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By Ray Hickson

Gibbons Ready For Battle With No Claim

Star apprentice Dylan Gibbons took a giant leap towards champion apprentice honours with four winners at Royal Randwick on Saturday but it was his win on Battleton that he’ll remember for some time.

A young Dylan Gibbons (right) with father Andrew and brother Ryan in 2014. (Pic: Steve Hart)

It was his 80th metropolitan winner so has outridden his claim less than three years since he had his very first race ride.

The quartet took 21-year-old Gibbons to 69 city wins for the season and he’s four clear of Zac Lloyd who moved to 65 with his win on Insurrection, with six meetings remaining in 2022/23, but he’s already looking past any prospective title.

“It’s a bit scary now, I’ve got no advantage against the rest,’’ Gibbons said.

“I’ve got to worry about what comes after (the premiership) and try and keep the momentum going and see where it takes me.

“I haven’t been riding three years now so things have escalated pretty quickly. It is a hard game and you’ve got to stay at the top of your game.”

It was the second time Gibbons has achieved a four-timer in town and it included the feature Winter Stakes on Ucalledit for his boss Kris Lees.

Also among his wins was the TAB Highway on Chase My Crown and Gibbons made a point of tipping his hat to the mare’s trainer Wayne Wilkes who has been supporting him from the start.

“I know it was only a Highway but Wayne helped me get going as a young kid so it actually means a lot to win this race for him because he looked after us since day one,’’ he said.

“I’ve been wanting to win him a nice race with a nice cheque. So it was good, she put her best foot forward today and showed a good turn of foot.”

Pfieffer Dreams Of Turning Silver Into Gold

They say dreams are free and trainer David Pfieffer has set the $10 million Golden Eagle (1500m) as the spring target for Group 2 winner Glint Of Silver who is set to resume this month.

The grey had a breakthrough prep in the summer winning a maiden first-up before taking out the Autumn Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield, he then backed it up by stretching Zougotcha in the Group 2 Phar Lap Stakes.

Glint Of Silver has pleased Pfieffer in his trials, winning the latest at Warwick Farm on Friday.

“We want to have one last crack at picking up a BOBS bonus then roll into some stakes races,’’ he said.

“I’ll have a crack at a benchmark race then head to something like the Show County and the Theo Marks, ultimately I want to get his benchmark up to get him in the Golden Eagle.

“I don’t know if he’s good enough yet but unless you’ve got a goal you don’t know do you.”

Waller Unveils Another Princess In Waiting

If Tutta La Vita is an ideal filly to target the longer end, distance wise, of the Princess Series this spring, Chris Waller might have found the ideal candidate for the early part of the four race series in the shape of Cigar Flick.

Cigar Flick wins at Randwick. (PIc: Steve Hart)

The youngster was tested in stakes company early in the year with her best result a third in the Group 2 Reisling Stakes behind Learning To Fly so it was curious to see her show up in July.

In a tactical four horse field in the Agency Real Estate Handicap (1100m), Jason Collett rode Cigar Flick for luck and she squeezed through a neat gap to beat Epic Proportions with debutant Missile Defence running a cheeky race for third.

“She didn’t really need to improve much to win but she’s in for a good campaign and hopefully we can aim up and bigger and better things,’’ Waller’s assistant trainer Charlie Duckworth said.

“She was game to take the narrow margin down on the fence and when she let down she let down strong.”

The Princess Series consists of the Group 2 Silver Shadow Stakes (1200m), Furious Stakes (1200m), Tea Rose Stakes (1400m) and culminates with the Group 1 Flight Stakes (1600m) on September 30.

Duckworth said Cigar Flick has the type of constitution that it wouldn’t matter if she didn’t appear again until August but she could easily show up again before August 19 when the Silver Shadow comes around.

“She’s always shown a massive amount of speed so whether she can get to the far end of the Princess Series is a question mark,’’ he said.

“But the early half of it when they are over 1200m that will suit.”

Ucalledit Keeps Winter Tradition Going

What is it about the Civic-Winter Stakes double that’s making it so achievable?

Ucalledit became the third straight to win the two winter features, run two weeks apart, joining Taksu (2022) and Bandersnatch (2021) on both honour rolls and each carried 57kg or more.

Trainer Kris Lees made a late decision to run in the Winter Stakes in preference to taking him to Grafton where despite initially accepting for the Big Dance qualifier (South Grafton Cup over 1600m) on Sunday, he would have dropped to 1200m and contested Wednesday’s Ramornie Handicap, and it paid off.

“Once he found form last preparation he put a few good races together and it was a better win today then the other day,’’ said Lees’ foreman Cameren Swan.

“Dylan is riding with a lot of confidence, he got him into a really nice spot early because he drew a tricky gate and he travelled really well and finished off great.

“He doesn’t dash when he goes for him but he keeps working through his gears and was strongest on the line.”

All the results and replays from Saturday's Randwick meeting