JASON Deamer didn’t have too far to look!
The Newcastle trainer is seeking his first Group win at Royal Randwick on Saturday, but was left without a jockey for his talented sprinter Hard To Say when Nash Rawiller switched camp.
Rawiller has partnered the five-year-old in his last two wins, including his first-up Benchmark 100 Handicap (1000m) victory under 60kg at Warwick Farm on October 7.
However, he preferred Mazu, whom he also rode at his last run when runner-up in the Group 2 Premiere Stakes (1200m) at Randwick on October 5, in the $2m Group 3 Sydney Stakes (1200m).
Deamer understandably was disappointed, but fortunately Newcastle jockey Ash Morgan was waiting in the wings.
“Ash knows Hard To Say well,” Deamer said on Friday.
“He has ridden him eight times for four wins; three in Brisbane and the other at Randwick last November.
“Ash also rode Hard To Say in both his trials at Wyong and Newcastle prior to his Warwick Farm resumption.”
Hard To Say, who numbers eight career victories among his 23 starts and has earned just over $733,000 in prizemoney, was a $41 chance with TAB.com.au on Friday afternoon, with recent Melbourne Group 1 winner Southport Tycoon heading the market at $4.20.
“This will be his biggest test for sure,” Deamer said.
“We’ll know where we are at with him, but I’ve been very happy with his progress since his Warwick Farm win. He deserves his chance in a race such as this.”
Deamer went close to clinching a maiden Group 1 when Lovely Jubly was runner-up to Bollinger in the Coolmore Classic (1500m) at Rosehill Gardens in 2003.
He has won three Listed races but never a Group race, though he has also been placed on fouroccasions in Group 3s.
Hard To Say is the sole provincial representative in the Sydney Stakes, regarded as a “consolation” to the $20m The Everest (1200m).
Morgan couldn’t be in better form leading in to the major Randwick meeting.
He won the opener at Taree on Friday on hotpot Bonding ($1.28), then the $100,000 Big Dance Eligibility Taree Cup (2000m) on $17 chance Peshmerga.
Fellow Newcastle trainer Kris Lees also was a Taree winner, taking the Super Maiden Plate (1000m) with Too Darn Hot filly Flame Of Hestia ($1.45 favorite), who was having only her second start and first since March.
With Kembla Grange-trained Well Timed gaining a start in the $1m Silver Eagle (1300m) at
Randwick, there are still a host of provincial runners in the Benchmark 88 Handicap (1400m).
Gosford trainer Adam Duggan has booked country apprentice Mitch Stapleford for topweight Diamond Diesel, stable apprentice Zac Wadick rides Ruby Flyer for leading Hawkesbury trainer Brad Widdup, and Jay Ford is booked for leading Kembla Grange trainers Rob and Luke Price’s Cuban Royale.
Newcastle trainer Nathan Doyle has two representatives. Craig Williams rides Overriding and Jason Collett is on Dalaalaat.
Hawkesbury trainers Jason Attard and Lucy Keegan-Attard have gained a start with first emergency Luvoir, but haven’t declared a rider, whilst Sara Ryan’s Money From The Sky and Ed O’Rourke’s Iron Man are sweating on scratchings to make the final line-up.
Story John Curtis, 19 October, 2024.