Big grey wins nailbiter
CRANBOURNE trainer Greg Eurell will send rising sprint star Urban Ruler straight to the greys race at Flemington on Oaks Day next month after a nailbiting win in the Shojun Concrete Dual Choice Plate yesterday.
The four-year-old was again impressive in his first race back from a lengthy spell and held off a fast finishing Atlantic City to take the benchmark 84 race in a photo finish.
Eurell paid tribute to his staff for managing Urban Ruler’s large ownership group, who were on hand to cheer the big grey back to the winner’s circle.
“It’s a big effort to manage so many people but the staff do a really good job,” Eurell said.
“He did a good job today and it was nice to see him stretch out to the line as he might have been getting a little bit tired, but he hung on thankfully.
“His record is starting to look quite good and I suppose the last six months he’s really started to kick on and the good thing about him is he can pop up in distance and still be very competitive, so that makes him quite versatile.”
Star hoop Damien Oliver gave Urban Ruler a stellar ride down the straight and ensured the gelding was first across the line with a strong final 50 metres.
Oliver said with a rise in distance he would be difficult to beat in the weeks ahead.
“He’s a nice horse on the way up and I thought before the race if I could just get out when I needed to, he’d be hard to beat and it worked out that way,” Oliver said.
“The runs came when I needed them to and he fought on well when he was challenged.
“He loves 1400m and I think the greys race at Flemington might be a nice race for him.”