THE BIG GREY BOUNCES BACK

By Graham Potter | Thursday, April 25, 2024

Colleagues, the big grey, has bounced back with meaning landing a knockout blow on his opposition, when winning a BM65 Handicap over 1400m at the Sunshine Coast on April 25.

It was the David Vandyke trained runners first-up run following a four-and-a-half months break and the New Zealand bred relished the Heavy 8 underfoot conditions to score by a clearcut two length margin to remain undefeated on heavy going (that’s two from two now).

Colleagues justified favouritism with his performance ... he started at $2.25.

It might have been ten months between drinks , but that statistic disappeared into the past with every stride that Colleagues put in during this latest assignment.

The five-year-old son of Reliable Man landed in fourth place early, settling just under three lengths off the early leader and Ryan Maloney was happy to hold that position until the field turned for home.

At the top of the straight Maloney angled Colleagues out four wide into clear air and he quickly started to build race winning momentum.

He reached the lead with 180m left to run and continued to power home from there, never missing a beat in the run to the line as his rivals, spread all across the track behind him chased hard, but in vain, as Colleagues went to the line in accomplished fashion.

Putting the merit of the win in further perspective was the fact that Colleagues shouldered the steadying burden of 59kg, meaning that both the runner-up, Deal An Ace ($7.50), and the third placed Echo Hunter ($21) carried a full 5kg less than the Vandyke trained runner, yet were beaten by 2.00 and 2.20 lengths respectively.

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