‘I couldn’t be happier with both my horses’

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Neville Parnham to have duo of Railway Stakes runners as he bids for back-to-back wins in Ascot feature

Trainer Neville Parnham is confident he can repel the eastern states challenge in Saturday’s Railway Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) at Ascot as he seeks to go back-to-back following his maiden win in the event last year.

The full force of West Australian thoroughbred class will go on show as the locals seek to extend their strong record in Perth’s first Group 1 of the summer carnival, with a handful of some of the finest gallopers in the west on show and the state’s prime stallion Playing God (Blackfriars) out in force.

Already charging towards his third straight WA sires’ title, Playing God has four of the field’s 16 runners. His former trainer Parnham saddles the two most fancied, in last year’s winner Bustler, and emerging four-year-old Zipaway.

Ciaron Maher will attempt to continue his Group 1 roll with Irish import Light Infantry Man (Fast Company), who broke through last start for his first Australian win in his third preparation here, taking Flemington’s Chester Manifold Stakes (Listed, 1600m).

Light Infantry Man was on Friday vying for favouritism, at around $4.20, with another entry from the east in topweight Belclare (Per Incanto). The dual New Zealand Group 1-winning mare has won her past two starts in Sydney, the latest at G2 level, after being transferred to Bjorn Baker – a man who’s made a habit of success on western missions after winning both editions of the rich autumn slot race The Quokka (1200m) with Overpass (Vancouver).

That pair crosses the country with strong credentials, as does likely third favourite Port Lockroy (Better Than Ready), from the Neasham-Archibald stable, plus Maher’s second-stringer in Queensland Oaks (Gr 1, 2200m) winner Socks Nation (Sioux Nation) at $19, and Chris Waller’s Democracy Manifest (Flying Artie), at $16.

But Parnham feels his pair will be at the forefront of efforts to secure another home town victory in the time-honoured handicap, first run in 1887.

The last non-WA horse to win the Railway was Chris Waller’s Good Project (Not A Single Doubt) in 2015. Before that, it was the John Thompson/Patinack gelding Gathering (Tale Of The Cat) in 2010.

While both were from the east, they had two things in common which is further bolstering Parnham’s confidence about Zipaway: they were four-year-olds in on the minimum weight.

Since Gathering’s victory 14 years ago, only one horse with more than the minimum weight has won the race, when Luckygray (Bradbury’s Luck) scored with 58 kilograms in 2013.

And in that time, eight winners have been four-year-olds, including the past three.

The three factors of four-year-olds, localness and minimum weights are obviously linked. Young Perth horses’ ratings are relatively low compared to the usual eastern visitors, and thus their handicaps are kept down.

It’s a formula Parnham hopes will pay off again in Saturday’s $1.5 million event. While he believes five-year-old Bustler is over the odds at around $19 – although he’ll carry three kilograms more than the 53-kilogram minimum he won with last year – he feels that Zipaway is in the sweet spot as a four-year-old on the lowest weight.

That’s why Parnham’s jockey son Steve, given the choice, has jumped onto Zipaway and off Bustler, who he rode to last year’s victory and in his last start. That was two weeks ago when the two horses also competed, both carrying 59 kilograms at weight-for-age, in Ascot’s Lee Steere Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m).

Bustler, second-up from a spell, was the widest runner on the turn and had to be balanced up after a bump entering the straight, but powered home for a 0.28–length second behind Casino Seventeen (Casino Prince), a rival again in the Railway, at $21.

Zipaway, in his first run since March, plied an inside line without a lot of room in the straight to run an eye-catching fourth, beaten 1.15 lengths.

“I couldn’t be happier with both my horses. They’re both trending the right way, and I’m going in with a degree of confidence that they’ll shape up,” Parnham told ANZ Bloodstock News.

“It was a tough decision for Steve [Parnham], but he’s had to make a choice and has gone with Zipaway. He’s picked the horse who’s a four-year-old, and the formula is there. They have a good record in the race, as do horses on the minimum. I tend to agree with Steve.”

Neither horse will likely be trapped on the inside, with Bustler drawing barrier ten for Jarrad Noske, and Zipaway 12.

“Drawing low isn’t necessarily the best thing from the 1600 [metres] at Ascot, especially in a Group 1 where all the guys are riding pretty competitively,” Parnham said.

“I expect my two will be in the moving line, hopefully with a bit of cover, which is the best place to be for them.

“I do respect the east coast horses, they always come here with the right horses, in the right stables. Light Infantry Man was very good last start, and you’ve got to have respect for that form and the yard he’s in.

“And Bjorn Baker’s been here with Overpass with tremendous success, so he knows how to travel horses over here, and he wouldn’t be bringing her if she wasn’t up to the mark.”

Still, Parnham points to some apparent difficulties faced by eastern states raiders at this time of year, after a busy spring.

“I haven’t gone into depth into what they’ve been doing this time, but it’s hard, and any trainer will say the same thing,” he said. “Unless they’re targeted for this particular carnival, it’s not easy. You’re trying to peak them in the east coast, then give them a little freshen and come over here to do the job again.

“I’m certainly not writing them off, but locals hold their own over here as a rule, and hopefully I’ve got the ones who will shape up.”

Parnham reported Bustler (pictured below) had “thickened up” through his spell into his five-year-old season, while Zipaway was “a big, strong horse now, and has come forward as a four-year-old”.

“Bustler is more mature now. He was a bit funny as a younger horse, but he’s bullet-proof now,” he said. “If you went on his trackwork alone, you’d probably say he’s going better than last year, and he’ll be hard to hold out again.

“Zipaway has only had the one lead-up run, and that was my intention. He’s a very willing worker, keeps himself fit, and is a real athlete. I don’t have any question with his fitness.

“On weights and measures, everything points to his age group. Zipaway is probably the better chance.”

Playing God also has eight-year-old Comfort Me as a $23 chance in the Railway, whose recent Eurythmic Stakes (Gr 3, 1400m) win was followed by a fading ninth when favourite in the Lee Steere, as well as $41 hope Mojo Rhythm, a last-start winner of the RJ Peters Stakes (Gr 3, 1500m).

Trained by Parnham to his two top tier successes in Perth’s Kingston Town Classic (Gr 1, 1800m), Playing God reigns supreme in the west, by his two-straight state sires’ titles, and his service fee, bumped up this year from $33,000 to $49,500 – $38,500 more than the second-highest.

Playing God’s past seven books of mares have risen consecutively, the latest four going from 96 to 128, 132 and 146. He had comfortably WA’s largest book in 2023 – with Darling View studmates Splintex (Snitzel) and Lightsaber (Zoustar) next with 112 and 100.

Such numbers would suggest Playing God will have a strong stab at the record of his own sire Blackfriars (Danehill), who won 12 straight WA titles, although at 17, age may count against him in the end.

He’s had 22 stakes winners from 204 runners at a keen 10.8 per cent, and would have his third Group 1 winner if Zipaway, Comfort Me or Mojo Rhythm score on Saturday.

Just as he acquitted himself well in three Melbourne racing campaigns, including Group 1 thirds in the Australian Guineas (1600m), Australian Cup (2000m), Turnbull Stakes (2000m) and Orr Stakes (1400m), Panham believes he could also succeed anywhere as a sire, not just on his home patch.

“I do believe Playing God would do a job anywhere in Australia,” he said. “He’s got such a great strike–rate with stakes winners to runners, et cetera. He’s a good stallion – not just because he’s in WA; he’s a good stallion full stop.”

Parnham tried Melbourne with his current top pair in the autumn, with different results. Bustler ran ninth in Caulfield’s CF Orr Stakes and 13th in Flemington’s Blamey Stakes (Gr 2, 1600m).

Zipaway ran third in Caulfield’s Autumn Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m), where subsequent dual Group 1 winner Southport Tycoon (Written Tycoon) ran second, before a 12th in the Australian Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m).

Parnham admitted to a tactics error at Flemington by instructing son Steve to go forward from a wide gate owing to earlier patterns on the day, with the horse then trapped wide. Zipaway then atoned with a 0.85–length third in Moonee Valley’s Alister Clark Stakes (Gr 2, 2040m).

“Bustler just wan’t right. He wasn’t the same horse as he was here,” said Parnham, offering perhaps the fact the gelding had too short a break after his summer home campaign. “Melbourne wasn’t an indication of his true ability.

“But Zipaway ran two super races. His third at Caulfield was terrific, and at Moonee Valley he pulled hard but kept coming at the line.

“He had a good spell after he came home, and he’s ready to go.”