BAANONE DOWNS A SPIRITED ADELASE TO SCORE HIS FIRST WIN IN QUEENSLAND

By Graham Potter | Saturday, August 21, 2021

Baanone has been a work in progress since transferring to the Sears Training partnership from the Bjorn Baker yard in Sydney.

The son of Shocking had been relatively successful with Baker being a six-time winner from thirty-one starts but, in his last four starts for the Baker stable he had not finished better than in eighth place which led to the decision being taken that Baanone might benefit from a change of scenery and that was how the then six-year-old found his way into the Sears yard.

Baanone rounded off his six-year-old campaign with three runs for the Sears stable, being unplaced in his first-up run over an unsuitable 1200m trip before showing more than useful improvement to finish second to East Asia in a BM 75 over 1400m at the Sunshine Coast on July 11.

After that run the Sears camp had no hesitation in sending Baanone to a Saturday metropolitan meeting and his result there, in a BM78 over 1600m at Eagle Farm on July 31 in his last run as a six-year-old, resulted in an eye-catching fourth place, just 1.35 lengths behind the well performed Champagne Auntie.

Having hinted at his liking for that class, track and distance, the Sears camp opted for a repeat does of that formula and sent Baanone back to town on August 21.

The betting for the race was dominated by Adelase, the Barry Baldwin trained mare who was bidding for three in a row, and Baanone, at $2.70 and $3.20 respectively … and the betting had correctly sorted out the top two runners in the race, but in the wrong finishing order.

Adelase jumped into an immediate lead with Baanone settling in third spot back on the rail, being given the run of the race by Ryan Maloney.

When the pace slackened mid-race, Baanone went back to fourth place, but was still only three to lengths off the lead, and was even closer when the field bunched up to a marked degree on the turn.

On straightening, Adelase upped the ante looking to kick clear. At that stage Adelase still seemed to have the race under control, but Maloney had now switched Baanone out wider on the track and he was settling into a nice rhythm as he began to chase Adelase in earnest.

It took a while for Baanone to get up alongside Adelase and then there was also a time when these two runners matched strides before Baanone was able to assert his superiority over a very game Adelase to win by 0.20 lengths.

It was not only the win, but the manner in which victory was achieved that was so encouraging for Baanone moving forward.

The way he relaxed in the running. The way he set about the chase. The way he fought when made to work to get the better of Adelase, ticked a lot of boxes and, distance-wise, it should be noted that one of Baanone’s wins for Baker did come over 1800m so there might be more to come in that regard.

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