Northerly Stakes (Group 1)

FORMERLY known as the Kingston Town Classic, the Group 1 Northerly Stakes over 1,800 metres at Ascot saw the local hope Dom To Shoot take down the four-time Group 1 winner and earner of over A$11 million, Zaaki.

Trained by Sean and Jake Casey and ridden by Jarrad Noske, the Shooting To Win gelding wore down the Annabel Neasham-trained Zaaki who, as his usual style, was trying to do it all from the front end.

Winning by a nose from the nine-year-old Leroidesanimaux gelding, third went to another Perth local, the Playing God three-year-old Zipaway who came into the race off the back of winning the Group 2 West Australian Guineas just two weeks earlier.

“I can’t believe it. What a wonderful horse he has been to us,” said Jake Casey who along with Jarrad Noske was celebrating a maiden Group 1 win.

“The race worked out perfectly. He got a brilliant run through, but you can never be too confident when chasing down a horse as good as Zaaki.”

McMonagle getting

to grips in Melbourne

CHAMPION apprentice Dylan Browne McMonagle is settling into his new environment in Melbourne and got off the mark down under with is first winner on Dublin Journal at Caulfield on Thursday.

He swiflty followed up with another on Friday. On loan to the yard of Ciaron Maher and David Eustace, the 20-year-old from Letterkenny in Co. Donegal took his first Australian ride at Kilmore on November 26th and had placed in seven of his first 10 race rides, across eight different tracks.

Speaking afterwards he said: “It means a lot. We’ve been hitting the crossbar plenty over the two weeks but delighted to get my head in front. Hopefully they’ll keep coming now. I’m getting well looked after and getting plenty of rides in Ciaron and David’s yard.”

Planning to ride in Victoria until the end of January, McMonagle is embracing the challenge. “My boss Joseph (O’Brien) and I had a talk earlier on in the season to decide where to go and to go to the best yard possible and that is definitely with Ciaron and Dave (Eustace),” he added. “I’m learning so much, such as times when riding trackwork. We don’t really do that at home, but it’s a great skill to learn.”

Take back

“Everyone seems to find their line over here without any torture. If you can’t get in, you usually take back until you do get in, but at home, you would try and keep kicking four three or four deep into the bend and hopefully something down on your inside might take back.

“Whereas, over here, if you are three-wide they (trainers) don’t really like that. They’d rather you get back and get in. The pace of the race is the same everywhere. Everyone on the speed wants to go as slow as they can.

“Tactics and all are very similar. The race riding is very competitive but that’s the same where ever you go, really.

“There are just small things you need to tap onto fairly fast about different jockeys and trainers and the tracks are most important as a lot of the tracks over here are a lot tighter and they are flat and they are very fast and horses on the speed keep going if they are good enough.

Oliver signs out

DAMIEN Oliver signs off this weekend when he rides Munhamek for Nick Ryan in the A$1.5 million Damien Oliver Gold Rush over 1,400 metres at Ascot.

Born in 1972 and raised in Western Australia, Oliver lost both his father Ray (in 1975) and brother Jason (2002) to racing accidents.

Landing his first win in 1988 at Bunbury as a 15-year-old apprentice, Oliver has rewritten the record books in Australia riding 3,168 winners, including a record 129 Group 1 victories, as well as being a 10-times Champion Melbourne jockey.

Three times Oliver has won the Melbourne Cup, saluting on Doriemus (1995), Media Puzzle (2002) and Fiorente (2013).

He has also won four Caulfield Cups, two Cox Plates and a Golden Slipper, as well as holding the record for most wins during the Melbourne Cup Carnival at 88.

New Zealand

Lightning strikes for a Classic success

TAB Classic (Group 1)

THE disruption of a false start in the Group 1 TAB Classic at Trentham on Saturday played into the hands of the three left standing when their outside barriers failed to open, forcing the false start.

Jumping from barriers 15, 16 and 17, Faraglioni, Desert Lightning and Aegon remained in their gates as the inside 14 horses galloped 600 metres before the field was reset.

From the jump off, Desert Lightning was always prominent, pushing across from his wide gate to be camped outside of the leader. Rolling around the bend, the Pride Of Dubai gelding got to the front with jockey Vinnie Colgan choosing now instead of never.

Desert Lightning ran out the 1,600 metres in style to take a maiden Group 1 victory by a length from the El Roca mare Faraglioni with the Adelaide mare Malt Time finishing just ahead of Aegon.

Tired legs

“It was unfortunate that we had the false start, and I imagine some of the other horses have tired legs now,” said Colgan. “But full credit to my horse. We had an awkward gate and I had to use him up early.

“He got off the nickel a little bit at the 600 metres and I was a little worried, but then he came back up underneath me again and made me feel a lot better. He’s a very good horse and was strong right to the line.”

Trained by Peter and Dawn Williams, Desert Lightning, out of the High Chaparral mare Isstoora, was bought for NZ$150,000 at Book 1 of New Zealand Bloodstock’s 2021 Karaka Yearling sale.

“That was quite exciting, really. I was a nervous wreck after the false start, but fortunately he stayed very settled at the barrier,” said Peter Williams. “The owners are here today, so this is a great result. We’ll go home now and play it by ear in terms of the rest of his campaign.”