WITHOUT REVENGE CANES THEM IN THE BALLINA CUP

By Graham Potter | Thursday, January 25, 2024

Talk about taking no prisoners!

When you have the best horse in the race there is no point in employing tentative tactics. You can afford to take the race by the scruff of the neck right from the start and shake it until you have sapped all of the strength and enthusiasm out of the opposition and left them well behind, chasing for only a minor share of the prize-money.

That is exactly what Kyle Wilson-Taylor did aboard the Corey and Kylie Geran trained Without Revenge, with the duo completing a commanding display by passing the post a full 3.80 lengths clear of the $2.05 race favourite Eaglemont in the Ballina Cup on January 25.

Without Revenge started second favourite at $3.10.

The win came with the added bonus of earning a Big Dance eligibility ... the Big Dance being a $3 million race which is restricted to horses contesting one of selected NSW Country Cups throughout the year. The Big Dance 2024 will be run on November 5, 2024 ... Melbourne Cup Day ... at Randwick Racecourse ... so it was huge result.

The Ballina Cup meeting was originally due to be run on January 19, but was postponed due to the significant amount of rain the track had received that week. Any delay is not necessarily ideal, but the fact that the track came back to a Soft 7 by the rescheduled race day importantly put it in a range which Without Revenge could cope with ... and the rest, as they say, is history.

The Big Dance race-day is still a full ten months away but, with this result in the bank, it means the Geran stable can set the GPS for Randwick when they are ready and, in the meantime, carefully work out the path that Without Revenge will follow to get there.

When that time comes around, it will be Without Revenge’s second such trip to Randwick.

Four months ago, while still with trainer David Vandyke, Without Revenge finished second in the Lismore Cup, a result which saw him earn a place in the $750 000 Little Dance, a race in which Without Revenge would compete for the first time under the Corey and Kylie Geran training partnership banner.

And what a trip that was!

Fourth place, just 1.85 lengths off the winner, at a price of $201... the last 200m provided Without Revenge’s connections with a thrill-a-second.

You can only imagine how they will feel heading for a $3 million race.

But that is a story for the future.

For now, Without Revenge’s connections can enjoy the fact that they have ticked the Ballina Cup box they targeted, with all that win encompasses, and they did so on the back of that fourth place in the Little Dance and runner-up finishes in both the Tails Stakes and the Bernborough Plate ... both Listed races ... both times beaten by Acquitted ... both times starting at odds of $21.

Add in the Ballina Cup win and these are the only four runs Without Revenge has had for the Geran stable.

Fair to say, they are hitting it off well together.

Co-trainer Corey Geran, speaking directly after the Ballina Cup win, offered his perspective of Without Revenge’s success.

“He is an incredibly tough horse,” said Geran. “He is the best horse we have ever had and he just continues to improve.

“We had a few hiccups getting him here today with traffic and things like that ... it’s been pretty stressful. Nothing has really gone to plan in the last little bit with him. Ballina was postponed. I nearly did run him in Brisbane instead, but when they moved the Ballina Cup to Thursday, I thought, to get into the big Dance was the key ... and to get that result is really good. It’s our first win with the horse.

“We obviously went to the Little Dance last year and we had such a good time and he raced so well that we always wanted to target that race.

“Qualifying early takes the pressure off. We can plan his campaign. He’ll take a little break then we will probably target him for some races in the Winter Carnival and then, obviously, head for the Big Dance.”

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