Memsie first-up for Inspirational Girl

Inspirational Girl was dominant in her home state of Western Australia last spring and now owner Bob Peters is looking to plunder some Victorian spoils with the New Zealand-bred mare.

The daughter of Reliable Man won five of her seven starts in her last preparation, including the Gr.1 Railway Stakes (1600m) and Gr.3 Asian Beau Stakes (1400m), and was runner-up in the Gr.1 Kingston Town Classic (1800m) last start.

With a view to tackling the Victoria Spring Carnival, Peters has transferred Inspirational Girl to Danny O’Brien’s Barwon Heads stable, with her ultimate aim being the Gr.1 Cox Plate (2040m).

Peters has been pleased with the way she has come up this time in and said she left Western Australia in good fettle.

“She took a long time to mature and she hasn’t had a lot of racing, but I think she might be there now,” Peters told RSN927.

“She looked the best she ever has when she left here, so we will see how she goes.

“She should start in the Memsie (Gr.1, 1400m) on the 28^th of August.

“If he is available, hopefully Damian Lane will ride Inspirational Girl in the Memsie.”

Inspirational Girl was purchased by John Chalmers Bloodstock out of Jamieson Park’s 2017 New Zealand Bloodstock Premier Yearling Sale draft for $190,000.

Plenty of Upside for Mr Brightside

 

Kiwi import Mr Brightside recorded his third win in four starts in Australia for the Lindsay Park team of Ben and JD Hayes when scoring at Sandown on Wednesday over 1600m.

The four-year-old gelding was initially trained in New Zealand by Ralph Manning for whom he ran fifth in his sole New Zealand start before crossing the Tasman.

The son of Bullbars was ridden by Craig Williams, who waited for the narrowest of gaps when the frontrunner rolled off the fence, and the progressive galloper, who has been touted as a potential Gr.1 Toorak Handicap (1600m) prospect, showed good acceleration to take full advantage.

“It always takes a nice horse to win three in a row. We do have a nice opinion of him, and he is going through his grades nicely. That was a nice effort today,” JD Hayes said.

“It was lucky that the gaps opened up. He took a needle-eyed gap, and he showed a sharp turn of foot.”

Cup winner’s brother lands Sandown prize

 

Pakenham-based trainer Andrea Leek is keeping alive the dream of Heir To The Throne following in the footsteps of his older brother Prince Of Penzance.

Leek registered her first metropolitan success when Heir To The Throne took out the Ladbroke It! Handicap (2400m) at Sandown on Wednesday and disclosed post-race the stayer holds a nomination for the Gr.1 Melbourne Cup (3200m) at Flemington in November.

Prince Of Penzance raced into history when he won the Cup in 2015 with Michelle Payne aboard, who became the first female jockey to win the race.

Leek herself had a successful career in the saddle and won the 2004 Grand National Hurdle at Flemington aboard Team Heritage.

Heir To The Throne started his career with Henry Dwyer before Leek's husband John purchased the gelding online for A$35,000.

After four starts with John Leek, Heir To The Throne was transferred into Andrea Leek's care and was successful first-up at Sale.

Sent off the $4 favourite under Jamie Kah, Heir To The Throne scored by a short-head from Bondi Sands ($8.50) with Hezafox ($11) two lengths away third.

"We've put in a sneaky little nom for the Melbourne Cup," Leek said.

"You never know, you've got to have dreams, that's what our dream is but he's already given us excitement by coming here and winning today.

"There's a benchmark 78 at The Valley over 2500m coming up in a week-and-a-half and that's our plan to go there.

"Then ideally, if he could win that, we would love to go to Flemington. It's a big track and we could give him a chance to show what he's got.

"The further he goes the better. The track today has dried out a fair bit and might have taken a bit of his brilliance from him, but he's flying."

The Inferno ready for Australian debut

 

It has been baby steps on the country circuit for trainer Cliff Brown since his return from Singapore.

But on Saturday at Caulfield, Brown will unveil the best horse in his stable when The Inferno runs in the Listed Regal Roller Stakes (1200m).

How the form from Singapore translates to Australia is something Brown is keen to learn, although he has noted previously former Singapore horses are a rung or two below their Australian counterparts.

But The Inferno is a winner of eight of his nine starts and Brown's gut feeling is the gelding will measure up to Australian company.

Racing Victoria handicappers think enough of his ability to have given him a rating of 100 and as such he is the second-highest handicapped horse in Saturday's race.

"The significant thing is we're giving away weight to some very nice horses and I think it is very difficult," Brown said.

"I just want to see a nice race, have another run, and then I think we can analyse and say 'yes we are OK or reassess and come back'.

"Nine times out of 10 the form doesn't hold up as strong as it is in Singapore as it does back here.

"But my gut feel is he's a nice horse, with good ability. I think he'll measure up, but until you get to the races and have a couple of runs, you don't know.

"He's fine. He eats well, he's worked well, he's done everything right."

The Inferno won six of his seven tries over 1200m including Singapore's biggest sprint, the Lion City Cup last October, the last time the gelding raced.

A trip from Brown's Mornington base to Caulfield last Thursday for a jump-out has assisted The Inferno's fitness levels and the trainer will learn a lot more about his charge after Saturday's race.

"We're going into the unknown," Brown said.

Bred by Westbury Stud, The Inferno was purchased by Brown out of the farm’s 2018 New Zealand Bloodstock Book 1 draft for $140,000.