Hawkesbury trainer Brad Widdup gave punters an early “tip” last week for Wednesday’s impressive Canterbury winner Ridicule.
The lightly-raced So You Think three-year-old was one of only two fillies he nominated for the $1m Group 1 James Boag's Australian Oaks (2400m) at Royal Randwick on April 14 during The Championships (the other was Dancers, who also raced at Canterbury and was a late closing third on resumption in the 1250m Benchmark 74 Handicap).
Showing she is nothing to joke about, Ridicule ($2.25 favourite) made a mockery of her opposition in the 3YO Maiden Plate (1200m) at only her third start. Ridicule led easily, was never challenged and rider Corey Brown throttled her down toward the end as she strolled home by more than three lengths from Primivito ($2.45).
Little wonder he predicted afterwards she could win more races, especially as her distances are increased. Ridicule has a Group 1 pedigree, and fetched $430,000 at the 2016 Inglis Australian Easter yearling sale.
By the former champion and dual Cox Plate winner So You Think, her dam Russeting won the Group 1 Tattersall’s Winter Stakes at Eagle Farm in 2009. Whether Ridicule gets to the fillies’ classic at Randwick in April remains to be seen, but she is heading in the right direction.
“She’s a filly that we’ve always had a good opinion of,” Widdup said. “She is in at the right time of the year with some big races coming up over the next couple of months. I think the best is yet to come from her.”
Continuing a sensational run of success for Hawkesbury-trained horses, Ridicule was the 39th winner from the Provincial track since her stablemate Witches gave her trainer a Royal Randwick breakthrough on New Year’s Day.
With Ridicule’s victory behind him, Widdup is now looking ahead to Rosehill Gardens on Saturday, where he has four runners. He has a three-pronged representation in the Spark Of Life 3YO Handicap (1100m) with Acqume (Brown, $12 on TAB fixed odds), Za Zi Ba (Christian Reith, $13) and Workdrinks (Andrew Adkins, $23).
Former Melbourne mare Lovani (Reith, $23) makes her debut for the stable in the Group 2 Millie Fox Stakes (1300m).
View the full results with race replays for Canterbury Park here