick 25.57sec performance. It was his fourth win from seven starts.
Salad Dodger ($8.20) – a son of Whiskey Riot, which took out the 2019 G1 Melbourne Cup and 2020 G1 Temlee for Azzopardi – semaphored 25.85sec. It was his sixth win from 16 starts.
Ironically, Deadly Class and Salad Dodger toppled odds-on favourites – Ride The Thunder ($1.90) and Kelsey Bale ($1.50) respectively.
Pawnote: As expected, talented duo On The Bit ($1.40F) – 25.70sec – and Dynamic Prince ($1.50) – 25.68sec – took out their respective heat of the Simon Benson Memorial (460m).
WATCH: MR. AUDACIOUS (B8) displays dazzling dash with an unflinching return to racing.
