SEA RIPPLE CATCHES THE EYE WITH A SMART DEBUT WIN

By Graham Potter | Sunday, August 29, 2021

It had been a real ‘hot-spot’ weekend of form for the David Vandyke stable.

Three winners at the Gold Coast on Friday, including a win in the featured Goldmarket. A win in town at Doomben on Saturday … another win of particular note with Weona Smartone winning for the sixth time in a row … and then a win on Sunday to round it all off, making it a return over the three days of five winners from nine runners at a 55 percent win strike rate!

While there were more high-profile winners on that list than Sunday’s winner Sea Ripple ($3.30), the Sebring filly certainly added to the level of performance satisfaction within the stable, not least because the three-year-old was winning on debut, which is obviously as good an opening result as any horse can get.

Jockey Ryan Maloney did not rush the first-timer from the break, being happy to settle in sixth position early. In the sweep to the turn Sea Ripple was still holding his position quite comfortably along the rail, racing in midfield some five to six lengths off the lead.

Maloney remained very patience as the field turned for home and Sea Ripple almost looked to be in some difficulty with 300m left to run and still having four to five lengths to make up.

Looking for clear running, Sea Ripple had to lean on the $21 outsider That’s A Miracle approaching the 200m mark in order to force the gap he needed (at that stage it looked more likely to go back than forward) but, once that gap came, Sea Ripple displayed superb acceleration over the final 150m to run down the $3.20 favourite Royal Rebellion and get home with a 0.5 length margin to spare.

Her willingness to literally shoulder her way through a difficult situation spoke to her competitive character and her sustained finishing burst underlined her natural ability (remember she was first-up here) so the run ticked a lot of boxes and the win was a just reward for her effort.

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