DU PLESSIS'S INCH PERFECT RIDE ON ROYALE RETURN

By Graham Potter | Sunday, January 16, 2022

The Charge Forward colt Royale Return gave the Tony and Maddysen Sears training partnership their second winner of the weekend when the lightly raced three-year-old took out a BM58 over 1200m at the Sunshine Coast on January 16.

Royale Return had shown to good advantage in his previous start in a Class 1 Plate over 1000m at Toowoomba when running on well from midfield after being held wide … only failing by a couple of strides to snare the race winner Splasher who had skipped clear early in the straight.

Jockey Mark Du Plessis retained the ride here as Royale Return stepped up to 1200m as the betting suggested an open race with the favourite Apache Blue at $5 with Royale Return coming in at a starting price of $7.50.

Du Plessis jumped Royale Return into an immediate lead but then, having established a prominent position, he was happy to let the speed go around him in the form of Kaliya ($5.50) and Richetti ($11) … with Royale Return settling into a comfortable third place.

The running order up front remained unchanged as the field straightened for home, but Du Plessis then put Royale Return to work inside the final 300m. He disposed of Richetti quickly enough and, while Kaliya put up more of a fight, Royal Return also had that one’s measure passing the 100m, but there was still a real danger from behind.

That came in the form of Apache Blue who was closing fast late down the centre of the track.

Apache Blue, in fact, had tracked Royale Return almost throughout the running but those couple a lengths advantage he had allowed the Sears trained runner in the early part would come back to bite him as, try as he might (and he was very game) Apache Blue could not reel in Royale Return who sustained effort got him home by a 0.30 length margin in what turned out to be an inch perfect ride from Du Plessis.

This was Royale Return’s second win from only seven starts.

His previous win came on debut over the 800m dash and he has now won up to 1200m on both good and soft going.

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