Talented Savabeel mare Cruising Speed returned to winning form with a slick win at Doomben on Saturday. The John Meagher-trained mare overcame an outside barrier draw to score a narrow win at her second start in a new preparation. Ridden by Brisbane’s champion jockey Jeff Lloyd for the first time, Cruising Speed jumped from the second outside gate and had to work for the first 300 metres before gaining the lead. She went clear on the turn and held out a late challenge to win by a short half head. “It was a win with plenty of merit because she worked hard to get over from the wide draw and she went quickly when Jeff asked her to lengthen stride at the point of the turn. “She ran the fastest final 600 metres of any race on the card and it was not a surprise that she was tiring the last little bit because she had done a fair bit of work and is still at the stage of her preparation where she has room for improvement fitness-wise. “She is a decent mare and the Ontrack Thoroughbreds team has been great with her and have allowed me to give her plenty of time to mature and grow up without putting undue pressure on her as a young horse and that’s going to pay dividends in the months ahead,” said John Meagher. Purchased out of the 2014 Karaka Premier Sale by Grant Morgan of Ontrack Thoroughbreds, Cruising Speed is a true product of Waikato Stud, Matamata. She is by their champion stallion Savabeel out of a mare by O’Reilly who also stood at the stud. Cruising Speed has raced 14 times for five wins and three minor placings for earnings of $122,100. Rider Jeff Lloyd was impressed with Cruising Speed’s effort and predicted a bright future ahead for the mare. “She is a lovely mare and showed a great turn of foot today. I know she was being challenged late in the piece but that’s probably my fault because when I asked her to lengthen stride at the turn she went a lot quicker than I had anticipated and that left her vulnerable the last little bit. “Her turn of foot took me a bit by surprise and now that I’ve had a sit on her I would be a bit more conservative when asking her to quicken. I think she has a lot more success in store for her,” said Jeff. Ontrack Thoroughbreds Managing Director Grant Morgan said the Savabeel-O’Reilly cross was a strong factor in the selection of Cruising Speed as a yearling. “The cross with Savabeel and O’Reilly is an amazing success story of Australasian breeding and it is something like a 20% strike rate winning black type races. The fillies and mares bred on this cross have been very good. “Cruising Speed is capable of succeeding at black type level and she has a magic pedigree as her third dam is the champion mare of her generation Emancipation. We will work our way through the grades with Cruising Speed but we are confident there is a nice race waiting for her in the future,” said Grant Morgan. Congratulations to our winning owners: Ontrack Thoroughbreds Vanilla Sky Syndicate, Judy Coleman, Let It Ride Syndicate, Jenny Pixley, Marilyn and Bernie Searles, Bernie Warnick, Woongarra Syndicate, Judy Bandidt, Dominic Bassi, Prof James Dale, Brett Grogan, Trish and Gordon Henry, Haimes Racing Syndicate. Rising talent Test The World is rapidly becoming the star of Sydney winter racing. The Ontrack Thoroughbreds managed filly notched win four from four starts this campaign with a brave victory in the $100,000 Benchmark Handicap at Rosehill on Saturday to take her career record to seven starts, five wins and a second and a third. Test The World had to cope with a heavy track on Saturday and a rise in class, but she proved she simply likes winning by leading all the way and prevailing in a stirring four horse finish. “She was there to be beaten on Saturday as she landed in front and was a sitting duck. I honestly thought we were in trouble 200 metres out when they descended on her, but she is one tough filly and the others simply couldn’t get passed her,” said successful trainer Bjorn Baker. “I am convinced she is a better filly chasing than she is when leading, but from the wide draw she had to go forward and when she landed in front rider Jason Collett did the right thing by just letting her roll along rather than try and restrain her against her will. Her best wins have been when she is chasing and she is still looking for further than 1200 metres “It was a super win and she pulled up in great order, so we will look to giving her another run in this preparation. That could be this coming Saturday when there’s a Benchmark 85 for fillies and mares over 1400 metres at Randwick or the following weekend there’s a 1500 metre race at Rosehill. “We will keep a close eye on her during the week and see how she progresses but she has definitely proved the find of Sydney racing this prep,” said Bjorn Baker. Ontrack Managing Director Grant Morgan paid $40,000 for Test The World at an Inglis Sale and she has now banked $230,200 for her group of owners, including $60,000 from the BOBS bonus scheme. “She simply responds to any challenge put in front of her and it’s interesting to note that in four runs this time in she has had a different jockey each time. That was simply because of circumstances, but it has made no difference as she just goes out and gets the job done each time. “We have always had a good opinion of her and it’s exciting to thing how much further she can progress because she’s still green and relatively inexperienced. With a nice break she can come back in the spring and be prepared for some races with black type attached. “Bjorn has always said she is at least one preparation away from her peak, so the future looks exciting. For Ontrack there’s plenty to look forward to over the spring because we also have multiple Group winning filly Savanna Amour getting ready for a spring campaign,” said Grant Morgan. Classy filly Test The World handled another challenge with an impressive Saturday win at Rosehill. The Bjorn Baker-trained three-year-old is now unbeaten in three runs this preparation and Saturday’s win followed victories at Warwick Farm and Gosford. She has now been to the races six times and her record is four wins, a second and a third for stakes earnings of $156,200, an impressive return for a filly who was purchased out of the Inglis Sales for $40,000 by Ontrack Thoroughbred’s Managing Director Grant Morgan. “Stepping up to Saturday grade in Sydney is always a big challenge for a young horse, but Test The World was pretty authoritative and though the margin was narrow, she was clearly superior. “Rider Corey Brown commented that the filly was gawking around and that’s probably a combination of her still learning her trade and not having raced at Rosehill previously. “There’s a couple more races on the Sydney calendar this month that are perfect targets and we will just let her work through the grades as the $100,000 stakes are fantastic opportunities for a filly like her,” said Grant Morgan. Trainer Bjorn Baker was confident that the filly could overcome her outside draw on Saturday and he devised a pre-race plan that worked perfectly. “She has good tactical speed so I asked Corey Brown to be positive out of the gates and he rode her perfectly. She looked like she might get caught wide for a moment but when the Waterhouse-Bott horse went forward Corey was able to slot into a perfect trail. “Test The World has always showing us a lot and her current form is the result of the patient policy we have been able to adopt with this filly. Ontrack Thoroughbreds and Grant Morgan are very patient and comfortable with letting us take our time with this filly and we are now reaping the rewards of that policy. “I’m confident there is a lot more to come with her and reckon she is going to improve a lot into her next campaign and don’t think we will see the best of this filly until this time next year. “There are a few options for her around Sydney over the next month or so and with such good stakes on offer it makes sense to target these, but I’m pretty confident that she will take the step up to black type company when we ask her,” said Bjorn Baker. Congratulations to our owners: Forti Rossi, Garry Batchelder, Bruce Burnell, Alan Wetton, David Moretti, Denis and Margaret Frew, Michael Byrne, Peter Davis, Anthony Barbieri, Ray Barker, Pam Bayles, Tony Halloran, Gordon Henry, Ailsa Morrison-Galt, Wayne Muller, Kevin O’Brien, Mark Ostermeyer, Terry West. |
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