Black Caviar’s son impresses on debut with quick closing sectional times
After being tightened for room at the start, Prince Of Caviar remained at the tail of the ten-horse field until gaining a split at the 300 metres. He then made very good ground to finish just over four lengths from the winner Scottish Rogue (Rothesay) in the Ladbrokes 2YO Handicap (1200m).
Racing on a Soft 5 track, Prince Of Caviar was timed to run his last 1000 metres in 57.97, last 800 metres in 46.44, last 600 metres in 34.29 and his last 400 metres in 22.68, with his final 200 metres in 11.56.
The colt’s last 800 metres (46.44), last 400 metres (22.68) and last 200 metres (22.68) were the fastest of the race.
He is the second foal out of Black Caviar, her other three foals being fillies and he is the second of her progeny of racing age, three-year-old filly Oscietra (Exceed And Excel) having started five times for two wins, one at Ballarat and the other at Geelong, before her recent retirement.
Trained by Team Hawkes and ridden on debut by Black Caviar’s regular jockey Luke Nolen, Prince Of Caviar looks set for a successful racing career, judging by this most encouraging debut.
Another two-year-old to impress on the watch on Saturday was the Chris Waller-trained colt The Autumn Sun (Redoute’s Choice), a former Maiden Of The Week in these pages, who ran on well to win the Energy Air Plate (1400) at Randwick and remain unbeaten after two starts.
Ridden a little more aggressively on this occasion by Brenton Avdulla, The Autumn Sun raced in sixth place before tracking up behind runners nearing the home turn.
He responded to his riding to take the lead at the 200 metres and proved too good over the latter stages, running the 1400 metre journey out well and looking suited to further still.
The Autumn Sun’s 200 metre breakdown (from the 1200m) was 10.80, 11.58 (400m in 22.38), 11.82 (600m in 34.20), 11.88 (800m in 46.08) and 11.31 (1000m in 57.39), with his last 200 metres in 11.90 to give the colt a quick last 1200-metre time of 1:09.29.
Featured in this column after his impressive debut victory at Randwick on 25 April, The Autumn Sun is now favourite for the last Group One juvenile race of the season, J J Atkins Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) at Doomben on 9 June.
Runner-up was the lightly raced Ron Quinton-trained colt Royal Celebration (Excelebration), who ran some quick early sectionals before finding the lead and he did well in battling gamely for second, while the third-placed Whiteley (Sebring) really took the eye.
The Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained colt was slowly away and after racing in last place in the ten-horse field, made a wide move nearing the home turn. Whiteley then sprinted quickly to challenge the eventual winner at the 200 metres before holding on well to take the minor placing.
Whiteley’s 200 metre breakdown was impressive: (from the 1200m) 10.55, 11.46 (200m in 22.01), 11.77 (600m in 33.78), 11.54 (800m in 45.32) and 11.33 (1000m in 56.65) with his last 200 metres in 12.11 to give him a fast last 1000 metres of 1:08.76.
Another to go well at Randwick was the John O’Shea-trained three-year-old Live And Free (Savabeel), who is now headed to the Queensland Derby (Gr 1, 2400m) at Doomben on 9 June after his impressive win in the Benchmark 79 3YO Handicap (2000m).
After racing back in 11th place in the 13-horse field, Brenton Avdulla tracked up behind runners with Live And Free before taking him deep approaching the 200 metres.
Live And Free then sprinted quickly before going on to score comfortably by a length, running the 2000-metre journey out well in a time of 2:04.39.
That time was not overly impressive being affected by a moderate early 400 metre section, the pace being quite sound for the final 1600 metres.
But Live And Free demonstrated his potential with his closing times from that point – his last 1600 metres being a solid 1:36.16, his last 1400 metres in 1:23.9, last 1200 metres in 1:11.67, last 1000 metres in 59.51, last 800 metres in 47.09, last 600 metres in 35.01 with his final 200 metres in 23.13.
The feature race in Brisbane last Saturday, meanwhile, was the Kingsford Smith Cup (Gr 1, 1350m) at Doomben and the Godolphin-raced Impending (Lonhro) maintained his great form this preparation in coming with a late bid to grab a narrow but impressive win.
Ridden patiently by Damian Browne, Impending settled back in seventh place and took a split on turning for home before finishing quickly to catch the leader, Le Romain (Hard Spun), and score by a short half head.
Time for the 1350 metres was 1:19.51 (11.77 200m rate), equivalent to 1400 metres in 1:22.45 – a smart effort on a track downgraded to a Soft 6, while Impending’s closing sectionals were also very good.
Daily Sectionals clocked the stud-bound colt to run his last 1000 metres in 57.60, last 800 metres in 46.36, last 600 metres in 34.32 with his final 400 metres (22.68) and last 200 metres (11.40) were the fastest of any winner on the nine-race card.
Impending now heads to the Stradbroke Handicap (Gr 1, 1350m) at Doomben on 9 June, as too the third-placed Champagne Cuddles (Not A Single Doubt) who also clocked good sectionals, plus she will meet her rival on 3.5 kilograms better terms under the handicap conditions.
A highly consistent three-year-old filly, Champagne Cuddles was timed by Daily Sectionals to run her last 1000 metres in 57.78, last 800 metres in 46.58, last 600 metres in 34.62, last 400 metres in 23.18 with her final 200 metres in 11.78.
Doomben sectional times provided by www.dailysectionals.com.au