There might be a million-dollar prize on offer in Saturday’s Stradbroke at Eagle Farm but trainers Tony Pike and Tony McEvoy are already plotting how to take advantage of the $45 million Everest carnival with group 1 winners The Bostonian and Despatch.
Overshadowing how their horses drew on Wednesday in the Stradbroke – in which The Bostonian is the $4.60 top pick from barrier 10 – was what Pike called Sydney's "staggering" new races.
Michael Cahill rides The Bostonian to victory in the Doomben 10000.Credit:AAP
The Bostonian has put himself in the minds of Everest slotholders with group 1 victories in the Doomben 10,000 and Kingsford Smith Cup and will look to become the first horse to complete the Queensland triple crown on Saturday.
“He has done a great job to win those two races and he is in great order but he has his share of weight,” Pike said. “If he can win it on Saturday it would be a marvellous achievement.
“We are going home straight after Saturday but we’ll be back in Sydney because there are so many races for him there in the spring. If you said he would be in the Everest last year, I would have laughed at you.
"That [Everest spot] is not up to me, it is up to slot holders but he is showing he is a good group 1 sprinter and he would be out of place. Also, don’t forget my other runner on Saturday, Endless Drama, his best trip is 1400m.”
It takes a good horse to win the double of the 10,000 and the Stradbroke, with Campaign King the last to do it in 1988, while the Kingsford Smith Cup-Stradbroke double has only been done by Thorn Park in 2004.
In recent times, the Goodwood form has proven strong for the Stradbroke as the races have moved closer together. The world’s best sprinter, Santa Ana Lane, won both races last year and Despatch will look to emulate the feat 12 months on.
He will jump from the coveted rails alley after surprising even his trainer by his rapid development with four straight wins this preparation.
“He went from a benchmark race to listed company and then won the main lead-up [the McKay] and demanded I run him in the Goodwood,” McEvoy said. “He won it and has won seven of one. He is just a bulldog. He showed that in the Goodwood.
“We would love to get him to Sydney in the spring because there are so many options for sprinters, and if he is a Goodwood and Stradbroke winner that would help because it might make the slotholders come to us. He handles soft tracks and really we don’t know how good he is yet. It is just exciting to have a sprinter like him at the right time with all those races in Sydney.”
Meanwhile, apprentice Billy Owen has been suspended for two months after a punting spree involving dogs, trots and international racing was discovered by Racing NSW stewards.
Owen, who was stood down from his rides on Wednesday, had bets that were into the thousands but he was found not to have bet on any thoroughbred races in Australia.
Victorian trainer David Brideoake has been issued two charges by Racing NSW after the scratching of Princess Jenni from the Adrian Knox Stakes on the second day of The Championships.
Princess Jenni was found to have dry blood and a lump on her neck on arrival to the Randwick. She had been inspected twice by stewards on race morning but nothing was found.
Brideoake was charged by stewards that he did, without the permission of the Stewards, inject and/or caused to be injected Princess Jenni between 7.45am and 11.58am on April 6. A second charge that he did administer and/or caused to be administered medication to Princess Jenni on the same day and time scale has also been issued.
Racing writer for The Sydney Morning Herald