Simon says Oaks is next
HARTNELL READY
PREMIER trainer Scott Brunton has set lightly raced gelding Sir Simon a tough task by aiming him at the greys race at Flemington on Oaks Day next month.
Sir Simon scored a narrow but convincing win in a trial over 1400m at Longford yesterday in which he defeated trial leader Secret Gold by a long neck.
With Siggy Carr aboard, Sir Simon raced outside of Secret Gold for the last half of the trial, but when the rider called on the grey to extend he put the leader to the sword and forged clear close to home to win narrowly but not fully extended.
“That was the effort I was expecting from the horse, so we’ll push on to a benchmark race in Launceston in a fortnight and then head to Melbourne for the greys race [Subzero Handicap] on Oaks Day at Flemington,” Brunton said.
“It would be a nice race for this horse because he possesses so much untapped ability and he has matured into a really good galloper.”
The secret will be getting the horse into the Subzero Handicap because it is a benchmark 90 race.
Sir Simon has a rating of 68 JAMES Cummings said he had little hesitation backing up veteran topliner Hartnell in tomorrow’s Turnbull Stakes, just six days after finishing fourth in the Underwood Stakes.
Cummings said starting the nine-year-old gelding so soon had always been on the radar.
“After his run in the Underwood, we’ve given careful thought to running,” he said.
“He knows his way around Flemington so well, he speaks for himself, really.
“If there was any doubt at all about him backing up, we wouldn’t be asking him to run.”
Cummings said Hartnell had not been suited by the lack of speed in the Underwood.
“The Underwood was a race that was devoid of pace and pressure and he didn’t have a hard run,” he said.
“He finished it off well over the last half-mile, suggesting he was ready for a bit more ground.”
Hartnell won the Turnbull Stakes in 2016 and finished sixth in 2015. The only horse still running from the 2015 field is Volstok’n’barrell — and he has spent considerable time in Singapore and on the sidelines. and would probably need to win a benchmark 74 in Launceston and have the handicapper raise his rating to at least that level to be a rough chance of sneaking into the Flemington race.
Carr also partnered the Brunton-trained Galenus to victory over 700m in a 3 & 4YO trial, but she suffered a hand injury when she parted company with Street Tough in an open trial.
Street Tough reared in the barriers as the gates opened and when he hit the turf Carr’s feet were freed from the irons and she fall sideways.
She was quickly attended to by ambulance officers and she was subsequently taken to the Launceston General Hospital for X-rays on her right thumb that was thought to be broken.
But luckily there were no broken bones and she was content with the sprain diagnosis.
“It’s painful but it could have been a lot worse,” Carr said. Talented sprinter Gee Gee Lanett trialled well, scoring a narrow win over Apriano with the John Blacker-trained Blaze Forth an eye-catching third a length adrift.
Hall of Fame trainer Bill Ryan is looking forward to his unraced filly Take the Sit making her debut in a fortnight. Take the Sit scored an impressive trial win yesterday, her third consecutive success at the trials.
The daughter of Tough Speed is from Tula which won five and placed six times from only 16 starts for Longford trainer John Blacker.