I want to be forgiving of horses on the inside as virtually nothing won or finished well from there all day. Horses at least two off the fence travelled and performed best throughout the program.
Race 3 – Foreign Territory
He was heavily-backed to start near-favourite, but not much went right for this son of Tavistock. As the steward’s report shows, he jumped out at the start and then proceeded to pull hard in the middle stages of the event. He then hung out rounding the home turn but was able to somehow be steered nearer the inside which was likely inferior ground. I wouldn’t’ be surprised if he performed much better next start.
Race 4 – Fender
Don’t have to be Einstein to be impressed by the performance of Fender. This 4yo was first-up off only one trial so there’s likely plenty of improvement left in him going forward towards the Brisbane Winter Carnival. Admittedly, he didn’t beat a whole lot here, but he was soft late in betting which is another indicator of huge improvement to come. He won by almost two lengths and was throttled down to still record 34.75 for the last 600m.
Race 7 – Simply Fly
This was the run of the day at Doomben. Simply Fly is a very smart animal, further outlined by her performance over the 1050m to run second behind Ballistic Lover. The winner came to Brisbane with solid Sydney form, but Simply Fly no doubt should’ve beaten her. She was a clear last on the turn – a couple of lengths off the second last horse – but powered home to make up about 10 lengths on the winner. She did it all in the worst part of the track in the straight before coming off the winner’s heels to almost score an unthinkable victory. It’ll be interesting to see if they can keep her up for a race in the carnival, having already won the Gold Coast Jewel on a heavy track earlier this prep. She’s already won six from 10 and with her lethal finish, she’ll be winning much better races.