FIVE SECOND PLACES FROM EIGHT RUNNERS

By Graham Potter | Saturday, September 11, 2021

The David Vandyke stable sent out eight runners in the first eleven days of September and came back with no less than five second place finishers. Not as good as getting the chocolates, but second place is the next best thing in terms of giving owners a return on their investment in an environment where any positive result counts.

For You’re Next, who finished second to Gogol in a BM60 contest over 1200m at the Gold Coast on September 4, it was the second successive time that the son of Dream Ballad had to settle for the runner-up slot, having previously finished second in the same class over 1350m at Ipswich.

On September 5, Boblee, already a six-time winner, came within a stride of adding to his winning tally where he rattled home late, driving hard at the well performed King Klaus but only just failing by the narrowest of margins to secure the win in an Open Handicap over 1000m. The run reaffirmed Boblee’s liking for his home track at the Sunshine Coast where he now has a race record of five wins and four minor placings from nine starts.

The stable then had to settle for three second places on one day (September 11) … Whitewater and Weboughtazou getting those results at Doomben while Sundus finished second at the Gold Coast.

Whitewater, a three-year-old son of Headwater, was only having his third start. He had finished second on debut to Quackery, who won again subsequent to that victory, and Whitewater then won his next start … both of those runs being over 1200m. This time Whitewater stepped up both in class and distance (to 1350m) and again turned in an honest performance when finishing behind Startantes. That effort was good enough, particularly when weighing up his lack of race experience against the fact that Startantes was winning for the fifth time in eight starts and for the third time in a row.

Weboughtazou also stepped up in class, coming from a BM85 race to tackle an Open Quality over 1100m, and, as such, his second place behind You Make Me Smile was full of merit. Quite incredibly, the six-year-old son of Zoustar, a six-time winner, has finished in second place in four of his last five starts!

Sundus, a very lightly raced four-year-old mare, was second up at the Gold Coast after being away from race action for six months from February 28 to August 22. She had transferred to the Vandyke stable from the then training partnership of Tom Dabernig and Ben Hayes and her second place result at the Gold Coast was her second placing in as many starts for her new stable.

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