THE GAMBLING GREEK SCORES A BIG WIN

By Graham Potter | Saturday, January 18, 2025

The Gambling Greek scored a big win … the second of his brief career … when he landed a QTIS Three-Year-Old Handicap over 1200m at Eagle Farm on January 18, 2024.

The win was also significant as it was the first winner to come out of the newly established Sears training stable at the Gold Coast, which is run by Maddy Sears.

The Gambling Greek had exploded on the scene with a striking debut win at Eagle Farm in a Two-Year-Old Maiden Handicap over 1200m in which he outgunned the race favourite Province by 0.34 lengths after being supported in from $5 to a starting price of $4.

The follow-up run at Doomben three weeks later was entirely forgettable though and the Sears camp was quick to put The Gambling Greek out into the paddock for a spell until he trailed again for the first time some five months later on October 22, 2024.

There was a second official trial before The Gambling Greek resumed race action in a Class 1 Handicap over 1000m at the Sunshine Coast on December 26.

Racing first-up, at a starting price of $13 over a distance short of his best, this run served as a valuable step in terms of building both race fitness and race experience (this was only the gelding’s third career start), and so it was that he was better primed for his second-up assignment when he lined up for that QTIS Three-year-Old Handicap on January 18.

And he had to be well enough primed to get the result, because, in the end, the race came down to a tough, highly pressurised finish in which only a length-and-a-half covered the first five runners to cross the line.

Bailey Wheeler, a late riding replacement on the Gambling Greek, certainly had to earn his money to carry out the winning gameplan.

Firstly, he quickly put The Gambling Greek (easy to back at $15) into the leading line soon after the break, before stretching The Gambling Greek out into the early lead, a position the son of Russian Revolution held under a finely measured gallop all the way to the home turn.

On straightening though, the charge was well and truly on as Surprise Honey ($4.20) who had enjoyed an inside run throughout, switched around the heels of The Gambling Greek and wasted no time in issuing a challenge to the Sears trained runner.

By the 300m mark, Surprise Honey had moved right alongside the Gambling Greek and appeared to be going the better of the two. Two hundred meters from home and Surprise Honey now was clearly in front, albeit narrowly, as she was passing the 100m mark … but, the pertinent point was that The Gambling Greek was not going away. Rather he was fighting on with a vengeance under a hard ride from Wheeler.

That fighting spirit found its reward over the final 40m when The Gambling Greek found that little bit extra, which proved just enough for him to be able to head Surprise Honey when it mattered most to claim an eye-catching win.

That is two wins from only four starts for The Gambling Greek now with both wins coming at Eagle Farm, where he is currently unbeaten.

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