By Jonny Turner
It’s not just the advantage of horsepower Jonny Cox hopes to have on his side when he pulls on the powerful Purdon colours at Winton on Thursday.
Cox will head to his hometown’s bumper cup meeting amid a whirlwind month in which he’s already tasted Group race success.
The reinsman will link up with the Mark and Nathan Purdon-trained Secret Wish, who was downed by stablemate Alecto, whom Cox drove to win the recent Group 3 Leonard Memorial at Addington.
While Secret Wish was firmly in Cox’s rearview mirror all the way up the straight, he still saw merit in the filly’s run.
“She was the favourite and did get beaten, but I think it was more that the winner really stepped up that day.”
“Secret Wish worked a bit early, there were a couple that had a crack for the lead.”
“She still ran pretty well, it was just the winner was too good for her on the day.”
While having the talent in front of him is clearly an advantage, Cox thinks race fitness is the crucial factor Secret Wish brings to Thursday’s Group 2 Entain Two-Year-old Fillies Southern Classic.
With a gritty win in between two second placings in just three starts, the filly is set to start favourite in just the second edition of the juvenile feature.
“She’s had the three runs now and it should be an asset to her,” Cox said.
“Talking to the team, those runs have brought her on so she’s got that race fitness under her belt.”
“Hopefully it will be to her advantage on Thursday.”
With just six horses, the Two-Year-old Fillies Southern Classic looks like a much more straightforward tactical race for Cox than Thursday’s final Southern Supremacy Stakes heat.
Cox links up with the unbeaten Crunch Time, who must overcome barrier 12 over a mile.
The three-year-old heads south after impressing in his two starts for two wins for trainers Hayden and Amanda Cullen.
“It is definitely a niggly enough draw over the mile, but he has been reasonably impressive in his two wins.”
“Hopefully there is a bit of pace on or we can work into it at some stage because he looks right up to it if he doesn’t get too far out of his ground.”
Treacherous Dreams looks another key chance for Cox on Winton Cup Day.
The two-year-old has drawn barrier 1 in the Murray Gray Memorial, inside star triallist Patriarch (2).
Patriarch led and ran smart times to win at the Ashburton trials recently, setting the possibility that Treacherous Dreams could be stalking him throughout.
Cox has landed the catch drive behind Louies Girl in another of Thursday’s features, the Vetsouth Equine Southern Belle Final.
The mare looks a top-four threat, as does Tosana in the final heat of the Nevele R Stud–Macca Lodge Southern Oaks heat.
Harness racing journalist Jonny Turner takes us through five of those horses who look primed for their Winton assignments.
Double Jeopardy – The advantage of starting from the front line is the key factor this Canterbury raider can use to make his rivals pay in the Winton Cup. At first glance, Double Jeopardy only comes into the race off the back of a regulation victory over much easier opposition at Ascot Park. But it is that low rating that has him placed ahead of his main rivals, who face 10m and 20m handicaps. Two starts back, when fresh-up and in need of a race, Double Jeopardy ran an excellent second behind one of those main rivals, Betterthancash. With the excellent manners he’s shown in his short standing start career so far, look for Double Jeopardy to put an early buffer between himself and the key Winton Cup chances. If that’s the case, it could be a head start they are unable to overcome.
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Utah Jazz – Powerful is the only way to describe this classy filly’s last-start victory at Winton. Utah Jazz had trialled like a smart type in the making before scoring a debut victory at Ascot Park last month. While win number one was solid enough, the three-year-old showed her real quality when overpowering her older rivals with ease at Winton last week. Drawing barrier 7 over a mile in a smart field under preferential conditions means Thursday’s final Southern Oaks heat won’t be any picnic for Utah Jazz. But with the quality of the lineup and Southern Oaks Final spots on the line, there should be enough pace to make the race a true test. If that’s the case, expect Utah Jazz to rise to the top.
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Julie Jaccka – Unleashing a powerful closing 400m to win at Winton last week showed Julie Jaccka is peaking at the right time as Southland’s feature meetings approach. Though she was coming off a slow speed, the mare zipped home in 27.8sec to score. Of all the races at Winton last week, including the pacing events, only one final quarter was faster. Crucially to her chances this week, that victory was penalty-free, meaning no extra handicap this week. That places Julie Jaccka on 10m — 10m ahead of big danger Jimmy Carter and on level marks with other key chances in Rush and Samanthas Moon. With another smart beginning and her sharp turn of foot, Julie Jaccka looks a big chance of putting herself within striking position from her workable handicap.
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Ruby Roe – It is hard to make a strong case for Ruby Roe’s demise following her breakthrough Group 2 win in her last outing at Wyndham. While it wasn’t surprising that the mare won, the way she went about it certainly was. Known for her speed, the mare’s stamina carried her to victory in smart time when she worked three wide in the open for the second half of the race. From a better draw against a similar line-up of mares, it only makes sense that Ruby Roe should prove hard to stop again on Thursday. The one factor against her is that her two main threats, Seaside Rose and Sweet Diamond, are both drawn inside her. But that’s nothing unusual given the wide draws Ruby Roe has faced recently.
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Classee – She has one win from 21 starts and is competing on one of Southland’s premier race days. But most importantly, Classee is in the right grade to be extremely competitive. The key form reference for this mare is that she was very unlucky behind the very smart Utah Jazz in her last start. If she had seen clear air, she could well have featured. On Thursday, the mare steps sharply back in class, which should make her pretty hard to beat. Her last run showed she’s right back to feeling her best, so even from her wide draw, she rates very highly.
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