BROWNIE'S BLOG: LOOKING BACK AT A VERY ENJOYABLE AND EXCITING GROUP 1 RACE-DAY AT EAGLE FARM

By Damian Browne | Thursday, June 11, 2020

I enjoyed watching the Stradbroke day racing at Eagle Farm last Saturday.

While a couple of horses might have been compromised at different times in the running, there really can be no excuses for the beaten runners in the Stradbroke, considering where the winner Tyzone came from.

It was a thrilling finish and watching Tyzone make a fairly long run with Robbie Fradd, with that old Robbie style, throwing everything at the horse was really exciting.

I was really pleased for Robbie. He is one of the nicest guys I have ever ridden with … and, of course, it was also pleasing to see Toby and Trent Edmonds land their first Group 1 winner.

As far as the two-years-old in the JJ Atkins is concerned, obviously a great job was done by Robert Heathcote in turning Rothfire out in such form.

I thought it was a terrific ride by Jimmy (Byrne) as well … the way he let the speed go early.

It was my concern before the race whether they would be able to do with Rothfire or whether Wisdom Of Water and Rothfire might take each other on in front … but Jimmy was awake to the threat in that scenario.

Jimmy is a great rider and, apart from his strength and judgement in the saddle, which helped carry Rothfire to victory, you also have to admire him for the effort he has obviously put in to getting back to a Group 1 success in such a short time since returning from a serious injury.

It obviously meant a lot to him. He looked pretty happy going past the post.
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All of the placegetters in the Stradbroke also deserve a mention.

What about Tubby’s ride on the runner-up?

Jason Taylor already has a Stradbroke winner (Sincero) to his name and he did everything but add a second to the list when just touched off by Tyzone on the $51 chance Madam Rouge in the last stride. That was a great effort by horse and rider.

Third placed Niccanova’s performance again highlighted the superb job that trainer Steve Tregea does with his horses. It was a terrific run. Niccanova is backing up again Group 3 Eagle Farm Mile on Saturday where I have him as my best bet for the day.

For a trainer with such a small team, Tregea has always got one or two handy horses. I don’t think I ever had a ride for him but I have admired his work over a long period of time.

Vega One, who filled fourth placing, also produced a storming finish coming from well back, just as Tyzone and Niccanova had done. Again, it was a run full of merit.

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The was the usual chatter about the Eagle Farm track after the meeting.

It was very fast, supposedly very hard.

It really doesn’t matter what the track condition is there is always going to be something for somebody to say.

You are going to find happy people and you are going to find unhappy people … and, guess what, the ones that win are not the ones whinging and the ones who get beat sometimes use the track as an excuse.

From what I could tell … obviously I’m not riding on it so I can’t comment on how hard it was or anything like that … the track seemed to race pretty fairly. They were coming from the back and on-pace … and that is really all you want to see at the end of the day.

Any track conditions will suit some horses better than others so, from a fair, competitive level, I can’t see that there was too much room for complaint on the day.
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The field for this Saturday’s Group 3, Tattersalls' Cup over 2400m again goes to show just how much the Chris Waller team is tying up the majority of the ‘staying races’ market.

Waller, whose runners filled the first six places in the recent Chairmans’, has no less than seven of the twelve runners due to face the starter … but this is not just a Queensland phenomenon.

Waller has held the same dominance with races a mile and beyond in Sydney for maybe the last five years. If you look at most of the staying races there, he has half of the fields in there too.

I don’t know if that has come about by design or if things have just worked out that way. I’m not certain but I think he has been buying some horses from overseas where you would generally be buying a mile and beyond horses … but, whatever the reason … by weight of numbers, among other things, he has been able to take charge of the general staying scene.
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It is a pity once again that spectators won’t be allowed at the track on Saturday.

Certainly, almost everybody would like to see people being allowed back to racing and sporting events and all of us involved in racing would like to get back there but, in saying that, you’d hate to hit a speed-bump and somethings happens and it all has to be closed down again.

Perhaps, we might have a telling point coming up though when we get the Covid scorecard soon in relation to the spread that has, or has not, occurred due to the protests that were held where a huge amount of people gathered and flouted social distances rules and protocols.

Those results will probably go a long way to dictating how quickly we can move forward.

Here’s hoping!

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