Bold showing expected from classy Gallant Boy at Wingatui today
MOTORSPORT
GALLANT Boy gets an airing today after a long period in the paddock.
The 10yrold gelding will line up in the open handicap at Wingatui at the Melbourne Cup meeting on the course.
Gallant Boy, the winner of 13 races, won the same event a year ago but has not raced since late February when he won an open handicap, also at Wingatui.
Shane Anderton, who trains at Wingatui in partnership with his father Brian, said Gallant Boy was set for some autumn racing but Covid19 hit and there was simply no option but to turn him out and wait.
He was looking at putting him in the Canterbury Gold Cup before lockdown but it went the way of so many things and was canned, which pushed Gallant Boy into a spell.
Anderton said the horse was as good as the team could get him without actually racing.
Gallant Boy had a couple of encouraging trials and Anderton was happy enough with how he was going.
At the veteran stage, Gallant Boy would just keep racing in the foreseeable future and there was a possible start for him at the White Robe Lodge champions day in February.
‘‘He seems happy in his work and he has done everything I have asked of him.
‘‘We had him lined up for a pretty busy autumn but it didn’t eventuate so there is now no use getting him out there too early,’’ Anderton said.
Gallant Boy will start from gate 4 and is the top weight in what should be a competitive race. Apprentice Rahul Beeharry is on board which will be an advantage.
Also in with a chance is
Killarney, an 8yrold gelding trained by John and Karen Parsons at Balcairn.
He finished fourth in his last start at Ashburton on August 18 and appears to be running into some form.
Anderton said it was good to be back racing and he had about a dozen horses lining up today. The new programme was coming on stream and horses were back in work.
The track today should have a bit of give in it which should suit most horses, he said
Anderton fancied the chances of his charge Swampman in the opening maiden race today. The 5yrold gelding has raced twice for a second and third and may be about to break out of maiden ranks.
High cloud and fine weather is forecast today.
LONDON: Sixtimes world champion Lewis Hamilton said yesterday there were no guarantees he would be in Formula One next season.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff recognised that was a possibility but told reporters separately he expected the Briton to stay with a team that has now won a record seven successive constructors’ and drivers’ titles.
‘‘I don’t even know if I’m going to be here next year,’’ Hamilton, winner of a record 93 races and set for his own seventh title, said in response to a question about Wolff’s future.
Wolff, a shareholder in the team, has spoken of the succession at the top and wanting to hand over the reins.
Hamilton (35) is out of contract at the end of the year and has yet to put pen to paper on a new deal, although he is expected to do so.
Pressed on his comment, Hamilton — who won yesterday’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in Italy and has only teammate Valtteri Bottas remaining as a title rival — continued: ‘‘I feel great and still very strong . . . but you mentioned about Toto and shelflife and there’s multiple things that do stay on the top of my mind.
‘‘I would like to be here next year but there’s no guarantee of that, for sure.’’
Asked in a separate video briefing about Hamilton’s comments, Wolff attributed them to the heat and emotion of the moment.
He did not think Hamilton was about to leave.
‘‘I hope it’s not going to happen. I think we're going to have a pretty frantic driver market out there [if it does],’’ he added.
Nico Rosberg, Hamilton’s former teammate, stunned Mercedes when he announced his retirement days after winning the 2016 world championship.
‘‘I think nothing is ever secure,’’ Wolff said.
‘‘Like Niki Lauda in the ’70s, he could wake up one morning on a Friday or Saturday morning at the track and just say I'm not having fun any more.
‘‘I think that can happen to anybody but we want to continue this journey.’’