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Our Egyptian Raine ready to shed ‘bridesmaid
tag’
THE Sydney Morning Herald reports that trainer Grahame
Begg has worked wonders with a headstrong Kiwi mare,
but she still has an unfortunate knack of finishing
second.
Our Egyptian Raine is a wound-up thoroughbred with
a need for speed. A temperamental dame with attitude
which Begg is content to harness. It hasn't been
easy. Begg warns the former New Zealander, which was
once trained out of a paddock, is again ready to
turn
it on in a major Australian sprint. This time it's
tomorrow’s $1 million Stradbroke Handicap at
Eagle Farm.
Begg gave the all-clear soon after Our Egyptian
Raine continued her unorthodox training regime with
an
explosive workout on the Eagle Farm course proper
on Tuesday.
This equine powder keg doesn't hold back on the
track. She doesn't cruise into a workout like most
thoroughbreds,
which pick up speed before cutting loose over the
last two, three, four or five furlongs. She just
goes bang. From reefing her head around while trotting
to flat out. There is no in-between.
“
It is unusual but that's all we ever do,” Begg
said. “Give her short, sharp work because when
she goes, she goes flat out. We only do that once
a week, for she puts so much effort into what she
does I don't think we need to fight her over a longer
journey. If you try to make them do it over a longer
distance, they bust up inside.”
Begg took over the training of Our Egyptian Raine
less than 12 months ago. The five-year-old had
already won the group 1 Railway Stakes in her homeland.
She
was the type of horse any trainer would want, but
she has been a challenge, both mental and physical.
Begg's first assignment was to teach Our Egyptian
Raine slow work. The ‘short, sharp stuff’ can
stay but the conditioning work cannot be carried
out with the old bull-at-a-gate attitude.
“
The work riders back in Sydney have done a great
job just getting her to relax,” Begg said. “We
haven't altered her fast work in training but she
relaxes so much better now. She used to go hard all
the time.
“
We mix her work up now, we don't take her to the
track every day of the week at home. We do a few
different things, we lead her off the pony, we take
her out to the beach a couple of times a week and
ride her in the water.”
Working with Our Egyptian Raine, pandering to her
needs, has had the desired result.
Begg will also add winkers to her racing gear on
Saturday. Winkers have a similar affect to blinkers
but provide a more open view.
“
We've got her relaxing, got her breathing right,
and that's all been transferred into her races,” Begg
said. “You'll notice in her races now she is
relaxing, where before for the previous trainer she
used to get out and go. She led all the time but
last start in the [Doomben] 10,000 she was back fifth
on the fence and beautifully relaxed.”
On that occasion Our Egyptian Raine finished second.
Again it was in a group 1 event. That's the fourth
time this year Our Egyptian Raine has returned
to the runner-up stall after a Group 1 sprint.
“
It is extremely frustrating,” Begg said. “There
wouldn't be many I know that have run four group
1 seconds in one preparation.
“
But you know she is going out and doing the best
every time she goes out there. She keeps running
into one better or the conditions are against her
on the day.”
Like in the All Aged Stakes at Randwick at the
recent autumn carnival. Begg reckons Our Egyptian
Raine ‘couldn't
have been any better,’ but victory was snatched
from her by the barnstorming finish of the Doncaster
winner Private Steer, which won the Stradbroke last
year.
“
That was the hardest one to take,” Begg said. “That
one was devastating.”
Now for the Stradbroke, which hasn't been kind to
Begg. The trainer prepared Monopolize to finish third
in 1996 and second in 1998 when, Begg pointed out, ‘it
took an Australasian record from Toledo to beat him.’
“
I've had a second and third so I'm due for a win,” Begg
said. “Put it this way, she [Our Egyptian Raine]
is in the right form to be able to do it this year.
“
She will carry 53.5 kilograms and over the years
the form out of the Doomben 10,000 has stood up.
I can't see any reason it won't stand up this year.”
Adding to his confidence is a family history of
success with elite fillies and mares. Begg's father,
Neville,
was renowned as a trainer who developed the fairer
sex into top-notch thoroughbreds. None was better
than Emancipation, and she headed an enviable list.
The son was there most of the way. “
This [Our Egyptian Raine] is a very good mare,” Grahame
Begg
said. “She deserves to win a group 1 in
Australia and I'm sure she will before her career
is over. Let's hope it is this Saturday.”
Group One milestone in sight for Freedman
IT may not happen this season but it will happen.
AAP Racing reports that’s the philosophy champion
Melbourne trainer, Lee Freedman, has adopted as he
zeroes in on a Group 1 milestone.
Freedman needs only one Group 1 winner to become
just the third Australian trainer to reach 100 after
legendary trainers T J Smith and Bart Cummings.
Smith trained 282 Group 1 winners in a stellar career
while Cummings has 244 winners at the elite level.
Freedman is next with 99, one ahead of the late
Colin Hayes, with Sydney’s John Hawkes on 82
Group 1 winners.
Freedman, who began training in 1982, is the only
Australian trainer to win the Cox Plate, Caulfield
Cup, Melbourne Cup and Golden Sllipper in the same
season.
Only seven Group One races remain this season but
Freedman has limited his chances of joining his champion
peers to just two races next month – the Stradbroke
with True Glo and Brisbane Cup with former Kiwi stayer
Maze.
Boss within reach of record earnings for jockey
THE Sydney Telegraph reports that Glen Boss could
set a record for prizemoney earnings by an Australian
jockey as early as Monday.
Statistics indicate that the champion rider has
amassed a staggering $12,284,714 this season from
102 wins – a mark that looks certain to swell
on the strength of his engagements at Eagle Farm
this weekend.
If Boss can drive King’s Chapel and Winning
Belle to success in the $1 million Stradbroke and
$500,000 Queensland Derby tomorrow, he will lift
his prizemoney tally to almost $13.3mn.
Then on Monday, further success in the $575,000
TJ Smith Stakes with Star Shiraz and the $500,000
Brisbane Cup on Double El Aitch would push him within
reach of an unheard of $14mn.
“Every year I try to be one of the top Group
1 riders. That’s what really drives me,” Boss
said. “If you do that you are going to be in
the top money earners. The money factor isn’t
what drives me, Group 1s do.”
Ten Group 1 winners have rocketed Boss into a peerless
earning bracket this season, but it is a relaxed
approach, which he credits for lifting his results.
“It goes back to an injury I had – now
I’m serious about my riding but not my results,” Boss
said. “Winning and losing is important, but
it isn’t life and death stuff.”
Winning Belle’s loss in last Saturday’s
Queensland Oaks left the rider unruffled, but he
is eager to link with the filly again in the Derby.
“What people have to realise is that she was
third-up after a 12 month break,” Boss said. “When
you sit down and analyse it, it was a good run.”
Draws leave Darren looking for Divine guidance
THE Sydney Morning Herald reports that the prospects
of champion jockey Darren Beadman winning the Stradbroke-Queensland
Derby double were diminished following the barrier
draws.
Beadman’s Stradbroke topweight, True Glo,
will start from barrier 19 with the four emergencies
out, while his Derby mount, Lutalo, will run from
outside of the 20-horse field.
True Glo’s part owner Bruce Clark is banking
on experience and Divine intervention to aid Beadman’s
skills.
“True Glo won the Queensland Guineas from
barrier 19, so he knows a bit about the wide, open
spaces at Eagle Farm,” Clark said.
“He doesn’t know there are any inside
lanes, and the good news is we’ll have God’s
representative on side.”
Lutalo’s trainer, John O’Shea, was ‘gutted’ by
the draw. “Draw a gate like that, you either
go forward or right back,” he said.
“If you go right back, you’re going
to have six or seven horses in your way that probably
shouldn’t be in the race.
“The key to winning these races is getting
on the back of something that will take you into
the race, but that has now become an extremely difficult
scenario.”
Freedman now subscribes to ‘visitor’s
draw’ theory
TRAINER Lee Freedman has never subscribed to the ‘visitor’s
draw’ theory, but after his Stradbroke hope
True Glo received barrier 23 he is now thinking otherwise.
The Melbourne Age reports that early in May Freedman
took five horses to the Adelaide Cup carnival with
all of them drawing off the track, so he is now giving
some credence to the theory.
“Sure I’m disappointed at the draw,
but there’s not much I can do, is there,” he
asked?
“Firstly, the horse was penalised and now
he’s got a further penalty by drawing out on
the very outside.
“I took five horses to Adelaide and they drew
nearly the outside in every race they contested and
I’ve been struck again with True Glo finishing
up in a shocking barrier. We’ll just have to
go back with him and hope for the best.”
Freedman enjoyed success in the Stradbroke in 1996
with Danasinga.
Two to challenge Kiwi for Stradbroke favouritism
LEADING bookmaker, Bruce Myers, believes Our Egyptain
Raine and Falkirk will challenge King’s Chapel
for favouritism for tomorrow’s $1 million Stradbroke
at Eagle Farm following the barrier draw.
AAP Racing reports that King’s Chapel consolidated
his position as favourite after drawing barrier 13,
but Myers believes that could change by Saturday.
He expects Our Egyptian Raine, which drew the coveted
rails barrier, and Falkirk, which drew five, will
lead the charge to topple King’s Chapel for
favouritism.
“With Our Egyptian Raine and Falkirk drawing
perfectly they will come right in now in the betting
and it should be a great battle for favouritism with
King’s Chapel,” Myers said.
“Falkirk probably hasn’t had the perfect
preparation like King’s Chapel has but I don’t
think he’s inferior in ability.”
The barrier draw has dramatically impacted on Myer’s
assessment of BTC Sprint winner, True Glo, which
is now ‘friendless’ after landing the
horror alley of 23.
“I know it’s stating the obvious but
I think the barrier was crucial for True Glo,” Myers
said.
Ryan warming to Stradbroke prospects of Recurring
TRAINER Gerald Ryan is warming to the prospect of
snaring his maiden Stradbroke after Recurring snuck
into town during the week in outstanding order.
The Sydney Telegraph reports that the mare, which
motored to the line for an unlucky second in the
G1 Goodwood in Adelaide, has been shielded from the
limelight.
“Recurring is just so tough,” Ryan said. “She
looks like a female but is as strong as a gelding.
She arrived on Tuesday night and has settled in really
well.
“Before she left Sydney she worked really
well at Rosehill and I couldn’t be happier
with her.”
Recurring has certainly travelled this preparation
as Ryan chases that all-important Group 1 win with
her.
Firstly, there was the All Aged Stakes on her home
turf but she didn’t take part after failing
to jump.
Then there was the long trek to Adelaide and the
Goodwood where Ryan thought she was ‘a really
good chance,’ only to finish a bridesmaid.
And now it is to Eagle Farm and a chance to claim
the largest share of a $1 million prize. “It
is a month between races but Recurring always runs
well fresh,” Ryan said.
Dodgem out of Derby with leg problem
AAP Racing reports that Grand Prix Stakes runner-up
Dodgem is out of tomorrow’s $500,000 after
trainer Gerald Ryan ordered X-rays of the gelding’s
near foreleg following a below par track work session.
“The girl who rides him work said he didn’t
feel right so I got an X-ray on his near-side knee,
which showed there were a few changes going on,” Ryan
said.
“There are no floating bone chips but instead
of risking him we’ll spell him and give him
time to recover properly.”
Ryan will now rely upon Reclaim, which could become
the 12th three-year-old to win the Grand Prix – Derby
double after owner Les Cowell agreed to pay the $27,500
late entry fee to run.
“Les said, ‘you can’t win it if
they’re sitting at home in the box’ and
the horse has coped really well with everything that’s
been asked of him,” Ryan said.
Levante earns an Eye Liner start
CONSISTENT sprinter Levante will be striving to
enhance his imposing Ipswich record when he lines
up in tomorrow week’s $175,000 Eye Liner Stakes
following his runaway Doomben win on Wednesday.
Stephen Rodgers reports on AAP Racing that the heavily
backed Levante cruised home by four lengths from
Penola in the Sky Channel Handicap.
Trainer Desleigh Forster believes Levante deserved
a tilt at the Eye Liner given his excellent form
at the provincial circuit.
“He’s only been beaten once at Ipswich
and 10 days between this race and the Eye Liner will
be perfect,” Forster said.
“He doesn’t get the credit that most
horses do but the beauty about him is that he jumps,
he runs and puts himself in the right spot.”
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