Swayzee’s dominant win the Victoria Cup, Coastal Babe’s winning debut in Aussie, and Keayang Zahara’s ninth victory on the bounce all feature in today’s Aussie News.
By Adam Hamilton
Mighty stayer Swayzee rekindled memories of last year’s powerhouse New Zealand Cup win when he added last night’s $300,000 Group 1 Victoria Cup to his growing CV.
Just as he did at Addington 11 months ago, Swayzee simply ran his rivals ragged last night.
And that’s despite doing a power of early work from a back row draw to circle the field then fight to get the lead from main danger, Mach Dan.
Despite a scorching 43.2sec lead time and then 27.9sec opening quarter, driver Cam Hart just let Swayzee keep rolling in front.
“He’s a beast doing that, he loves just rolling them along when he’s out in front,” Hart said.
“I knew he’d done plenty, but he’s done it before and kept going. Even on the home bend, he still felt strong.”
Swayzee held on to beat the improving Curly James by four metres to give trainer Jason Grimson the quinella. Mach Dan fought on bravely for third.
The 1min51.8sec mile rate was just 0.4sec outside Lochinvar Art’s track record.
Grimson said he had no qualms about opting to bypass the NZ Cup defence next month with Swayzee.
“No, it’s a big trip and the travel and race itself took plenty out of him last year. I couldn’t ask him to do it again,” he said.
“He’s got this (Carnival of) Cups series in NSW. He heads back home for the second leg of that now, which is around the same time as the NZ Cup.”
Swayzee won the first of the five races in the Carnival of Cups series at Parkes two weeks ago and stands to pocket connections a $1 million bonus if he can win all five.
Grimson is still looking to tackle the NZ Cup next month with Major Moth appearing his best chance.
The recent Kilmore Cup winner finish a solid fifth in the Victoria Cup after losing momentum at a crucial stage and closing well late.
In contrast, another of his NZ Cup contenders District Attorney worked hard early, but tired badly to finish last.
Auckland Cup winner Better Eclipse looked to go just fairly back in seventh spot, beaten almost 20m.
The other disappointment was eight-time Group 1 winner Catch A Wave, who ran eighth and is likely to have a break and be set for races early in the new year.
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A daring Victoria Oaks raid returned the perfect result with classy Kiwi filly Coastal Babe.
As daunting as it can be to tackle the might of the Emma Stewart and Clayton Tonkin stable in Victoria’s juvenile features, Steven Reid and Coastal Babe’s connections chose to just that and rewarded with wins in the heat and last night’s $150,000 Group 1 feature.
But the connection still runs deep with Stewart and Tonkin, given Coastal Babe is raced by some of their best and most loyal clients in Summit Bloodstock and Reid opted to base the filly in Victoria’s most dominant barn during her three weeks or so in Victoria.
Coastal Babe, who won five of 12 NZ runs before crossing the ditch, looked a logical Aussie raider given her abundance of a gate speed.
And that’s just how it turned out, leading throughout to win her Oaks and the final.
Many thought slick former Kiwi and now Queensland-based filly Aardie B Miki could cross Coastal Babe at the start, but she never looked likely and then Victorian stand-in driver James Herbertson dictated terms in front.
Coastal Babe ripped home in 54.6 and 26.5sec to beat former Kiwi filly Kiss, who is also raced by Summit and trained by Stewart, by two metres.
The first five across the line were trained from Stewart’s property near Ballarat. Showsomejoy ran third, Vague Beauty fourth and Eureka Jo was fifth.
It was Herbertson’s sixth Group 1 win and one of his most important yet.
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Champion Aussie trotter Just Believe showed he was primed for another New Zealand raid with a narrow but fantastic Group 1 win at Melton last night.
The rising nine-year-old posted the ninth Group 1 win of his stellar career when he sat parked and nabbed a gallant leader, OIlivici, to win the $75,000 Bill Collins Trotters’ Sprint (1720m).
Just Believe posted a brilliant 1min54.1sec mile rate for 1720m, just one second outside Tornado Valley’s track record.
“That was a big win tonight, especially with five weeks between runs,” driver Greg Sugars said.
“I was a little bit concerned when Ollivici gave a good kick at the top of the straight, but I knew he (Just Believe) would rally. He always does, but we had to really earn it.”
Just Believe won by 1.4m to make it 36 career wins from 80 starts and edged close to $1.7 mil in career earnings.
He looked every bit a dominant favourite for the $400,000 Group 1 Dominion Trot at Addington on November 12.
In contrast, star French import Callmethebreeze finished last after a tough run and then galloping in the closing stages.
“He just wasn’t trotting well tonight for some reason,” driver Kate Gath said. “It actually wasn’t that he was getting tired, more that he was trotting well at all. We’ll need to get him home and work out what caused that.”
Earlier, a brilliant Greg Sugars drive helped former Kiwi mare Rakero Rebel land the biggest win of her career.
Sugars saw daylight at just the right time from three pegs and flashed home to gun down leader and favourite Aardies Express in the $150,000 Group 1 Queen of the Pacific (2760m).
It was deserved given Rakero Rebel’s fantastic record since coming to Australia and the fact she ran second to retired champion Ladies In Red in last year’s Queen of the Pacific.
Trainer Jess Tubbs said the win was up with her most satisfying.
“She’s a real favourite of ours, she deserves this one,” she said.
Rakero Rebel’s win was her 12th from 43 starts with another 18 placings and she’s now banked $326,485.
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The “freak show” heads to New Zealand next.
Freak is a fair way to describe three-year-old trotting filly Keayang Zahara, who stretched her unbeaten record to nine races when she toyed with het rivals in last night’s $75,000 Group 1 Victoria Trotters’ Oaks (2240m) at Melton.
It was the fourth Group 1 win for the daughter of Volstead.
Driver Jason Lee worked Keayang Zahara to the front from gate four, cruised through a 63.2sec first half and then blasted home in 55.2 and 26.6sec.
“She’s just something else,” Lee said.
Keayang Zahara is booked on a November 3 flight to Auckland and will then head down to Christchurch as the headline act of the inaugural $500,000 The Ascent at Addington on November 12.
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Former Kiwi pacer Mister Smartee grabbed a stranglehold on favouritism for WA’s most prestigious race with a dominant Gloucester Park win last Friday night.
The four-year-old is in to $2.50 prepost favourite to give champion trainer Gary Hall Sr a staggering 13th win in the $450,000 Group 1 WA Pacing Cup on November 8.
Mister Smartee, a four-year-old son of Always B Miki, made it 12 wins from just 14 starts when driver Gary Hall Jr took him the front from gate two and dominated last Friday night’s $100,000 Group 2 James Brennan free-for-all (2536m).
With WA’s other young star Never Ending stranded in Victoria and Catch A Wave struggling to get a flight to Perth, Mister Smartee beat most of his key WA Cup rivals last Friday night.
On the same card, Team Bond’s Kiwi-bred three-year-old Golden Lode raced into Group 1 WA Derby contention when he beat another young star, Alta Tribute, in a thrilling clash.
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Champion trainer Emma Stewart totally dominated the Group 1 Victoria Derby when Best Deal led home the first four runners in the class for her.
It took a blistering turn of speed along the sprint lane by Best Deal in a 25.9sec closing quarter to snatch a nose win over gallant stablemate Some American with Miki To Success third and Bay Of Biscay fourth.
It was Stewart’s fourth Victoria Derby win with partner Clayton Tonkin. The others were Petracca (last year), Act Now (2021) and Our Little General (2017).
Stewart had seven of the 12 Derby runners last night and also nabbed sixth (Kingman) and seventh (Stormryder).
But it was a first Victoria Derby win for Stewart’s stable driver, Mark Pitt.
“I was fortunate enough to drive the best horse in the race and get the best run, but he still has to really sprint quickly in a race where the pace was controlled,” Pitt said.
