Sense of Impending victory

A STRONG exhibition gallop has Godolphin’s Group 1 winning sprinter Impending ready to start his road to a stud career on a winning note at Doomben tomorrow.

Impending won the 2017 Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap (1350m) at Doomben and is on course to become only the eighth horse to win the race in consecutive years.

By top sire Lonhro out of the Group 1 winning mare Mnemosyne, will stand at Sheikh Mohammed’s Northwood Park Stud in the next breeding season.

He resumes in the Group 2 Victory Stakes (1200m) at Doomben at his first run since finishing third in the Darley Classic at Flemington in the spring.

Sydney trainer James Cummings has orchestrated Impending’s return carefully and is confident he will race well.

“Impending showed a heap of speed in his gallop at Osborne Park on Tuesday morning,” Cummings said. “After his exhibition gallop on the weekend at Randwick, he really looks set and ready to go first-up from a decent spell.

“We last saw him running beautifully against the best weight-for-age sprinters in the country in the Darley Classic at the end of the spring in Melbourne.”

Cummings had a few options for Impending’s return but elected to come north.

“I think this is a really nice introduction to his preparation which is going to hold plenty of promise for the stable with a horse like him who has a little bit left to do before he retires to the breeding barn,” he said.

Multiple Group 1 winning jockey Damian Browne will ride Impending and another Godolphin horse, Marsupial, in the three-year-old handicap.

It has been an inconsistent season for Browne who is well down the jockeys’ lists.

However, he burst back to form to win the Listed Princess Stakes on Improvise at Caloundra.