Pride on the line for Terravista

Joe Pride with his striking gelding Terravista
(Photo courtesy of The Daily Telegraph)

The autumn racing continues this weekend at Royal Randwick with the start of The Championships. Day one of the ATC’s flagship event, dubbed ‘The Grand Finals of Racing’, features the Doncaster Mile and the TJ Smith Stakes.

Joe Pride believes the top-flight sprinters will up the ante in the 1200m $2.5 million TJ Smith Stakes. The race is headlined by the return of the sprinting trio in the Pride trained Terravista, The Hawkes brother’s Chautauqua, and Mick Price’s Lankan Rupee. All three horses have battled it out before and Pride was adamant the race will be very different to the last time they met in the Newmarket Handicap.

“I think there’s going to be a pretty genuine tempo on and that will be good, that will give all the horses a chance.

“They’re all quality horses, they all want a good tempo, and that’s what we’ll get Saturday and it’s something we didn’t get in the Newmarket,” Pride said.

Terravista, currently ranked as the world’s best sprinter, has been Pride’s best asset over the last three years, amassing an incredible 9 wins from 14 starts. The five-year-old gelding ran first up last start in the Newmarket finishing a flattening third, and jockey Hugh Bowman sighted the progress that could be made in the sprinter.

“He was found out today, but he was first up, he’ll take improvement and it was a very good effort,” Bowman said.

Despite the disappointment of the Newmarket result, Bowman listed Terravista as his ‘linchpin’ for the autumn carnival and he’ll get the opportunity again, with Terravista drawn from barrier 10.

Pride is happy to have his star back in Sydney with the gelding currently unbeaten at Randwick in four starts. The trainer shares a unique relationship with his horse, alleviating him through training because of his casual approach on the training track.

“He doesn’t take it seriously at all, which I’ve learnt to work around and adjust to because I don’t like flogging horses on the track,” Pride said.  

“He gets to the line, just drops a bit and is pretty much pulled up to a walk about 20 metres after the post.”

Despite being described as a “very casual track worker” by his own trainer, Terravista turns it on when it matters most, which is all Pride is concerned about.

“He gives me his best on race day, that’s part of our agreement. He does that while I leave him alone on the track, it’s part of our understanding.”

Warwick Farm-based Pride, has three horses in the open-aged sprint with Terravista being joined by stable mates Rain Affair and Tiger Tees. The race will likely be affected by wet-weather on Saturday and Pride thinks that will only enhance his horses’ chances.

“Chautauqua’s probably the least proven [in the wet], and they [Rain Affair and Tiger Tees] wouldn’t have a hope against him [Terravista] if it wasn’t in the wet, so it definitely brings them into it.”  

The TJ Smith Stakes looks like it will be another hotly contested battle between the top three sprinters in Chautauqua, Terravista and Lakan Rupee who hold the first three lines of betting respectively. Gai Waterhouse’s mare Sweet Idea is considered the other best chance in the race with one of the world’s best jockey’s Joao Moreira taking up the ride.

The Darley TJ Smith Stakes kicks off at 4:30pm (ESDT) and is race 8 on the ten-race Randwick program.

This article was made possible by Sydney based Horse Racing tips website Baddock's Best. You can follow Baddock's Best on Facebook and Twitter.

Cummings in box seat with Hallowed Crown

Hallowed Crown, left, beats home Shooting To Win and Sweynesse in the Hobartville Stakes. The rivals go at it again in this Saturday's mouth-watering Randwick Guineas.
Picture: Simon Bullard. Courtesy of The Daily Telegraph.

James Cummings believes his gun three-year-old colt, Hallowed Crown, faces a “watershed moment” on his journey in this Saturday’s Randwick Guineas. After overcoming what Cummings believed was “one of the strongest Hobartville fields in the last five or six years” two weeks ago in a thrilling finish with Kermadec, Sweynesse and Shooting To Win, Hallowed Crown now faces another tough test over the 1600m in the feature race on the second race day of the Sydney Autumn Racing Carnival.

Trainers John O’Shea and Paul Snowden, whose horses’ Sweynesse and Shooting To Win ran in the minors behind Hallowed Crown last time they met, were both dubious of Hallowed Crown’s ability to win the Hobartville if the colt had to have gone around a pack.

Unsurprised, Cumming’s backed the inevitable record of his horse which currently stands at 5 wins from 6 starts, with four of those in group races, to rebuff any doubters.

“I think any trainer of any three-year-old colt in the country would be pretty happy with a record like that,” he said.

“His the one that’s got it, he’s the one that’s been able to find a way to win, and now he’s going to be the marked horse in the Randwick Guineas.”

The Group One set-weights race for three-year-olds is shaping up as an absolute bellringer. Rivals Shooting To Win and Sweynesse are set to get another crack at Hallowed Crown in the seven-runner field after Kermadec was scratched on Wednesday to run in the Australian Guineas at Flemington on Saturday.

Ensuring the focus is kept on Saturday’s race, which he specified would be an “extremely hard race to win” with a field full of stars, Cumming’s was coy on what lies ahead for the Gooree Stud, and now Sheik Mohammed owned colt.

Asked where Hallowed Crown would head to after the Guineas, Cumming’s indicated that while the “Doncaster has been his aim all along this preparation,” Hallowed Crown would have to “step up and prove himself at the elite level over a mile” before deciding on a path to lead into the Doncaster.

Hallowed Crown has been a family affair for the 27-year-old Cummings, who leads a co-training partnership with his all-time Group One record-holding Grandfather, Bart, as his grandfather-in-law and Gooree Stud owner, Eduardo Cojuangco owns the prized colt. The Hobartville Stakes also doubled as James’ first win for Sheikh Mohammed, who bought into the horse after its win in the Group One Golden Rose last August.

Having such high profile owners would usually bring a shoulder-dropping amount pressure to any trainer in racing, but Cummings said he was comfortable training for two of the biggest racing identities in the world.

On Cojuangco, Cummings said, “He’s great to train for, he lets me do my thing.

“He has a love of horses and in many ways his philosophies are in line with mine.”

While having Cojuangco as a grandfather-in-law might ease the pressure, you’d think training for the Vice-President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates would be an entirely different story, but Cummings made light of the interesting situation.  

“If anything being a 27-year-old trainer with a Group One horse on your hands for Sheikh Mohammed would put a little bit more pressure on me because I can’t sit down and have a family lunch with him.”

“But my first winner for the Sheikh was the Group Two Hobartville, and that’s a pretty big thrill for a trainer in general let alone someone still wet behind the ears.”

Cummings once again has master-jockey Hugh Bowman on board for the Guineas and the tenacious jockey will have to work to his magic to hold out the strong field itching-at-the-bit for another crack at Hallowed Crown.

The colt will start equal favourite in the Girvan Waugh Randwick Guineas, which is race six on the nine race program. The race is set down to start at 3:30pm AEDT and can be seen live on Channel 7’s coverage of the Autumn Carnival on 7Two.

This article was made possible by the rising Northern Beaches based Horse Racing Tips page Baddock's Best