Craig Kerry
Warwick Farm trainer Bjorn Baker and Darby Racing were looking to Big Dance qualifiers with Midnight Dynamite after he gave the combination back-to-back wins in the listed Winter Challenge (1500m) at Rosehill on Saturday.
A $3.20 favourite on the heavy 9 track, Midnight Dynamite dominated the feature race, coasting to the lead at the 300m mark under Tommy Berry before sprinting clear for a three-length victory over Just Folk. It was a similar performance to the four-year-old’s Civic Stakes (1400m) win two starts earlier, before he finished third from back in the field in the Winter Stakes (1400m).
A $48,000 buy by Darby Racing, Midnight Dynamite has now earned $735,225 with nine wins and seven placings across 22 starts. Darby and Baker combined to win the race last year with Robusto.
Baker assistant trainer Luke Hilton said Big Dance qualifier the Coffs Harbour Cup on August 7 was next on the agenda for Midnight Dynamite, which has four wins in six starts this campaign. Top jockey James McDonald won on Midnight Dynamite over 1350m at Doomben in May and said then he believed the Pierata gelding could shine over a mile.
“We’d like to get him into the Big Dance, if he can run a mile, which on that, it looks like he might,” Hilton said.
“James said after Queensland that he think he’s a miler and he also said at the time he was a lightweight Stradbroke horse, which might have been a big rap at the time, but he might not be far wrong when we’re finished.”
Waller eyes stakes races for green prospect
Master trainer Chris Waller will weigh up testing Joint Venture in spring features after the $625,000 colt easily claimed the 1200m two-year-old handicap at Rosehill.
A son of I Am Invincible and Snitzel mare Nomothaj, Joint Venture was third at Wyong on debut and overcame a slow start and a wayward run on Saturday to beat Gatineau by three-quarters of a length.
Waller said his team would focus on improving Joint Venture’s race craft in the coming weeks and he was unsure of a next target.
“It’s a fine line,” Waller said.
“Do you think about the better three-year-old races or do you bypass them completely? You can take on the better three-year-olds with a bit of fitness and you can be competitive, so we’d be pushing on, I would say.”
Le Troisir later gave Waller a double with a grinding effort to claim the 2400m benchmark 78 handicap over stablemates Masoun and Golden Century. It was a third win in 15 starts and first in Saturday city grade for the four-year-old. It was part of a double for jockey Zac Lloyd, who went to 75 NSW city successes for the season, second only to McDonald (88).
The victories pushed Waller, heading to his 16th consecutive Sydney premiership, to 179 NSW city wins for the season, just 10 short of his record season haul of 189 in 2017-18 with four meetings remaining. Next best on the premiership is the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott team (66), who did not have a runner at Rosehill on Saturday.
Dunn sees lofty targets for filly
Top country trainer Matt Dunn tried to stop himself from mentioning the $2 million Kosciuszko as a target for promising filly Sword Of Legacy, but he is sure there is stakes-level success in her future after she won impressively at Rosehill.
A $2.25 favourite in the fillies and mares 1200m benchmark 78, the three-year-old came with a well-timed run under Nash Rawiller to beat Jellicious by a short neck. Dunn said owner David Moodie convinced him to give Sword Of Legacy another run after a Queensland campaign which included a luckless third in the Darby McCarthy.
Dunn wanted to now give Sword Of Legacy a four-to-six week break before chasing stakes races.
“She should have won a listed race three starts back in Brisbane, she just missed in a stakes race her first start, so I think she’s better than just an off-season Saturday horse,” Dunn said.
Asked about potential targets, he said: “I don’t want to mention that race, the Kosciuszko … let’s just give her a chance to improve, but she’s stakes grade for sure.”
Dunn won the Ramornie Handicap with Band Of Brothers, carrying the same colours, at Grafton on Wednesday and said the Kosciuszko in October was his goal.
O’Shea back a winner with star return
John O’Shea praised the work of co-trainer Tom Charlton and his team after Roselyn’s Star gave him a winner on his first day back at the races following a four-month disqualification.
O’Shea’s ban for improper conduct, from an argument with Racing NSW veterinarians in February, ended on Friday and he was successful in immediately regaining his licence. Runners returned under his and Charlton’s name on Saturday, after his junior partner had carried the load for the Randwick and Hawkesbury operation.
Group 3 winner Roselyn’s Star ($2 favourite) resumed in the 1100m handicap and cruised to a two and a quarter-length win.
“The team have done a wonderful job preparing him today,” O’Shea said
“That’s the best he’s presented in some time. He used to be a little bit nervous pre-race, but today he was really relaxed and it showed in the way he executed his race plan.”
The four-year-old is set for a light campaign before targeting the Magic Millions carnival in January.
Freedmans pull right rein to stay on a roll
A late call from co-trainer Will Freedman to keep Rolling Magic in the Midway Handicap paid dividends after he added to the Rosehill stable’s strong recent run.
Rolling Magic was an acceptor for the 1200m last race at Rosehill on Saturday before Freedman chose to resume the five-year-old in the 1300m Midway when he gained a start as fifth emergency.
It proved a winning move as Rolling Magic ($13) cruised to a two and a half-length win over Koios under apprentice Will Stanley. Freedman said the Nowra Cup winner was back with the $3 million Big Dance on November 3 in mind and the victory was “a very welcomed surprise”.
“It was a late call, I didn’t even have time to consult people,” said Freedman, who trains in partnership with his father, Richard.
“He’s in Big Dance, that’s the end goal, to try to get him in form for the Big Dance.”
The win follows back-to-back Saturday victories for stablemate Cold Brew, which was part of a Rosehill double for the team on June 27. Stanley later won on Richard Litt-trained Romeo’s Choice to land a first city double.
