WEONA SMARTONE STAYING IN QUEENSLAND - FOR NOW

By Graham Potter | Tuesday, September 28, 2021

David Vandyke’s rising star Weona Smartone, who has won his last seven starts in a row, will be freshened up before his next assignment … and he won’t be heading for any of the rich races down south this year.

“Our aim now is focussed on taking him to a Listed race first and then the plan is to follow up with a Group 3 race after that. The races we are looking at are both over 1200m at Doomben,” said Vandyke.

“That will give us an idea of whether we can think seriously about a trip south next year.

“He has kept climbing the ladder … but he still he has still got a couple of important runs left which will tell us more about where we stand with him.

“He is good behaviour-wise at the races now. He never was early on but Emma Lehmann, who looks after him, has been a big part in helping improve his mental attitude.

“So, yeah, we’ll see how he goes in Open company and at stakes level now and take a further decision after that.”

Weona Smartone is a lightly raced Shamexpress five-year-old gelding whose seven straight wins have come from only eight starts … his only defeat coming on debut.

Jockey Ryan Maloney has been in the saddle for six of those wins with Mark Du Plessis doing the riding honours on the other occasion.

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