New Zealand trainers Roger James and Robert Wellwood know the pain of losing a race that looks won, and also know that the reverse is a much more satisfying outcome.
Last year, the pair watched in horror as the subsequent New Zealand Derby winner Road To Paris went right and jockey Masa Hashizume went left at the 50m mark when the Wellington Stakes was all but won and then lost in a stride.
But their latest Australian raider Sweynesday was the beneficiary when Alabama Lass, who decided to take on the running rail at the 100m mark in the King’s Plate on Kiwi day in March.
“Masa was on both of them and came back and said this one makes up for Road To Paris,” Wellwood said. “You don’t see it happen that often, especially at the level these horses race at. It is not a nice way to win or lose.”
Sweynesday is a Group 3 winner from his lucky last start victory, but it was the run before that, which got James and Wellwood thinking about a Brisbane winter campaign. There, he chased home Jigsaw and Arkansaw Kid in the Sistema Railway Stakes in January
“When Jigsaw went back home [from New Zealand] and won a Group 1 and the Quokka, we thought he wasn’t that far away from him at weight-for-age, and he might be worth a crack,” said Wellwood, who has travelled with the sprinter.
Sweynesday will line up in Saturday’s Takeover Target Stakes at Gosford before heading north with the Kingsford Smith Cup and Stradbroke as targets. He is a $7.50 chance with his push-forward style, hopefully helping to overcome a wide draw in gate 11.
“It is a good start for him and if he runs well we can head on to Brisbane with confidence,” Wellwood said. “He has settled in here well, and it will be interesting to where he fits over here.
“He has been a late maturer and he just continues to get better.”
Meanwhile, Solid Gold, which won at Group 3 level over 2100m at Ellerslie last month, has joined the Australian team on her way to the Queensland Oaks via next week’s Rough Habit Plate.
