2008 Gloaming Stakes – 20 September 2008

The Group 2 Gloaming Stakes over 1800 metres at Rosehill is a set-weight event for three-year-olds with prizemoney of $250,000. There is a field of eleven and some only have wins in maiden company and three of them are still maidens. Emperor Bonaparte has had the most runs, with seven races under his belt for a win and three placings.

Gai Waterhouse believes her colt Fight And Defend can win this race to make it three wins in a row after a maiden win at Kembla Grange on 23 August was followed up with a two length win over 1550 metres on 9 September. Gai has won this race twice before, with Al Maher in 2004 and Magic Of Sydney in 1996. Several trainers have won the race twice, but none have won it more than twice.

The Paul Murray trained Predatory Pricer is a half-brother to champion sprinter Takeover Target, and produced a strong finish to win the Ming Dynasty Quality over 1400 metres last week. Murray says Predatory Pricer gets better the further he goes. Both of his wins have had good finishes.

Caulfield trainer Peter Moody is bringing Tawakoni to Sydney on the basis of his last start three and a half length win in maiden company at Sale. The colt hit the lead at the top of the straight and drew well clear to easily hold them at bay, and he is certainly not the worst in the field.

David Payne has three starters in the race – Emperor Bonaparte, Naval Escort, and Bondit. Bondit is still a maiden while Naval Escort was strong winning his maiden at Canterbury on 27 August, but there were only four runners in the field.

Miss Darcey is a better filly than her form suggests. She has had four starts and the best she has done is fourth, but at her last start everything was against her and she had nowhere to go for the last 200 metres. I think she is capable of being in the first three in this field.

Relentless Lad is a hard horse to follow. His trainer Graeme Rogerson is one of a handful of trainers who has won this race twice (Maskerado in 2002 and Courvoisier in 2001) while jockey Jim Cassidy is one of only three jockeys to have won this race three times (Al Maher 2004, Handy Proverb 1985 and Phillip 1984) so they will both be record makers for the Gloaming if Relentless Lad can win from his outside barrier.

by Jo Jackson