Latest News

By Ray Hickson

Trainer John Thompson admits he was a little surprised to see promising three-year-old Crafty Eagle open a clear favourite for Saturday’s Midway Handicap (1600m) at Randwick but, at the same time, he can understand why.

Trainer John Thompson.

The gelding has shown plenty of potential in his four starts to date, three this time in, for two wins and Thompson can’t wait to see him stretch out around the Randwick mile after having some nerves heading into his last start win at Gosford.

It all looked so easy as Crafty Eagle settled just behind the pace, pushed his way out on the turn and raced to a two length win but the trainer just wanted to avoid bad luck.

“I was very worried going to Gosford the other day because he’s a big, gangly, horse and he’d be better to be kept to bigger tracks but lucky enough he was able to get around there and was too good for them,’’ Thompson said.

“We don’t have to panic as much as what we did at Gosford.

“We wanted to put him in a good position to negate any bad luck getting around Gosford. Randwick is a different beast but he will put himself on the speed anyway.”

Crafty Eagle started a $3.30 chance in winning the Class 1 at Gosford, he was $2.70 with TAB on Thursday.

It’s been almost four weeks since that dominant win over 1600m and, as he does with a lot of his horses, after that run Thompson sent Crafty Eagle for a small mental freshen up.

He’s adamant the best is ahead of the son of Starcraft and said what he lacks in maturity at this stage he’s making up for in raw ability.

“He’s a nice horse, a progressive horse who has gone well so far,’’ he said.

“His attitude takes him a long way because he’s competitive.

“You can’t instil that in a lot of horses, when it’s there naturally it makes your job a bit easier.

“He’s still quite immature when you look at him, he hasn’t filled out his big frame yet and there’s plenty of improvement to come.”

Thompson is hoping a gelding operation can bring out the best in nicely bred three-year-old Nipotino in the Grainshaker Vodka Handicap (1100m).

He’s the first foal of Nieta, a multiple stakes placed mare Thompson also trained, and he seems to have taken a little more to racing since the ‘gear change’.

Crafty Eagle wins at Gosford on December 28

“He was very hot and cold in his form, one day he’d be great and others it’s like he wasn’t there,’’ he said.

“He had an 800m jump out on the Kenso and won that then had an official trial and he won that.

“There’s ability there, his mum was a very handy horse. He’s only small but he can run.”

Nipotino, a winner of two from eight, was $34 with TAB on Thursday.

All the fields, form and replays for Saturday's Randwick meeting