THE DAVID VANDYKE RACING SEASON: Nov 1 – Nov 30

By HRO | Friday, November 30, 2018

THE DAVID VANDYKE RACING SEASON: Nov 1 – Nov 30, 2018.

THE OVERVIEW

The stable had a busy month in November, saddled twenty-two runners at five different venues.

During this time another six winners made it on to the scoreboard (five individual runners with Secret Spirit scoring twice). That honour roll included Weboughtazou and Oh Mona both of whom, very pleasingly, won on debut. Both Weboughtazou and Oh Mona were given roughly a month between their trial and being the green light to take on competitive action and their first-up win results underlined David Vandyke’s skill in assessing just where his horses are in their preparation.

November 10 was a particularly good day with the stable saluting with three runners … Hold The Line, who at that time extended her unbeaten run to three straight wins, and Foxy Housewife winning at the Sunshine Coast while Secret Spirit got the job done at the Gold Coast to give ensure the stable went home with a treble. Secret Spirit then made in back to back wins on November 30 to round off the stable’s month in style.

On the consolation level the stable also quietly grabbed their share of the place stakes earnings. This set of results included three second placings (Champagne Daisy, Weboughtazou and Trois Choix), two thirds and two fourths.

After four months of the 2018/19 season David Vandyke sits in sixth place on the Brisbane Metropolitan Trainers Premiership table. His twelve winners from thirty-six starters gives him the highest strike rate (33.3%) on the leader board.

That twelve win total puts the stable level with the fifth placed trainer Kelly Schweida and only one win behind the fourth placed Steven O’dea. Schweida and O’dea have seventy-four and seventy-three runners in town respectively. The Vandyke stable has only sent out thirty six runners.

So it is that all of the hard work continues to pay off for the stable.

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THE WINNERS:

WEBOUGHTAZOU (3 b g Zoustar – Princess Emmy)

Owners: Reed Racing, Mr M Jamieson, Mrs L B Jamieson
Nov 4: Sunshine Coast - Maiden 1200m.


OH MONA (3 b f I Am Invincible – Absolute Lure)

Owners: Phoenix Thoroughbred
Nov 8: Ipswich - Maiden - 1100m.


SECRET SPIRIT (3 b g Spirit Of Boom – Ossie’s Secret)

Owners: Mrs M J Reed, Mrs F C Mansell, Miss S M Gray, Mrs L B Jamieson, Mrs S M Norbury, Mrs D N Bury, Mrs T A Rossow, Mrs L M Glover, Ms C A Sheedy, Mrs J G Farmer
Nov 10: Gold Coast - Maiden - 1200m.
Nov 30: Ipswich - Class 1 – 1200m.


FOXY HOUSEWIFE (5 ch m Foxwedge – Household)

Owner: B K Racing & Breeding Pty Ltd
Nov 10 – Sunshine Coast – Fillies And Mares Handicap – 1000m.


HOLD THE LINE (3 b f Your Song – Why’re You Waiting)

Owners: Mr G I Turnbull, Mr B J Synott, Mr C A Amerio, D N R D & A N Parkinson Racing, Bush To Beach Racing, Mrs J L Jenkins, Mr S Miller, Mr D T Masters, Mr G Garzaniti, Mr G I Jones, Mr D J Vandyke

Nov 10 - Sunshine Coast - 3yo Handicap - 1200m.

Previous wins this season:
Aug 5 – Ipswich – 3yo Fillies Maiden – 1200m.
Aug 25 – Sunshine Coast – 3yo Handicap – 1200m.

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HOW THE RACE WAS WON:

Nov 4: WEBOUGHTAZOU.

Weboughtazou, making full use of barrier number one, jumped into an immediate lead. The Candy Man came across from a wider draw and settled a half length to three quarters of a length behind Weboughtazou with Plitvice taking the trail a couple of lengths back in third place. These leaders held their positions until the turn. On straightening The Candy Man issued a challenge and Weboughtazou responded in kind, giving a good kick under hands and heels riding from Damian Browne in a manner which suggested he would go and win the race comfortably. The Candy Man would not go away though and when Plitvice also began to threaten with a smart forward move along the inside, Weboughtazou suddenly had to dig deep under more urgent urgings from Browne but he did prevail in a pressurised finish to score by the narrowest of margins. It’s not how far you win by. It’s that you win that counts and Weboughtazou winning on debut was a very positive result.

*Weboughtazou followed up with a second placing in a Class 2 event over 1200m on November 25.

Nov 8: OH MONA.

It is a sign of a good education when a horse jumps well from the gates … particularly when they do so on debut … and Oh Mona did just that and quickly made light of a wide draw to settle in second place behind the free-running Rock Garden. The gap between first and second was three lengths passing the 600m mark but Ryan Maloney and Oh Mona had reduced that margin to two lengths turning for home. Rock Garden continued to kick on courageously down the home straight but Oh Mona, without being rushed by Maloney, settled into the chase like a professional racehorse and gradually reeled in, and then took the measure of her only rival inside the final 100m to win going away by 1.30 lengths.

*Oh Mona followed up with a fifth place finish in a Class 1 over 1400m on November 23.

Nov 10: FOXYHOUSEWIFE.

Foxyhousewife came into this race first-up after a four month layoff. The mare only had four rivals and the betting boards had her as the joint second favourite at $3.50 behind the Tony Gollan trained Prue’s Angel ($2.20) who had won a Class 6 event at Doomben in her previous start. The favourite jumped into an immediate lead and attempted to dictate affairs throughout. Michael Hellyer settled Foxyhousewife in fourth place early, but she was always never more than two lengths off the speed in a closely packed field. Foxyhousewife was up to third, improving quickly along the inside, approaching the turn. She then moved into second shortly after straightening … after cutting the corner … and that only left Prue’s Angel for Foxyhousewife to deal with. You would have expected a two-way fight at that stage but that contest never materialised as Foxyhousewife easily moved past Prue’s Angel at the 200m mark from which moment the result was never in doubt. Although Prue’s Angel did fight back marginally close to the line Foxyhousewife was comfortably home with her fifth win on the board.

Nov 10: SECRET SPIRIT.

Secret Spirit dominated both the betting and the race itself. The Spirit Of Boom gelding jumped into an immediate lead and quickly stretched the field out. He was always comfortable in the early part, racing unstressed with daylight between himself and the chasing pack. Ryan Plumb gave Secret Spirit a bit of a breather in the sweep to the home turn which conned his rivals into thinking they might have a sniff of victory. At that stage Secret Spirit was still travelling well within himself and that comfort level never changed, although Plumb did ask his mount to stretch out with more meaning in the home stretch where Secret Spirit simply turned the race into a procession to win every bit as easily as the official 3.30 length margin suggests.

Nov 10: HOLD THE LINE.

Hold The Line made it three wins from three starts and, yet again, as in her previous two wins, the filly did just enough to win. Hold The Line landed midfield, was chased up briefly but was going to be caught five wide in a speed duel so Jeff Lloyd eased the filly back and took up a more comfortable seventh position, albeit still three wide. Lloyd then played a waiting game, holding his position some four lengths back. In the first half of the home straight, with clear running and willing acceleration, Hold The Line quickly improved her position. She was in an improving third place coming through the 200m mark and was in front 100m later but a spirited late charge from the $101 outsider Red Chase meant there was still work to do but, at the line, Hold The Line had done enough to keep her proud unbeaten record intact.

*On November 28 Hold The Line tasted defeat for the first time when beaten into fourth place in a 3yo Class 3 contest over 1400m at the Gold Coast.

Nov 25: SECRET SPIRIT.

Secret Spirit made it back to back wins and two wins from three starts this prep. He jumped well enough and then was pushed out to edge past Sizzleonthebridge to gain a position at the head of affairs. The gelding was not challenged in front initially and he turned for home a comfortable enough leader. It got interesting inside the final 200m though with Ryan Plumb now hard at work on Secret Spirit and with the $51 outsider Shadyvale Star and Viral eating up ground late. In the end, the post arrived just in time for Secret Spirit to compete the double, but it was a close affair with Shadyvale Star coming up just one stride short of causing a major boilover.

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RESULTS (Non-winning runners):

Nov 3: TROIS CHOIX
Finished third – Doomben - Fillies and Mares Handicap – 1350m
Nov 17:
Finished seventh – Doomben – BM 90 – 1630m
Nov 28:
Finished second – Gold Coast – BM 80 – 1800m

Nov 3: CHAMPAGNE DAISY
Finished second – Doomben – 3yo Handicap – 1350m

Nov 3: SAVWELL
Finished fifth – Doomben – C,G,E BM 85 – 1350m
Nov 17:
Finished ninth – Doomben – BM90 – 1630m

Nov 6: MRS BOUQUET
Finished sixth – Bundaberg – Maiden – 850m

Nov 6: MISS POWERKEG
Finished seventh – Sunshine Coast - 1400m

Nov 10: REMARKABLE SON
Finished seventh – Sunshine Coast – BM70 – 1400m

Nov 10: DESIGNATED
Finished tenth – Sunshine Coast – 2yo Handicap - 1000

Nov 14: RIDGWAY
Finished third – Ipswich - Class 3 – 1350m

Nov 23: OH MONA
Finished fifth – Sunshine Coast – Fillies and Mares Class 1 – 1400m

Nov 23: GO DIAMONDS
Finished sixth – Sunshine Coast – Fillies and Mares Maiden – 1400m

Nov 24: FOXY HOUSEWIFE
Finished fourth – Doomben – Fillies and Mares (Listed) – 1200m

Nov 24: GRACIDA
Finished tenth – Doomben – BM 90 – 1050m

Nov 25: WEBOUGHTAZOU
Finished second – Sunshine Coast – Class 2 – 1200m

Nov 28: HOLD THE LINE
Finished fourth – Gold Coast – 3yo Class 3 – 1400m

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