A couple of speculators join our black bookers out of Monday’s racing, with performances from Sangria and Burst Away that didn’t earn them any stake money but earn them a watch rating.
The Manfred Man Ka-leung-trained Burst Away had been caught wide and in trouble at his two prior runs here so improvement was on the cards when he drew inside in the race won Lucky Wan Feng.
Gerald Mosse gave him a great box seat run and Burst Away was out and competitive in the straight before tiring out of the finish in the final 100m for sixth.
It was a highly encouraging effort that said Burst Away is not far off breaking through in the right race – that proviso has to be added – as this is a time of year when Class Three can be a minefield, strewn with horses going somewhere.
Burst Away is possibly not such a horse – judged on his form in South Australia, where the standard is weaker than Sydney or Melbourne – but he is capable of winning soon off his current rating and may even be better served dropped back to 1,000m.
John Moore, lucky red packets, goodwill and the Lunar New Year
Sangria had Group form in France as a two-year-old, and while no-one is getting excited by French juvenile form, his run back in the field on Monday in what looks a powerful form race behind Mr Stunning suggested that he might start to show up in a run or two.
On debut, Sangria drew in over the straight course, got a bump early and was uncompetitive behind Bad Boy, and he was out the back again from gate one on Monday in the hands of Dylan Mo Hin-tung.
What was to like about the run was that, after finding his way across to the outside rail, Sangria finished the race off better than My Little Friend or Blocker Dee, which he had trailed out there by several lengths mid-race. Now, both of those horses suffered some traffic issues that affected their sectional, especially My Little Friend, but it still speaks well of how Sangria is going. It might require a drop to Class Three but he isn’t far off being yet another of the David Ferraris team that is firing.
