The lethal combination of Tim Clark and the Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott stable struck with Bases Loaded (+600) in the Group 3 Gunsynd Classic as the three-year-old colt led all the way in the 1600m contest at Eagle Farm.
Although the connections of the winner wouldn’t have been happy after drawing barrier 15, it appeared as though it worked in their favour as Clark pushed forward and crossed the field to find an uncontested lead.
The son of Deep Field ran the field along early in the race before getting a mid-race breather, which allowed him to fill up the lungs and kick away on the home turn and race away from his rivals.
Thanks to a great front-running ride by Clark, Bases Loaded didn’t give anything else a chance, with the best of the rest being Port Lockroy (+1000) and McHale (+2200), who ran on nicely from midfield to fill the placings.
The race favourite, Razors (+180), made up solid ground but it was all to no avail as the leader was hailed the winner with more than 100m to go in the race as he held an unassailable lead.
2024 Gunsynd Classic replay – Bases Loaded
Adrian Bott spoke post-race about the win of Bases Loaded after his stylish win.
“He’s a very talented horse and that is the style of racing that he likes. The mile is his pet distance and a sustained tempo which he can do,” Bott said.
“I thought he broke their hearts in the mid stages the way he got rolling and was able to be tough enough to hang on.
“(Third-up) has been the key. He’s been a talented horse right from the outset.
“The best run of his career was in a group one placing at a mile to Militarize so we’ve always been trying to get back to those conditions.
“It just took those couple of runs to really get the fitness improvement that we needed and get back to the right conditions.
“Getting him back on top of the ground today was the key.”
Tim Clark was very pleased with the win and spoke post-race about the strength of Bases Loaded’s victory.
“He came into this prep after a long layoff and he’s a big horse that has needed that couple of runs to get that fitness into him,” Clark said of the winner.
“Third-up at a mile with a good base underneath him, he was ready to go today.
“He just needed a bit of racing. He’s been running really well on rain affected ground over shorter distances, and getting up to the mile today on a dry track, he’d put his best foot forward.
“He ran through the line strongly. I couldn’t pull him up so I know that the guys up here looking after him were really pleased with him.”
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