By Adam Hamilton
Another win from Grand Circuit star Spirit Of St Louis headlined a big night for Team McCarthy across two states last night.
Spirit Of St Louis narrowly but very impressively won the 2300m free-for-all at Menangle for driver Jack Callaghan to signal he would be a major player when he heads to Albion Park for the Group 1 double
– Sunshine Sprint and Blacks A Fake – in coming weeks.
It took a brilliant Callaghan drive to land the one-one and all of Spirit Of St Louis’ class to grab leader My Ultimate Ronnie and stave-off stalker Taipo to win by a head In a brisk 1min53.8sec mile
rate, capped by closing splits of 54 flat and 26.5sec.
Team McCarthy is already in Queensland strutting its stuff and snared a double with former Kiwi pair Cantfindabettorman and Fairy Tinkerbell at Albion Park last night.
If there is any danger to local superstar Leap To Fame in next week’s $350,000 Group 1 Rising Sun, it looks to be Cantfindabettorman, who did run third in the Chariots Of Fire in February,
The son of Sweet Lou was mesmerizing coming from off the speed in brilliant time to easily beat some quality rivals in a 1min51.6sec mile rate for 1660m last night.
If he draws better than Leap To Fame next week, that win last night should give Luke McCarthy the confidence to try and post the local and make a real race of it.
Veteran mare Fairy Tinkerbell led throughout and just did enough to beat local Uptown Girl in the Queen Of Hearts for mares’ last night.
Also at Albion Park, classy local Speak The Truth booked his spot in the Rising Sun but digging deep after sitting parked to win the inaugural $53,040 Queensland Sun (2138m) for trainer Shannon Price and
driver Adam Sanderson.
The four-year-old has been sparingly raced with 10 wins from just 17 starts and continues to improve, but it will be a huge step-up against Leap To Fame next week.
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Top Kiwi trainer Cran Dalgety will have one eye on the QueenslandConstellations in coming weeks.
Dalgety part-owns classy filly Joyful, who will be part of a team Emma Stewart and Clayton Tonkin are taking north.
Joyful, winner of the Group 1 Vicbred 2YO final last season, returned from a spell with an easy win at Maryborough last Friday and is aiming for the Queensland Oaks.
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Former WA Pacing Cup winner Mighty Conqueror is one of many happy WA’s best pacer Magnificent Storm has headed to Queensland.
Mighty Conqueror posted his 22nd career win from just 62 starts when he led throughout to beat stablemate Patronus Star in the free-for-all at Gloucester Park last Friday night.
It edged his earnings close to $700,000.
Another of Team Bond’s open-class players Himself led throughout to narrowly won again in race eight on the card. Both he and Mighty Conqueror were driven by Deni Roberts.
Meanwhile, Magnificent Storm has settled well since being flown fromPerth to Brisbane late last week and will open his Albion Park campaign in the Mr Feelgood Pace next Saturday night.
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Emerging Kiwi trotter Hot To Trot kick-started his Brisbane raid with an emphatic Albion Park win last Friday night.
Mark Jones’ four-year-old was driven by Jack Trainor and came from just off the pace to win in good style.
It was a lovely warm-up for his main target, the inaugural $150,000 Group 1 Great Square at Albion Park next Saturday night.
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Track record holder Blacksadance showed his love for the 1660m sprint trip at Albion Park with victory in last night’s Wondais Mate Open Pace at Albion Park.
Trained by Chantal Turpin and driven by Pete McMullen, the five-year-old sat behind the speedy and classy Turn It Up and used the sprint lane to snatch victory by a head over that pacer with recent
Kiwi import Hit And Treacherous a huge and close-up third after sitting parked.
The 1min51.6sec mile rate was well outside Blacksdance’s 1min49.2sec track record, but they did rip home in 55.1 and 27.4sec.
Inter Dominion winner I Cast No Shadow continued to build this campaign and ran a solid fourth, while the enigmatic Bondi Lockdown was alongside him in fifth spot.
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Queensland awaits proven topliner Mach Dan after his sparkling first-up win at Melton last night.
First-up since tiring after a tough run in the Miracle Mile, the dual Newcastle Mile winner was speared to the front by driven Mark Pitt and never looked in danger.
The six-year-old son of Mach Three dictated terms and blasted home in 54.3 and 25.7sec to score by 1.3m over classy stablemates Amore Vita and Like A Wildfire.
There was lots to like about Amore Vita’s first-up run after trailing the leader and getting within 1.3m of Mach Dan on that blistering final quarter.
She is also Queensland-bound with the Group 1 Golden Girl the major target.
Stablemate Tempting Tigress easily won the eight race at Melton and will also head to Queensland for the Oaks.
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Popular NSW trainer Lizzie Heath enjoyed one of her better nights atMenangle with a double last night.
Heath won with recent stable addition, the talented former Kiwi trotting mare Funky Monkey, who showed a return to something like her best with a dominant win in the final event.
Earlier, she teamed with young driver Jack Brown and Kiwi import Port Au Prince for an easy all-the-way win in a 1min53.5sec mile.
