Trainer’s late call pays big dividend
NEW Zealand trainer Tony Pike’s last-minute decision to run The Bostonian in the Group One Kingsford Smith Cup proved a $420,000 bonus when the gelding scored an impressive win.
The Bostonian ($10) completed the Cup-Doomben 10,000 double when he beat Princess Posh ($151) by three quarters of a length with a short neck to Trekking ($5.50) in third.
He becomes the fifth horse to complete to Kingsford Smith Cup-Doomben 10,000 double although the first to do it in reverse order.
After The Bostonian won the Group One Doomben 10,000 two weeks ago, Pike had originally planned to not start the gelding again until the Group One Stradbroke Handicap on June 8.
Pike stayed in Australia after last week’s Doomben Cup meeting to watch The Bostonian work on Tuesday.
“His work was so good we decided to run him in the Kingsford Smith. After all it is a Group One race with $700,000 up for grabs and we have got the lion’s share at $420,000 first prize,” Pike said.
He said The Bostonian would now head to the Stradbroke and he hoped he would not get too big a penalty.
“I hope they are kind to us NATHAN Buckley briefly mixed Jordan Roughead up with his cousin Jarryd, but there was no mistaking the Collingwood coach’s delight at “Roughy’s” excellent lockdown of Sydney superstar Lance Franklin.
Collingwood consolidated and we only get an extra kilo or so,” Pike said. It is expected The Bostonian will get somewhere around 58kg. The win continued the outstanding form of The Bostonian in Queensland as he has now won all five of his starts.
“The Bostonian really seems to blossom up. David (owner Archer) and I have always intended to come back here this winter. A win in the Stradbroke would be the cream,” Pike said.
Winning jockey Michael Cahill also continued his wonderful winter because he has ridden more than 20 winners in the past month.
The Bostonian’s win was his third for the day after he won the Grand Prix on Fun Fact and the Premier’s Cup on The Candy Man.
Cahill went to New Zealand earlier this year to ride The Bostonian to cement his relationship with Pike.
“That was a gun ride from Michael. In fact all his rides on The Bostonian were outstanding,” Pike added.
Cahill said he had a lovely run coming to the turn. “It was just a matter of getting a run in the straight and it came quickly,” he said.
The beaten jockeys had few excuses but Larry Cassidy, who rode Princess Posh, said coming to the home turn he felt she would be hard to beat but just failed. second spot on the AFL ladder at the SCG on Friday, with a gritty seven-point victory, their seventh straight win.
Roughead spent most of the clash on Franklin (both pictured), limiting him to six touches and two goals, the first coming early in the game, which was Franklin’s first in five weeks after recovering from a hamstring injury.
Late in the game, he was switched on to a red-hot Sam Reid, who kicked an equal career best six goals, giving his original opponent Jeremy Howe a torrid night.
With Tom Langdon and Darcy Moore among Collingwood’s list of injured players, Bulldogs 2016 premiership winner Roughead is proving to be a key defender.
“I thought Jarryd Roughead was ... Jordan Roughead ... it was only a matter of time, (before that happened),” Buckley joked after quickly correcting his error.
“Roughy was really good. His job on Buddy initially and then to Sam Reid. He’s just been first class, the jobs he keeps doing, and keeps standing up so defensively.”