Blog

Sky Dazzle produced a big effort to lead all the way on debut at Sale for Mornington-based trainer Tony Noonan and triple her purchase price in earnings from just one race.

“She was a $5,000 yearling purchase so Louis Mihalyka at Laurel Oak Bloodstock has really outdone himself by picking out this lovely filly,” said Alfred Chan, Racing Manager for Tony Noonan.

“She’s shown a lot of ability in her jumpouts at home and the Super VOBIS bonus today just makes the win all the more sweeter for her owners.”

Jumping well from gates, Sky Dazzle showed excellent tactical speed under rider Jake Noonan to drift across from barrier 7 and find the lead.

Travelling sweetly, Sky Dazzle ($8.50) gave a kick in the straight to hold on by a head from Magna Rossa ($26) and Rillito ($7) a further two lengths back in third. To view a reply of the race, click here.

“She’s a really nice filly,” Noonan said after the victory.

“I’ve got to give credit to Michael Carson who rides trackwork for Dad and has done a lot of work with this filly.

“He’s always had an opinion of her and he’s done a really good job educating her.”

The win continues the excellent partnership Laurel Oak Bloodstock are having with Noonan-trained horses for Sky Dazzle to be the 7th individual winner for the major syndicator in the Noonan stable this season.

Secured from the Inglis Premier Yearling Sale from the draft of Ultra Thoroughbreds, Sky Dazzle was was offered to clients as part of the Tony Noonan Club Syndicate 2 – moral of the story – take notice next time!

Racing in Victoria will become more viable for owners in the 2015/2016 racing season with a $16.5 million prizemoney increase announced from 1 August 2015. Across the various race types and grades, the increases range from 6.7% up to 71.4%, all very significant percentages which will be very much appreciated by all owners.

Importantly the increases are from maiden grade up to open handicaps which has a greater widespread benefit than the black-type races. A summary of the new prizemoney for each class of race can be viewed here.

This is very welcome news and we are looking forward to the Laurel Oak horses taking home more prizemoney in the future.

In major news for industry professionals like yours truly, Inglis have announced that they will be moving their office and auction facilities to Warwick Farm.

Inglis acquired 26 acres of land adjacent to the Warwick Farm racecourse in 2009 as an option for the future. Now with the rezoning of Inglis’ Newmarket site in Randwick that property will be sold and relocation plans will proceed.

It is expected that the first yearling sales to be held at Warwick Farm will be in 2019.

Sydney will then have a similar set up to Karaka and Melbourne’s Oaklands Junction whereby the industry participants generally stay in the city centre and make the 30 to 40 minute journey each day to the sales complex.

The current Inglis site will be redeveloped to Newmarket Green, a new community for Randwick with a mix of housing, neighbourhood shops and services while retaining heritage elements and all significant trees, including the iconic Moreton Bay fig that dominates the current Inglis auction ring.

To read more about the move as per the Inglis Press Release, click here.

Anaphora booked a trip to the Group 1 Queensland Oaks (2200m) with a last-stride victory in Saturday’s $80,000 No Fuss Events Handicap (1600m) at Caulfield.

Trainer Tony Noonan said he went into the race confident despite the fact the daughter of Dylan Thomas was beaten as favourite last start at Seymour.

“I always knew that she was going to be better back on the firm ground and her work during the week was really good so we were really confident that she’d come here and run well,” Noonan said.

“Gee I was a bit worried along the side, I know they were going along at a good clip but she was giving them a big start so it was a good effort.

“We’ve always had a good opinion of her and she’ll be even better as she gets over more ground.”

After settling at the tail of the field, Anaphora ($12-$8) produced a powerful finish under jockey Vlad Duric to win in a photo over Violent Snow ($12), with Tears Of Joy ($7.50) a further two lengths away in third.

Noonan said Anaphora may have one more run over 2000m at Caulfield in a fortnight before heading north.

“She’ll only have one more run before the Oaks but I don’t think a mile-and-a-quarter (2000m) will worry her,” he said.

“The Oaks is only 2200m this year and she’s got to improve a lot still but she’s lightly-raced and on the up.”

A special congratulations to the connections; Grant Bloodstock Pty Ltd, Laurel Oak Bloodstock Pty Ltd, Four Up, Mr A N Fitzgerald, Club Number One, Mr P J Macbeth, Mrs J E Macbeth, Mr M S Mannix, Mr R T Spargo, Mr P A Atley, Mr B Marotta, Mr R A Lloyd, Mr D A Russell, Miss E Morrissey, Mrs E K Grant and trainer Tony Noonan.

News from Racing.com

Always having held this colt in high regard, as evident by his debut run in the Group 2 VRC Sires’ Produce Stakes at Flemington (1400m) back in March, the Tony Noonan-trained Mr Optimistic has been in Queensland for a few weeks and made his local debut today at the Gold Coast.

Starting the clear favourite, jockey Luke Dittman jumped the colt away well from the inside barrier in the 12 horse field and he settled back on the rail with cover.

Working home when it mattered, Luke Dittman got the best out of Mr Optimistic to hit the lead with 150m to go, winning the race by a length and three quarters to break his maiden at just his third career start.

Trainer Tony Noon was clearly elated with the victory, “We’ve always had an enormous opinion of this colt which is why we bought him up to Queensland,” Noonan said.

“He’s been doing a few things wrong in his races but he jumped well today for the first time and Luke (Dittman) did an excellent job to get off the fence when he did.”

With no firm plans in place as to where the colt will head now, with Queensland riches just around the corner, it could be tempting to aim the colt at some stakes races during the carnival.

By Darley stallion Domesday, Mr Optimistic is out of the Anabaa mare Be Positive, a mare we raced to Group 3 victory in the Victoria Plate in partnership with various owners with Tony a few years back.

Congratulations to trainer Tony Noonan, jockey Luke Dittman and to owners Laurel Oak Norman (Mgr: L J Mihalyka), Boeara Holdings (Mgr: Mrs D A Dunphy), S P Reilly, M J Birrell, A N Fitzgerald, Bobbin Along (Mgr: A Cork), Mrs S M Ridgway, A Mavridis, Miss S J Collins, W H A Rigg, P A Innes, Club Number One (Mgr: L J Mihalyka), Mrs N C Birrell and B D Bryant on the victory.

The Keith Dryden-trained duo, WARINDA and CRUSADER GENERAL, were both poking along in reasonable form in their own grade in February, when the decision was made to target them both for the Country Championships Qualifier at Goulburn late in March, which we hoped would flow on to a run in the Country Championships at Randwick during The Championships.

Both horses fell short in that ambitious program, so we “resumed normal programs” with both of them.

With Warinda we established at the end of last preparation that 1600m seemed his ideal distance. However with the distraction of The Championships over 1400m, we kept him at shorter distances for longer than we otherwise would have. Once we had moved on from that plan, he ran a fast-finishing fourth over 1600m in a strong race at Goulburn, and the decision was made to try him over 2000m. That didn’t work at all, as he pulled too hard in the slow tempo, and didn’t finish off.

Back to 1600m in Canberra for what was only his third attempt at his “best distance”, at his 20th career start, jockey Brendan Ward had him perfectly placed and travelling sweetly on the fence behind the leaders. When he got into clear running 300m from home, Warinda quickly joined the leaders and had the race in his keeping to come away for a comfortable 1.5 length win. With two wins and a good fourth now at that distance, we will certainly be sticking to it, and there is a chance that he may back up into another 1600m race at Wagga this coming Thursday, 30 April.

Meanwhile Crusader General was going for the Laurel Oak double two races later. Once he had moved on from The Championships objective, he won his next start in Canberra on Golden Slipper Day. Then a poorly-judged ride saw him finish well back in Canberra two weeks later, before having another go over 1400m last Friday.

With his drawing wide in the small six-horse field, jockey Kathy O’Hara’s instructions were to get cover, and the only way she could do that was to go back to last. In a clever piece of riding, Kathy cut the corner as they turned for home to go underneath two horses rather than around them. However she was still three lengths off the leaders and not coming quickly enough. Fortunately Crusader General stoked up under Kathy’s riding, and was flying at the finish.

With three horses across the track in front of him, with about fifty to go he was most likely going to finish either first or fourth, but  more likely the latter. Thankfully he really motored in the last 50m and arrived in time to score a long-neck win in a four-way finish, to make it two wins from his last three starts.

As we reported on his previous victory in last month’s edition of Grandstand View, getting him back to winning form was very satisfying for everyone concerned, as he was coming back from a double knee injury that had him off the scene for eighteen months.

Keith will now look for another suitable race for him.

The double took Keith to a five-win lead in the local trainers premiership, with three meetings to go to the end of the season, so we hope he can hang on to win another premiership. It has been a great season for Keith, as his main opposition in Canberra includes talented young trainers, Nick Olive and Matt Dale, and the strong Barbara Joseph stable, all of whom have good-sized racing teams.

News From Grandstand View

Secured from the 2014 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale by Laurel Oak Bloodstock for $130,000 from the draft of Broadwater Thoroughbreds, two-year-old Northern meteor filly Flash In The Dark travelled from her Canberra base to Wagga to make her debut on Sunday in the Alert Handicap over 1000m.

Given barrier 12 of 13 in a field of mainly unraced juveniles, the race day favourite was the Nick Olive-trained Lock The Doors who last campaign had finished just under five lengths from Ottoman, with Pride Of Dubai in third – both of those two-year-olds going on to claim stakes races during the carnivals.

Finding the 900m of a barrier trial in November too short, the Laurel Oak Pink Syn, F W Cook, T D Millard, Back To The Bay Syn, B L J Syn, Club Dryden Syd, H R Wallace, M G Houston, M K Graham, V A Elvin and C J Elvi–owned filly was well supported for her racetrack debut, but as she was having her first start, there is always the unknown of racing, plus added fact it is two-year-old racing!

Settling just behind the leaders getting a perfect run, jockey Brendan Ward asked the filly for an effort about 300m from home, and she surged through a gap to defeat Our Project by a head with a neck back to the race favourite in third.

Trained Keith Dryden was suitably impressed by the performance post-race stating that while he felt the filly would run well, she would be better over further.

Set to head to a lucrative Inglis Bonus race next time out, best of luck to her connections!