MORPHETTVILLE PREVIEW Sunday, May 2, 2010 SOUTH AUSTRALIAN DERBY (2500M) Race 6, 3.25pm (Adelaide time) Historically, the Group 1 South Australian Derby is a race of significance because some great horses have won the race and have gone on to make an impact later in their careers. Four SA Derby winners have won the Melbourne Cup, including Subzero (1992) and Gatum Gatum (1963). Other important winners include Ziema (2nd behind Light Fingers in the 1965 Melbourne Cup), Mummify (2003 Caulfield Cup winner), Dayana (multiple Derby winner) and Shiva’s Revenge (2nd behind Let’s Elope in the 1991 Melbourne Cup). Last year’s winner Rebel Raider became the fifth horse to complete the Victoria Derby–SA Derby double, and the first since the SA Derby was moved from the spring to the autumn in 1979. I have gone through this Derby field with a comb, and I keep coming back to one factor – class. It’s class that saw horses such as Rebel Raider, Mummify and Testafiable (2006) win this race in recent years – both Mummify and Testafiable dropped back in class from good performances in the G1 AJC Derby. For that reason I keep going back to Extra Zero as the horse to beat. He certainly is the class runner. In the spring, Extra Zero fully tested Monaco Consul in the G1 Victoria Derby (2500m, Flemington), and although his autumn form wasn’t to that level, he did win the G2 Autumn Classic (1800m, Caulfield) before finishing an excellent fifth behind Shoot Out in the AJC Derby after a torrid run. That’s easily better than any other form line in this race, as
I doubt another horse in this field has the talent at this stage to be competitive in the Sydney Classic. The next best form line is the Listed Chairman’s Stakes (2014m), run at Morphettville two weeks ago. This race was won last year by Rebel Raider, and also by Mummify and Markham (1997). This year the improving Red Colossus was too strong for Token Of Honour, with Kidnapped running on strongly for third. All three have strong claims in the Derby – Red Colossus has that touch of class I was referring to; Token Of Honour will be improved by that run, his first for three weeks, and Kidnapped is starting to show the form that won him the G2 Sandown Guineas (1600m) in the spring. While I believe class will prevail, this field includes some promising young stayers that will run well. Second King has had only four starts, but all his runs have been beauties and he’s run the trip right out. Importantly, trainer Mick Kent has won this race before (Bullwinkle 1994) and he rates this horse as highly as Bullwinkle. Tenzing and the similarly named Sherpa Tenzing will run the distance out strongly – they only need good runs in the race from wide draws to be competitive. I expect the filly Bint Maher to run a cheeky race. Her form is better than it reads on paper. And the Aldersons promising colt Sea Galleon looks a real prospect. I believe that covers the chances in an intriguing contest. The tips: Extra Zero to beat Red Colossus, Kidnapped, Sea Galleon, Token Of Honour and Second King.
SPEED MAP Predicted positions on settling
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AND ALSO Three words roll off the tongue when considering tomorrow’s Melbourne meeting – Caulfield, Moody, Nolen. Sydney is done and dusted, so for the first time for a while all come together in a horses (and trainers and jockeys) for courses fashion, and there is every reason to believe the trainer Peter Moody and the jockey Luke Nolen will add to their two wins at Sandown on Wednesday and their ladder-leading 61 and 54 for the season. To put those figures in context: David Hayes is next on the trainers’ list with 35 wins (minus 26); Damien Oliver is second on the jockeys’ premiership with 43.5 (minus 10.5). If that’s not enough, Moody’s win rate is 19.2% (just on one in five) and Nolen’s is almost as good at 17.4% – no guarantee that there’ll be a winner or two from the six times they’ll combine tomorrow, but you should have no qualms betting that the score will keep climbing. Molen – or is it Noody? – get together with It’s Gam e O n ($14, R2), Glaz e ($6.50, R3), Elucidate ($9, R4), Tan Ta t J e t ($18, R6), H ead O v e r H e els ($8, R7) and T e e E mar ($5, R8). There’s nothing at Typhoon Tracy odds there, but there’s plenty of eachway value and the chance to couple up some of them. If you can wait, Tee Emar looks the anchor. NSW has a classy metro meeting with three Listed races at Hawkesbury. Our common objective is to find a winner, so Co m m o n O b je c t iv e should give you a run for your money at odds in the Mile, race six. Stephen Howell