Young stayer has Kiwis going nuts0:33
Horse Racing: Kiwi three-year-old Gingernuts has thrown down the gauntlet to his ATC Derby rivals with a dominant staying performance to win the Rosehill Guineas.
Gingernuts ridden by Opie Bosson wins the Sky Racing Rosehill Guineas race during Golden Slipper Day at Rosehill Racecourse in Sydney, Saturday, March 18, 2017. (AAP Image/David Moir) NO ARCHIVING, EDITORIAL USE ONLY
SUPERBLY named New Zealander Gingernuts stormed into Australian Derby favouritism with a dominant win at Rosehill on Saturday but rival jockey Tommy Berry is adamant Inference will turn the tables on a firmer track in a fortnight.
Gingersnuts became the fourth New Zealand-trained horse since 2011 (Jimmy Choux 2011, It’s A Dundeel 2013 and Volkstok’n’barrell 2015) to win the Rosehill Guineas when he ploughed through the mud best to claim the 2000m feature by 2 ¼ lengths.
Gingernuts firmed into a $ 4.60 equal favourite with Inference for the Derby in the process and will now try to emulate the feats of It’s A Dundeel in 2013 and claim the Rosehill Guineas- Australian Derby double at Randwick on April 1.
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“It’s been a long day waiting for this and watching Winx,” overawed co-trainer Jamie Richards said.
“I’m really pleased for the team at home and David (Ellis) bought this horse at the Ready To Run Sale and didn’t pay a lot for him and we syndicated him amongst some clients of ours and they are having a whirlwind ride.
“It’s great for the industry when horses like this can step up and it looks like he will be hard to beat in two weeks’ time.”
Champion New Zealand jockey Opie Bosson celebrates winning the Group1 Rosehill Guineas. Picture: Getty ImagesSource:Getty Images
But Berry, who finished a distant second on Inference, is adamant the Team Hawkes-trained colt can have the last laugh providing the track is dry in the $ 2 million Australian Derby (2400m).
“On a dry track he will turn the tables (on Gingernuts),” a confident Berry said.
“The other day (in the Randwick Guineas) I said before today he was on that outside part of the track that wasn’t real heavy.
“Today he struggled in the conditions and I was a beaten horse at the 1000m when the winner came around me and just through his tenacity and toughness he found the line but he wasn’t entitled to do what he did today.”
While Inference struggled in the conditions, Richards was always upbeat Gingernuts would handle the bottomless track and confirmed they would pay the $ 44,000 late entry fee to run him in the Derby.
“His last gallop at Matamata last Saturday morning before he came over was on a track similar to this and he got through it really well,” he said.
“Obviously race pressure is a lot different but he just seems to go in anything and since he has stepped up to 2000m he has really come on.”
Winning jockey Opie Bosson won the Australian Derby on Mongolian Khan in 2015 and said it was hard to compare the two horses.
“They are two totally different types of horses and (Gingernuts) is a lot smaller,” he said.
“(Gingernuts) is quite untapped really and when the track is a lot better he will be a lot better too.
“He was baulking around the whole way up the straight and not really concentrating and he just got there too easy.”
Kiwi star Gingernuts charges to victory in the Rosehill Guineas. Picture: AAPSource:AAP
Bayliss bags three-state treble
REGAN Bayliss guided Derryn to mpressive win at Rosehill Gardens to cap a week to remember for the young Melbourne jockey.
It all began at Flemington last Saturday when Bayliss rode his first Group 1 winner on Redkirk Warrior in the Newmarket Handicap then two days later, on his 20th birthday, he partnered Annus Mirabilis to Adelaide Cup glory.
Bayliss then scored his first Sydney stakes win with Derryn in the Listed $ 125,000 Darby Munro Stakes (1200m).
Derryn ($ 8.50) revelled in the very heavy conditions to streak past Crafty Cop ($ 8.50) to score by nearly two lengths with Tactical Advantage ($ 2.70 favourite) one-and-a-quarter lengths away third.
“I was confident when I noticed how easily Derryn was rounding them up from the 600m,’’ trainer David Hayes said.
“For a few strides in the straight I was worried he might have got to the front too soon but Regan is riding with a lot of confidence and the margin on the line was convincing.’’
Hayes said Derryn will now be aimed at the $ 600,000 Arrowfield 3yo Sprint (1200m) at Royal Randwick on April 8, Day Two of The Championships.
Tactical Advantage was aiming for his fifth successive win and although game in defeat, jockey Glyn Schofield said the young sprinter struggled in the heavy going.
Originally published as Kiwi blitzes Berry says don’t go Nuts
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