COURT COMMAND FACES A STIFF TEST

By Graham Potter | Thursday, August 20, 2009

The Liam Birchley trained Court Command will face an acid test when he takes his place in a highly competitive line-up for the Group 2 Warwick Stakes at Randwick on Saturday.

The six-year-old entire resumed with a facile win on August 12 over 1300m at Eagle Farm, highlighting his class with an authoritative win under the steadying burden of 60.5kg. That was Court Command’s first outing since his four race Winter Carnival campaign, which included a fine win in the Group 3 BTC Sprint and a sixth placing, 4.50 lengths behind Black Piranha in the Stradbroke (in heavy going).

The Winter Carnival in fact represented Court Command’s comeback to racing. He had spent the previous year at stud and, as he steps up to attempt to further embellish his race record at this time, his first progeny are being born making it is an unusually exciting time for his connections both on the racing and the breeding front.

Court Command’s showing against the likes of Racing To Win (who won last year’s Warwick Stakes and also finished a nostril off Scenic Shot in the Doomben Cup), Vision And Power (already a multiple Group 1 winner having landed both the George Ryder and the Doncaster) and Mr Baritone (the 2008 Stradbroke winner) will have an impact on where Court Command goes next.

Birchley also has Sniplaz engaged at Randwick. The three-year-old races in the Group 3 Up and Coming Stakes over 1200m, where he will renew his rivalry with Shellscrape who beat Sniplaz home by a length in the San Domenico when both runners were last in action.

The Chris Waller trained runner is not the only one Sniplaz has to beat. The top weight Onemorenomore finished fourth in the Sires Produce (over 1400m) and won the Champagne (over 1600m). The Jason Coyle trained runner resumes here over a distance short of his best, but his level of quality and the fact he races fresh means he cannot be counted out of contention.

The Gary Portelli trained Delago Bolt is also a serious factor. Then, for good measure, throw two runners (Offhanded, who is bidding for a hat-trick, and Rarefied) from the powerful Peter Snowden stable into the mix ... add another trained by the in-form David Payne (Winter King)and complete the line-up with a debut winner from Champion’s stable (Judicial saddled by Gai Waterhouse) and you really do have a race.

STABLE FEEDBACK:
Trainer Liam Birchley: “Court Command is going good. Weight-For-Age suits him. The tempo is not as great and hopefully he can just lob along in front and control the race with any luck. Yeah, he is a good looking horse. He shows himself off alright. Damian (Browne) will be the rider.

“I think Sniplaz has improved with the run. I don’t think the track will get hard enough to worry him. He’s good in the soft ... the wetter it is the better he is. As long as it is not too hard he can act on it. Tye Angland (who rode Sniplaz last time) will be on him again.”

Damian Browne (rider of Court Command): “Yeah, it looks to be a pretty classy field, obviously a few of them resuming for the Carnival. The horse is going pretty well at the present time, so he should be right in it. He was impressive last time. It doesn’t matter what you are beating, when you do it like that, especially with that sort of weight ... and, you know, he still ran the time. Weight-For-Age again this week and, like I say, it should bring him right into it.

“He is a pretty well behaved horse. He has got a mind of his own obviously being a stallion. You have got to bend to him a little bit, but generally he is no problem.”

There are three more Queensland trained runners in action at Randwick on Saturday. They are Kiss Me Katy (who races in the Group 3 Silver Shadow Stakes over 1200m), Go Cart (who, like Court Command, is in the Group 2 Warwick Stakes) and the Eden Petrie trained Albert The Fat (who contests a Listed Quality over 1200m).

STABLE FEEDBACK:
Steven O’dea (trainer of Kiss Me Katy and Go Cart): “Look, they’ve both come through their last runs really well, especially the filly (Kiss Me Katy). She’s improved from having that first-up run. Her work was very good on Tuesday. She worked with Go Cart and it was improved work ... well, it was probably the best work she has done this prep.

“She is going to have to improve a lot against those better fillies. She is going to have to be at the top of her game to compete against them, but, look, I’m very happy with her going into the race.

The other one (Go Cart), he’s just sort of going into the race ... there are not a lot of options for him at the moment down there. He has to take these steps to get to races that will suit him a little bit better later on. He is fit and well. He’ll race well, but it is probably an unsuitable race for him.

“But they are both bright and well so we’re ready to go. Yeah, Ryan Wiggins will be riding both horses.”

Brad Pengelly (rider of Albert The Fat): “Apparently (trainer) Eden (Petrie) is really very happy with the way the horse has settled in at Randwick. He is a nice horse. I am really excited to see how he does with the class rise. He’s showing signs that he could handle the jump (in class). There are a few horses in the race that are going to be showing a bit of speed and he will appreciate that.”

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