Archie Alexander will be pouring over upcoming Flemington programs to lock in a suitable option for his talented Westbury Stud graduate Parisian Dancer’s return to Melbourne’s headquarters.
The Ballarat trainer’s conditioning skills were to the fore when his Reliable Man mare won off a two-month break over 1800 metres with a powerhouse finish in testing conditions on Sunday.
The lightly raced four-year-old now has four wins and eight placings from her 14 appearances and Alexander had no concerns about the mare’s lack of recent racing prior to her latest success.
“I knew she had done enough work and she’d had a jump out at Donald and a trial in between,” he said.
“She was supposed to run at Bendigo and the meeting was called off. I knew she was rock hard fit and had faith in her.
“She’s been a great mare to us and I’ve always thought her last run (this preparation) would be a bit later into the spring carnival and then she can go to the paddock.”
Parisian Dancer settled third last and one off the fence before she peeled wide at the top of the Flemington straight and thundered home to snatch victory.
“Late on it was a bit of a heart stopper. She’s a very, very tough mare and has really never let us down,” Alexander said.
“Her best ever run was here on Oaks Day last year when she just got beaten and she’s gone around a few times this winter at Sandown, which is an undulating track.
“We wanted to get her back to Flemington, she loves the flat surface and it was a terrific result for everyone.”
Parisian Dancer is raced by Pat Driscoll and was purchased on his behalf for $33,000 by Cambridge-based bloodstock agent Phill Cataldo out of Westbury’s Ready to Run Sale draft at Karaka.
She is a daughter of the late Zabeel mare Limbea, who is out of a half-sister to the G1 Kelt Capital Stakes winner Love Dance.
While Parisian Dancer has been effective on good going, successful rider Declan Bates wasn’t complaining about the miserable conditions on Sunday.
“I’ve never been as happy as when I heard the rain on the roof before the race as we know she relishes that ground,” he said.
“She didn’t have a lot of early speed for whatever reason, but she really quickened up quickly from the top of the straight and she was just too tough for them.”
Reliable Man’s son Benaud also impressed at the weekend when he again found the line strongly at Randwick in the G3 Kingston Town Stakes to confirm he will be tough to roll over 2400 metres in the upcoming G1 Metropolitan Handicap.
Rider William Pike was more than happy with the performance of the John O’Shea-trained four-year-old, who came from the tail of the field on the home corner to finish runner-up.
Meanwhile, Albert Bosma’s Go Racing syndication company has Classic hopes for Tarzino’s promising son Bring The Boom, who was a second-up winner over 1600 metres at Nowra.
The Westbury graduate is trained by Annabel Neasham and high future hopes are held for the three-year-old. He also drew further attention his half-sister by Reliable Man, who will be offered by Westbury as Lot 280 at the upcoming Ready to Run Sale at Karaka.
“Bring The Boom ran a nice fourth on debut at Hawkesbury and we wanted to step him up to a mile. It didn’t matter where and the race fitted in to his program,” Bosma said.
“There was a fair bit of merit in his run as there were three winners in the race and he really wound up over the last 100 metres.
“He’s a big, long-striding horse and we feel he can develop into a Derby horse in the autumn.”
Bring The Boom was purchased out of the Karaka farm’s draft last year for $50,000 and is from the Lope De Vega mare Sonic Queen, whose dam Jet Past was a Group 1 performer In South Africa.
“He was a nice yearling and every year we buy a couple to go to the Ready to Run Sale, but he was passed in, so we put a group of people in him and sent him to Annabel.
“He’s the first horse we have sent to her and our first winner so it was a great result. We are pretty excited about him getting up to a Derby trip and will be having discussions about what we do in the meantime.”
On the domestic scene, El Roca’s daughter Ima Roca Be doubled her tally when the Listed Ryder Stakes winner scored in dominant fashion for trainer Karyn McQuade, who bred and races the mare with husband Hamish, over 990 metres at New Plymouth.
Redwood also made his mark with his son Burnvue winning his fifth race from 14 starts with a sterling effort to claim the open 1600 metre handicap at Riccarton while Suliman showed his versatility at Te Rapa.
The six-time flat winner followed up a debut hurdle placing with a strong effort to break his maiden over the smaller fences.