A FULL HOUSE OF WINNERS FOR TEAM GERAN AT GATTON

By Graham Potter | Friday, October 20, 2023

Two runners … two winners … that is a good return for any racing stable at any racetrack … and that is exactly what the Corey and Kylie Geran training partnership achieved at Gatton on October 20 when Skater and Sempreinte saluted over a two hour period.

Skater was first off the block in race 5, a BM60 Handicap over 1600m.

With silks displaying the distinctive Get Out Stakes logo, Skater made it two wins out of three starts for the Geran yard.

He had won first-up for the Geran team, after transferring from the Michael Nolan yard where he had fifteen starts, and that win came over the 1650m trip at Toowoomba.

Next up was a worrying run over 1890m at Toowoomba, but there were mitigating factors in his disappointing, unplaced, virtually tailed off finish which strongly suggested a line could be drawn through that result, and the Geran team certainly had him very much back on song for this Gatton assignment.

Some betting support was there as well with Skater jumping as the warm $3.90 favourite, in spite of having to race from the worst of the draw (barrier twelve out of twelve), but Group 1 winning jockey Damien Thornton had made the trip to Gatton, bringing his considerable expertise into play to help negate that disadvantage.

Skater was always going to be caught a little wide early, but Thornton pushed the daughter of Jabali forward enough to get across to be one off the rail by the time the field went down the back stretch, racing some four to five lengths back in fifth position.

When the field began to bunch up at the 400m, Thornton chose to set Skater on a path that would require a long, sustained run, as he switched the Geran runner out wider on the track with a bold, early forward move.

Swinging four wide into the home straight, Skatet was already up to second place, and then very quickly took over the lead.

With Thornton hard at work in the saddle, Skater was right up to the task of maintaining her effort all the way to the line … and she did so with some aplomb to carry the day by a 0.50 length margin from her market rival Instant Karma ($4.40) who had to settle for second place.
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Three races later, in a BM65 Handicap over 1400m, the Geran / Thornton combination struck again, this time with the five-year-old chestnut gelding Sempreinte.

A former Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott trained galloper, the son of Sebring came into this race on the back of a runner-up finish, over the same track and distance on October 5, so the writing was on the wall, but Sempreinte, who also raced in the Get Out Stakes Logo silks, still had to put in a very focused and determined effort to get the job done because the result caught not have been any closer on the line.

This time, from a far better draw (barrier three) than he had to negotiate on Skater, Thornton was happy to go back to fourth then fifth early, allowing Sempreinte to settle into a comfortable rhythm in the early part, some five lengths off the lead.

Thornton was still in no rush in the first half of the sweep to the home turn, with Sempreinte travelling well within himself, until he allowed his mount to pull himself up towards the lead approaching the home turn, where Sempreinte cornered five wide, with some three to four lengths still to make up.

Thornton’s tactic of allowing Sempreinte a fairy leisurely run early would now be worth its weight in gold as Sempreinte still had plenty left to offer in the home straight … and he have to call on all of those reserves to bridge the gap as the $9 chance Captain Hook, the long-time leader, stretched out ahead of him, intent of making every post a winning one.

With Captain Hook not faltering, the chase was an arduous one, and it took all of Thornton’s urging in the saddle and a brave effort from Sempreinte to surge up late and claim a last stride victory.

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