Latest News

By Frances O'Shea

Wyong trainer Damien Lane didn’t have to debate too long about weekend plans for dual venue acceptor All Too Zatso.

When the All Too Hard three-year-old drew poorly in a capacity Magic Millions Maiden Plate (1100m) field at the Gold Coast on Saturday, he quickly decided she would stay at home to run at Wyong the same day.

And his resolution was helped when she drew much more favorably for the Mercure Kooindah Waters Resort Midway Maiden Plate (1000m).

All Too Zatso (Jenny Duggans) heads out at Wyong. Image by Bradley Photographers

All Too Zatso will be one of two Lane representatives; Flying Artie filly Finest Art being the other.

Lee Magorrian will ride All Too Zatso and stable apprentice Anna Roper partners Finest Art.

Lane has taken ear muffs off All Too Zatso, but they will stay on her pre-race and explained the reason for the change of gear.

“We have done a lot of work teaching her to settle this campaign, but she settled too well in the ear muffs at her last start when beaten just under five lengths in a Maiden Plate at a Canterbury night meeting last month,” he said.

“All Too Zatso has been placed at two of her last four runs and if she can reproduce her previous run at home when runner-up to the promising Bojangles, she will definitely be a good chance.

“But I don’t think there is much between her and my other runner Finest Art, who debuted when seventh to The Black Cloud in a Gosford Maiden Plate (1100m) last Thursday.

“We rode her quietly from a wide draw and her run was better than it may have appeared as she was the widest runner on the home turn. I like this filly and feel she has a bit of a future.

“It will probably come down to which of my pair has the better luck in running.”

Lane also is likely to have dual representation in the following race, the De Bortoli Wines Provincial Benchmark 68 Handicap (1200m). He has triple venue acceptor Wealthy Investor and Oakfield Mahogany engaged.

Lane quickly scuppered a Gold Coast trip when Wealthy Investor was made fourth emergency for the Magic Millions Rising Stars 3&4YO Class 4 Plate (1300m).

“He would have had to be floated north today without even knowing if he had gained a start,” Lane said.

It’s now a choice between the Midway Benchmark 72 Handicap (1000m) at Royal Randwick, where three withdrawals have already lessened the field to 12, and the Wyong race.

“I will probably wait until just before the 7.30am scratching deadline on Saturday to make a final decision, but at this stage I’m leaning toward Wyong,” Lane said.

“Wealthy Investor is resuming and won a 1000m trial at Wyong on December 15. He can race well whichever way we go.

“Oakfield Mahogany is a big boy weighing 590kg. He has had the one run back and might need another, whereas Wealthy Investor is a tall, lean horse who races well fresh.”

Anna Roper will ride Wealthy Investor (but Ash Morgan has the Randwick mount) if he starts at home, and Andrew Adkins rides Oakfield Mahogany.

Lane and Roper are both approaching important milestones in their respective careers. Lane, with 289 wins, is edging toward 300, and Roper is only two shy of her maiden century.

“I’ve had 18 winners so far this season and, if we keeping going the way we are, the 300 hopefully will come up before the season ends,” Lane said.

Roper is enjoying another brilliant season, taking over from where she inadvertently left off last season after being injured in an after-race mishap at Muswellbrook in November 2022.

She had ridden 42 winners in not quite the first four months then, and has tallied 41 since joining Lane’s stable at the beginning of the current season.

“Anna is going great, and working hard,” Lane said. “She deserves every success which comes her way.”

Fellow Wyong trainer Rod Bailey also has dual representation in the 1000m Midway Maiden Plate. He runs HongKong Harmony (Mitchell Bell) and Fruiting Habit (Jess Taylor).

Spirit Of Boom mare Fruiting Habit, an older half-sister to recent Hawkesbury winner Dubai Empress, will race in a nose roll for the first time.

The rail is in the TRUE position and the seven-race program begins at 1.25pm.

SELECTIONS
Race 1 – 1.25pm: CARLTON & UNITED BREWERIES F&M CLASS 1 HCP (1300m): 1 IMPOSANT, 2 Give Me Joy, 3 Ring Me Up, 4 Willingale.
Race 2 – 2.00pm: TABCORP BM 64 HCP (2100m): 1 CALIFORNIA GRASS, 2 Jack Duggan, 3 Four O’Clock Knock, 4 Extrarevz.
Race 3 – 2.35pn: MERCURE KOOINDAH WATERS RESORT MIDWAY MDN (1000m): 1 BATTLEFIELD, 2 Finest Art, 3 All Too Zatso, 4 Fruiting Habit.
Race 4 – 3.10pm: DE BORTOLI WINS PROVINCIAL BM 68 HCP (1200m); 1 THE EXTREME CAT, 2 General Soho, 3 Wealthy Investor, 4 Oakfield Mahogany.
Race 5 – 3.45pm: SKY CHANNEL SUPER MAIDEN PLATE (1600m): 1 BEACH PARTY, 2 Blend Of Three, 3 Dunbelievin’, 4 Stratified.
Race 6 – 4.20pm: DIMENSION ONE GLASS FENCING CG&E CLASS 1 HCP (1300m): 1 KADALL, 2 Mirra Impact, 3 Outsmarted, 4 Woodlander.
Race 7 – 5.05pm: SENPOS MAIDEN HCP (1300m): 1 CAPE BYRON, 2 Princess Thalia, 3 Shebrings Beauty, 4 Watermelon

View the final fields with full form & race replays for Wyong here