Latest News

Randwick (16/4) Trial Review
By Ray Hickson

The ‘tick-over’ trial has become part of the fabric of Sydney racing in the last 12 months and there was none better than Nancy’s at the Randwick trials on Monday.

The six-year-old mare had her first-up run in the Group 3 Birthday Card (1200m) on Golden Slipper Day, and finished an admirable fifth, and she made easy work of her 1040m trial.

Nancy sat about five lengths off the lead to the turn and eased wider by Kerrin McEvoy and looked as though she was just going sit there and coast home then cruised straight past the leaders.

While the margin was just under half a length she had to have plenty in the locker.

It’s worth noting Nancy’s second-up record is two seconds from six attempts but the Snowden stable hasn’t used the tick-over trial with her prior to a second-up run previously.

Nancy's comfortable trial win at Randwick on Monday

Kris Lees also made use of a mid-preparation trial with impressive debut winner Graff just two weeks after his Rosehill victory.

The colt may have been slightly flattered by the result of the trial as he made his run from last through along the fence but winning the gallop, about 0.7 seconds slower than Nancy’s trial, probably wasn’t a priority.

Graff beat Pembroke Castle, who hasn’t raced since running third in the Inglis Classic in February, narrowly and that colt seemed to have plenty in hand as well.

The big question mark out of the trial – or big eye-catcher depending on your point of view – was the run of Orcein.

This youngster showed ability in the late spring and early summer and while he ran second last in the 1040m trial be was held up and restrained all the way home before being let run past the line.

Mark him down as a horse to include in everything when he resumes.

Promising two-year-old Canyonero clocked the fastest time of the morning in the 1040m heats, by 0.01 seconds, and he looked very strong powering away late.

Placed in the Inglis Nursery on debut, Canyonero rode the speed and was either held back or outsprinted at the top of the straight before he let go and scored by a length running away.

There has to be a maiden win in him if Mark Newnham looks that way first-up but he’s already shown enough to win races in town.

Out of the 1040m trials some more to mark down as coming along well are Zonk, Seasons, Poetic Charmer and Verlan.

Also, an imported mare called Araaja had her first public trial for Chris Waller and while she ran last she definitely wasn’t there to do anything serious.

Alassio has only had the one start for a win at Kembla Grange back in June but she certainly knows what she’s doing in a race – her win over 742m was her sixth trial and she’s yet to be beaten.

It was an arrogant win this time too as she sat three wide then just waved goodbye as she put up a couple of lengths with ease.

Her time of 44.19 was superior to that of Godolphin gelding Wander who led all the way in his heat for a pretty comfortable win.

Runner-up Niccolance, for Kevin Moses, was always on his tail and he’ll have improvement given this gallop was his first trial since December 31, 2016 where he started $5 in a race at
Canterbury won by Deploy.

He also has a win over Comin’ Through against his name so the talent is there if Moses can keep him together.

Check out the replays and results from Monday's barrier trials at Royal Randwick