Haussmann too tough in Stakes
THE runners in the Listed Great Northern Foal Stakes were battling through mud at Ellerslie on Saturday.
Talented gelding Haussmann showed the necessary resilience to win the Listed race but the 1400m slog took the Tony Piketrained son of Pour Moi a pedestrian 1:35.47 to complete.
The Cambridge trainer knows he’s got a classy horse on his hands but the testing Heavy 11 conditions had him worried prerace.
‘‘Fourteen hundred metres on top of the ground would be ideal,’’ Pike said as he queried the horse’s ability to handle the prevailing conditions.
But jockey Vinnie Colgan got the sometimes eager youngster to settle kindly before asking the strapping galloper for his best.
He responded like a good one to reel in the flying pacemaker So Far So Kool and was strong to the line beating the pacemaker by half a-length with a neck to Ohceedee in third.
‘‘He didn’t try and over-race which was a positive,’’ Pike said. ‘‘He wasn’t liking it [the ground] much up the straight.
‘‘It was good genuine win and points to him being a useful 3-year-old next season.’’
Haussmann was passed in for $35,000 as a Karaka yearling before his purchase by his current owners who include Mark Wyborn and Robin Peel-Walker.
There passion for chasing Derby glory has been well documented and they have another likely candidate for the classic.
They raced Queensland Oaks winner Provocative from the Pike stable.
Megablast booked his passage to Australia with a resounding win in the Open 1600 giving jockey Michael Coleman one of the easiest of his 1998 career wins.
‘‘He was jogging all the way,’’ he said as he closes in on 2000 wins. ‘‘It will be nice to get it out of the way - we’re sneaking up on it.
‘‘I won my 1000th here 14 years ago - so hopefully I might get it done today.’’
That didn’t happen but it gives the popular Matamata jockey the opportunity to achieve the milestone on his home track on Wednesday.
Trainer Nigel Tiley described Megablast’s win as ‘‘a nice hit-out before he gets on the plane’’.
‘‘We’re going to take him to Melbourne. The idea is to see how he settles in and give him a couple of runs in June as the owners are keen to campaign him over there again in the spring,’’ Tiley said. TRISH DUNELL
Megablast makes his Victorian debut over 2050m at Moonee Valley on June 17.
‘‘All going well, he’ll kick off there and then we plan to back him up a week later over 2500 metres at Flemington,’’ Tiley said.
‘‘He’s a versatile horse and while some of his best winning form has been on wet tracks, I think that’s because he was just that much better than the others. He doesn’t mind better ground.’’
He will spell on his return from Victoria before being prepared for spring racing.
Close Up kept the Shelley Hale and Grant Cooksley run going with his win in the Open 1200. The trainer-jockey combination has been racking up the wins recently and Hale hopes the roll continues into the Opunake Cup on July.
Also racking up the wins was jockey Matthew Cameron who rode three winners, Break My Stride, Chambon and Tomelilla for the Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman stable.
Tomelilla had to survive a protest. ROBERT Heathcote had the last laugh after Kaiser Franz scored an upset win in the Group Three Premier’s Cup at Eagle Farm yesterday.
Kaiser Franz started one of the least fancied runners in the Cup, going to the barriers a $61 chance before overwhelming his rivals in to win by half a length.
‘‘I copped a bit of flak from the owners for running him and I noticed he was big odds before the jump but I had a really sneaky feeling that he’d love this track,’’ Heathcote said.
‘‘He’s run second last, gone at the 600 (metres) last start, but I liked his run the start before that on this track.
‘‘Today was his big test and maybe it’s pie in the sky to run him in the Brisbane Cup but the extra 200 metres next time will suit him.’’
Heathcote said he was prepared to forgive the gelding’s poor showing in the Chairman’s Handicap at Doomben on May 13.
‘‘I knew coming into this meeting that horses that have raced well on this track in the past would be those that would handle the going best,’’ he said.
‘‘He’s beaten some good horses today and it was a lovely ride from Robbie Fradd.’’
Jockey Jeff Lloyd was happy with the effort of runner-up Zambezi Warrior ($8.50) while Tegan Harrison believes fourth placegetter Benzini is on track to repeat last year’s Brisbane Cup win.
‘‘That run will top him off nicely for the Cup in a fortnight,’’ Harrison said.
Meanwhile, a tearful Brian Smith has a warning for his rivals after the trainer turned back the clock 41 years to win his second Grand Prix Stakes (2200m) at Eagle Farm.
Order Again hit the lead at the 300m and held on to beat Volatile Mix by a nose, with 1-3/4 lengths to Violate in third place.
Smith won the Grand Prix in 1976 with Balmerino but declined to tackle the Queensland Derby with him and instead won that year’s Brisbane Cup.
But it will be a different tale this time, with Order Again headed to the Derby on June 10, where he will try to become the 14th horse to win the Grand PrixDerby double.
‘‘I have tears in my eyes not because I amcrying but because they are tears of relief. I have had my problems with this horse but I have never lost confidence in him,’’ Smith said.
‘ It was good genuine win and points to him being a useful 3-year-old next season.’ CAMBRIDGE TRAINER TONY PIKE.