GUTS 'N' GLORY BY A NOSTRIL

By Graham Potter | Saturday, November 25, 2023

Photo finishes that are decided by a nod of the head can sometimes goes your way ... sometimes not. It can be really disappointing when you go down by nostril, having come so close ... on the other hand, it can be euphoric when your number goes into the frame having gone through the agnony of the wait.

So, when the aptly named Corey and Kylie Geran trained Guts ‘N’ Glory and the equally well named Maryann Brosnan trained Brave Warrior flashed through the line together in a BM70 Handicap over 1300m at Toowoomba on November 25, it was nail biting stuff for connections.

Previously, Guts ‘N’ Glory had produced a very consistent set of results from October 2022 to March 2023, winning back-to-back races and finishing in the top four places in all of his eleven starts during that time ... but in the four subsequent starts since then, going into this race, Gut’s ‘N’ Glory had only placed once in four starts ... a factor that arguably contributed to his very generous starting price of $31.

The Geran team also had Vonzither in the race as the second favourite at $4.

The eventual two main protagonists raced at either end of the field in the first half pf the race with Brave Warrior ($6) attempting to make every post a winning one, while Karl Zechner was content to allow Guts ‘N’ Glory to bowl along in last place, some seven lengths off the lead.

Guts ‘N’ Glory was only up to second last and still well out of his ground as Brave Warrior brought the field into the home straight. Switching out to become the widest runner on the track with a little over six lengths to make up, Guts ‘N’ Glory found free galloping room, but he would need outstanding acceleration from that position to have any say in the outcome.

But as Brave Warrior continued to kick and hold all of those runners closest to him at bay, Guts ‘N’ Glory was responding to Zechner’s vigorous urgings and, inside the final 150m he was simply steaming down the outside, now closing ground rapidly on Brave Warrior with every stride.

Brave Warrior wasn’t stopping and Guts ‘N’ Glory was charging and that’s when they flashed through the line together ... ten horses apart on the track making the call of the result very difficult to the naked eye.

The fine line between winning and losing had never been finer.

In the end, the photo showed that Guts ‘N’ Glory had snatched the race away from Brave Warrior.

Just a bit of trivia: Guts ‘N’ Glory and Brave Warrior were not only so close together on the track, but their respective race records are also so similar.

Guts ‘N’ Glory ... four wins and twelve places from twenty-three starts with prize-money earnings of $90 245.

Brave Warrior ... four wins and seven places from twenty-three starts with $102 115 banked in prize-money. Both are six-year-old geldings.

*The Geran’s other runner Vonzither finished fourth after being close to the pace throughout.

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