TRENGGANU BOUNCES BACK

By Graham Potter | Saturday, April 2, 2022

It had been a while between drinks for the Tony and Maddysen Sears trained Trengganu, but when a five-year-old returns from a long layoff and wins it gives plenty of encouragement for the preparation moving forward.

That is exactly what Trengganu did at Toowoomba in a BM70 Handicap over 1100m on April 2.

First-up after a five month period out of race action, the Brazen Beau gelding, who easy to back at $6.50, jumped best of all from barrier 3 before settling in a perfect spot, contesting second place, tracking the leader by a couple of lengths.

That leader was the last start winner and $2.80 favourite Miss Barty, who was attempting to make every post a winning one. Luke Tarrant was content to hold that position on the rail until the field started to swing for home, at which stage he got busy on Trengganu.

As Miss Barty shifted slightly off the rail on straightening, the gap that Tarrant had been hoping for in the straight opened up along the rail, presenting Trengganu with a clear run to the line.

By contrast, the $7.50 chance Spinning Spirit cornered five wide, but had a similar clear passage in front of her and she quickly emerged as real threat and another $7.50 fancy Ortesso was also up for the fight … and so it became a four way contest all of the way up the straight.

Miss Barty fought on gamely enough but was headed inside the last 120m. Ortesso, likewise, never stopped fighting, but she could not get to the lead, which left Trengannu and Spinning Spirit to have the last say in the outcome … and it was Trengganu who would have the final word.

For a moment it looked like Spinning Spirit had the momentum, but Trengganu, who just kept coming, showed impressive commitment right through to the final stride to snare a reasonably hard-earned victory by half a length … a really gritty performance given his lack of recent match practice.

Trengannu is now a five-time winner from twenty-two starts, with six minor placings and $113 095 in prize-money earnings.

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