AFIREOFGIDGEECOALS ALL SET FOR PLACID ARK PREVIEW

By Graham Potter | Wednesday, October 28, 2026

The Group 2 Karrakatta winner Afireofgidgeecoals looks the part in the $100 000 Placid Ark Preview which will be contested over 1100m at Ascot on Saturday.

The son of Too Darn Hot outgunned Beatty (who finished second) and Aurum Belle (third) in the rich $500 000 Karrakatta, beating the smart Beatty by 0.88 lengths at level weights while keeping Aurum Belle, who carried 2kg less than the Daniel Morton trained runner, at bay by 1.71 lengths.

Beating Beatty is no mean feat in itself as the Karrakatta was the only race in which Beatty, who is now a five-time winner from six starts, has had his colours lowered. Like Beatty, Aurum Belle was unbeaten going into the Karrakatta, already with a Listed and a Group 3 win behind her name, but Afireofgidgeecoals has enough in hand on the day to end both of those undefeated runs.

That win by the Daniel Morton trained runner was achieved in just his sixth career start as he went from Maiden to Group 2 winner in the space of three starts over a period of one month … and, without taking anything away from Beatty or Aurum Belle, who are both serious racehorses, it highlighted what Afireofgidgeecoals is capable of at best.

Beatty, who has in fact beaten Afireofgidgeecoals on two occasions (in the Perth Stakes and the WA Sires Produce) is not in the Saturday’s Placid Ark Preview, but Aurum Belle is back for another throw at the stumps, this time with a 3kg advantage over Afireofgidgeecoals.

Afireofgidgeecoals and Aurum Belle have both only raced once as three-year-olds coming back from spells of five months and five-and-a-half months respectively … and that was when they clashed in the Listed Max Simmonds Stakes three weeks ago on October 10.

Aurum Belle jumped as the race favourite on that occasion, but she finished unplaced, 2.34 lengths behind Afireofgidgeecoals who, in turn, was held back in second place by the winner Big Red Zoom, who Afireofgidgeecoals would have snared in another half-a-stride.

Even in defeat, Afireofgidgeecoals again underlined his class in the Max Simmonds and, fitter for the run and now over a slightly longer trip, he can be expected to build on a form-line which has seen him never feature lower than third place in four, testing feature race starts. Also, he did win his only second-up start to date.

It would also be fair to assume that Aurum Belle, a winner of the Group 3 Gimcrack over Saturday’s track and distance, is a better horse than that last start result suggests. She too has won her only second-up start to date and, a possible significant point to note, is that she is unbeaten in three starts on a good track. She has won three out of five starts and the two defeats she suffered came on soft going,

Afireofgidgeecoals has only won once in four starts on a good racing surface.

A good track and a 3kg pull at the weights over Afireofgidgeecoals could turn their rivalry into a whole new ballgame.

Lucy Fiore will ride Afireofgidgeecoals from gate nine. Brad Parnham will ride Aurum Belle (for trainer Neville Parnham) from gate eight, so these jockeys will have plenty of options to keep an eye on their most obvious rival.

The Sean and Jake Casey trained Maria Lucia, who finished second to Aurum Belle in the Gimcrack, could prove best of the rest while the lightly raced, last start winner Hansadios, who has only had two starts, would appear to have plenty of scope for improvement, meaning the Mitchell Pateman trained runner could be worth a second glance.