WINSIDE GIVES THE GERAN TRAINING PARTNERSHIP A MEMORABLE FIRST CITY METROPOLITAN WINNER

By Graham Potter | Saturday, August 13, 2022

Oh Wow! What a day August 13 was for the Corey and Kylie Geran Training Partnership.

Actually, if you saw the reaction of Corey Geran on the grandstand when Winside got up in the shadow of the post, ‘wow’ is probably an understatement … and the team didn’t stop there, taking out the first race at Toowoomba with Torbreck for good measure.

The ‘moment’ of the day was definitely the Winside win though and it came in a Class 6 Handicap over 1200m.

Five months earlier, Winside had given the Geran Racing Team their first metropolitan winner when she dead-heated with the very classy Go Wanji in a BM72 Handicap over 1100 at Toowoomba … but this was town, this was Eagle Farm making it a very special victory that was as well deserved as it was hard earned. (By the way, Go Wanji’s record currently stands at eight wins from eleven starts, underlining the quality of Winside’s run that day at Toowoomba).

This Eagle Farm run was Winside’s twelfth run for the Geran stable … for three wins, four second placings, three third placings and one fourth place finish.

That means she has only finished out of the first four places on one occasion and that was in the Listed Bright Shadow behind the Chris Waller trained Written Beauty.

Consistency doesn’t come much better than that.

The Bright Shadow was Winside’s first sortie into Listed company but, undeterred, she immediately took on another Listed race challenge and improved her result at that level when finishing a two length third behind Simply Fly in the Chief De Beers.

That was two runs prior to Saturday’s Eagle Farm engagement … and, in her start after the Chief De Beers she claimed a second place behind Red Rubi is a Class 6 Plate over 1000m at Eagle Farm on July 30. Clearly, she was warming up for a win.

Back at Eagle Farm on Saturday, she tackled the same class, but the stable stepped the distance test up to 1200m and, the way the race played out, Winside needed every inch of the trip to be able to snare victory.

Winside started second favourite at $4.40 with Legal Esprit holding the place at the top of the betting boards at $3.90 … and the race would indeed come down to a straight fight between these two runners.

Larry Cassidy ensured that Winside landed in the leading line … right alongside Legal Esprit, but whereas Adin Thompson elected to push forward and sit outside the leader Dusty Tycoon ($6.50) on Legal Esprit, Cassidy asked Winside to sit just in behind the leaders in third place, holding the rail position, tracking the speed every stride of the way.

The leaders all held their position until the home turn where Winside’s inside run suddenly became a liability as she was momentarily locked up behind Dusty Tycoon with Legal Esprit blocking her way out to his outside.

With Cassidy having to take hold, Winside’s race could have been lost in that moment, but Cassidy’s vast experience saw him calming shift Winside out across heels, once Legal Esprit had made his forward move, and into clear galloping room … but at that stage she had still lost ground and momentum.

That is what made what happened next all the more exciting.

With Cassidy giving her a chance … there was still some 200m left to run … it was now up to Winside to come to the party and produce a finishing effort of note … and, ultimately, she did just that, although between the 200m and 100m marks, it looked more likely that Winside was going to have to settle for a minor placing.

Both horse and rider remained resolute in their quest for victory though and, inch by inch they started to cut back Legal Esprit’s advantage and, with Winside doing her best work in that final chase to the line, her effort was well rewarded when she went past Legal Esprit in the last 25m to claim her seventh career win.

The five-year-old daughter of Sidestep now boasts an overall record of seven wins and nine minor placings from her nineteen starts to date with $218 435 banked in prize-money.
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Then it was on to the night meeting at Toowoomba where Geran Racing had five runners engaged … and they didn’t have to wait long to put another Toowoomba winner on the scoreboard when Torbreck saluted in the first race on the card … a BM60 Handicap over 1300m.

The five-year-old chestnut, who transferred to the Geran team from the Ben and JD Hayes stable earlier this year, added to his winning total (which now stands at three wins) in his third start for Geran Racing, who have gradually stepped the son of Sebring up in distance … moving from 870m to 1200m to this 1300m trip.

Jockey Matthew Powell made his intentions clear from the jump, taking Torbreck ($3.20) into a clear early lead, and the Geran trained runner basically controlled the race from there, being held at a comfortable gallop until the approach to the home turn where Powell did get more vigorous in the saddle.

When Powell gave Torbreck more rein, the $3 favourite Boom By By, who was always the closest runner to Torbreck in the running until that stage, couldn’t go with him and, with 150m left to run, the race was safely in Torbreck’s keeping.

Although Hail To The Chief, who had sat in third place, just off the speed for most of the trip, did close up to finish within 0.50 lengths of Torbreck at the line the winner always had the result under control under a well judged ride by Powell.

*Geran Racing also gained a second place (Craypot) and a third place (Gidget) at the Toowoomba meeting.

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