Little known gelding Eduardo stages a brilliant sectional times performance straight out of left-field
At only his third race start, Eduardo showed dazzling pace in leading, producing a 200 metre sectional breakdown (from the 1000m) of 10.03 and 10.13 – that is 400 metres in 20.16, the fastest 400 metres On The Watch can recall in the six year history of this column.
Eduardo then went 11.11 for his next 200 metres (for 600m in 31.27) then 11.46 to give him a very fast 800 metre time (1000m to the 200m) in 42.73.
That took its toll in the closing stages, Eduardo being run down and beaten a long neck by the promising Peter and Paul Snowden-trained gelding Spending To Win (Snitzel) in a time of 1:02.80 for the 1100 metre journey (11.41 200m rate), equivalent to 1200 metres in 1:08.50.
And while it may be questionable to directly compare times from different race meetings and different periods, it is interesting nevertheless to compare Eduardo’s sectionals to none other than the unbeaten champion Black Caviar (Bel Esprit), who unsurprisingly is On The Watch’s sprinting benchmark.
Black Caviar returned the fastest final 800 metres observed to date by On The Watch in winning the 2013 Lightning Stakes (Gr 1, 1000m) at Flemington – her 200 metre breakdown was:10.27, 10.21 (400m in 20.58), 10.17 (600m in 30.75) and 11.05 for a final 800 metres in an astonishing 41.80.
Somehow on Saturday, Eduardo has done the unthinkable and clocked a faster 400 metre section, Black Caviar running 20.58 with Eduardo 20.16 – some 0.42 seconds quicker than Black Caviar and when having only his third race start in a restricted career.
We hasten to add that On The Watch probably should not mention Eduardo in the same breath as arguably Australia’s greatest sprinter of all time – we do so only as a form of demonstration to illustrate the merit of the pace set by Eduardo.
Trained by Sarah Zschoke at Cranbourne, Eduardo has only raced three times and did not commence racing until a late four-year-old last year where he won a maiden (1117m) at Moe by six lengths on June 18.
He then came out and led throughout for an easy win in fast time in a Benchmark 64 (1300m) at Sandown Hillside on July 4, prior to his front-running performance when second on Saturday.
Where he goes from here is hard to guess, at his age with so few starts one suspects Eduardo has had his issues but he certainly did something exceptional on the weekend in clocking the fastest 400 metres we have observed so far in analysing times for this column.
Another smart performance, judging by fast mid-race sectionals, was the first-up victory recorded by last season’s top rated juvenile, the Grahame Begg-trained Written By (Written Tycoon) in taking out the Three-Year-Old Plate (1000m) earlier in the day.
Beginning quickly as usual, Written By shared the lead at a quick tempo before getting clear halfway down the straight and then fighting back gamely to score by a short neck from Gytrash (Lope De Vega) in a time of 57.59.
Written By’s early sectionals were impressive (from the 800m): 10.33, 11.02 (400m in 21.35) 11.17 (600m in 32.52) with his final 200 metres in 11.51 to give him a fast last 800 metres in 44.03 – looking primed for a very good three-year-old career.
The feature race, the Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) saw the Godolphin-raced Jungle Cat (Iffraaj) finish gamely off a fast tempo to grab a narrow but impressive first-up win at his Australian debut and provide another training triumph in this country for Charlie Appleby.
Jungle Cat, carrying 57 kilogram top weight, came with a well-judged bid under James Doyle to score by a half head from Dollar For Dollar (High Chaparral), with Land Of Plenty (Stratum) a short half head away in third.
Time was a quick 1:22.31, which was due mainly to the strong pace set by Dollar For Dollar who worked to cross to the lead from a wide barrier (13). He then travelled really well, got a break at the 200m before being caught on the post for second.
Dollar For Dollar – significantly, from the barrier – clocked: 22.96 (first 400m), 34.50 (first 600m), 57.55 (first 1000m) and 1:08.89 for his first 1200 metres (until reaching the 200m mark).
The other feature race on Saturday was the Golden Rose Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) at Rosehill where the Chris Waller-trained colt The Autumn Sun (Redoute’s Choice) showed his quality in winning his second Group 1 race in five starts, having won the J J Atkins Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) in June.
Again there was a quick mid-tempo, which was set by the leader Danawi (Exceed And Excel) where that colt clocked 45.31 for his 800 metres (from the 1200m to the 400m) that contributed to the fast overall time of 1:22.24.
The winner, due to drawing the outside barrier (9) remained at the tail of the field before The Autumn Sun produced his brilliant finishing burst to beat his stablemate Zousain (Zoustar) by a short neck with Graff (Star Witness) just under a length away third.
The Autumn Sun recorded impressive closing sectionals with his last 1200 metres in a fast 1:07.56, last 1000 metres in 56.34, last 800 metres in 44.09, last 600 metres in 33.56 with his last 400 metres in 22.31.
The high quality colt now heads to the Caulfield Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) on October 13 where The Autumn Sun has become a dominant favourite to make it three Group 1 victories in six starts.