SHARP DAZZLER PUTS HIS NAME ON THE SCOREBOARD

By Graham Potter | Wednesday, February 7, 2024

The three-year-old gelding Sharp Dazzler took control of a 1400m QTIS Three-Year-Old Maiden Plate at Eagle Farm on February 7 to claim his first career victory by 1.33 lengths.

It has been a bit of work for the Tony and Maddysen Sears training partnership to get Sharp Dazzler into winning fettle ... eleven runs and three preparations, in fact ... but the positive in that was that while he was building up to a win, Sharp Dazzler banked $47 925 in prize-money, mostly courtesy of a second place finish and four third place finishes.

Two of those third place finishes had come in Sharp Dazzler’s two starts leading into this Eagle farm assignment. Both of those runs were also in town ... at Doomben ... and on both of those occasions the son of Red Dazzler finished less than two lengths behind the winner.

Sharp Dazzler was a drifter in the betting, slipping out from $4.80 to $6.50 to sit on the fourth line of betting, arguably, in part, because of the fact that he had to jump from the extreme outside barrier draw (barrier 10).

The very much in form apprentice Cejay Graham, who has been riding up a storm this season, elected to take Sharp Dazzler back from his wide draw, and she patiently settled the Sears trained runner at the back of the field in a clear last place in the early part and as the field started the sweep to the home turn, racing all of nine to ten lengths off the lead.

Graham was tracking the $5 third favourite Zinotar into the race and she had chosen well as the David Vandyke trained runner proceeded to carry Sharp Dazzler right into the race, even though he still had five lengths to make up on straightening.

As Zinotar began to make his forward move in earnest, Sharp Dazzler matched his every move, at the same time building momentum of his own ... a momentum that would ultimately carry Sharp Dazzler right past Zinotar at the 200m mark.

And Sharp Dazzler just kept coming, reeling in the then frontrunning favourite Addition ($3.20) to spear into the lead and then maintain a strong enough gallop to win in a most comfortable fashion.

More articles