The final event of Adelaide’s ”fab four” million dollar races is set to scorch the Morphetville turf again this Saturday when some of the nation’s leading sprinters line up in pursuit of group 1 Glory.
The Goodwood has been run in various permutations over the years, sometimes as a handicap, sometimes as a set weights and penalties event, but in every guise it has been a competitive and difficult contest to win.
This year is no different, with the highly rated Perth pair Amelia’s Jewel and Oscar’s Fortune heading the market alongside Victorian raiders Benedetta and I Am Me.
As is so often the case, it is fillies and mares which dominate the discussion. Amelia’s Jewel, I Am Me and Benedetta are all from the distaff side, while the improving three year old filly Skybird is also fancied.
As discussed here before, fillies and mares have had a disproportionate amount of success (compared to the number of them who take on colts and geldings in the highest grade races) but Perth raider Oscar’s Fortune may be the one to stop their run of victories here.
And if he can do so he will bring up a couple of notable firsts – a maiden group one triumph anywhere for former jockey turned trainer Dion Luciani and a first ever winner in Adelaide for the ”wizard of the west” Willie Pike, widely acclaimed as not just the best rider in West Australia but as one of the best in the country.
Oscar’s Fortune certainly has the credentials to make his mark here. He is a lightly raced three year old gelding who has won five of his nine starts, and he is rapidly gaining experience of competing at the highest levels.
Last time out he ran third in WA’s richest race, the $5 million sprint The Quokka, having won the group 3 Roma Cup and been placed in the group 1 Winterbottom during the Perth carnival before that.
He has plenty of form around the market leader Amelia’s Jewel, who created such a big impression when she wonthe group 2 Stocks Stakes in Melbourne last spring.
The son of Rich Enuff was narrowly behind her when both went down to Overpass in the Quokka, and was then half a length to the good when he won the Roma Cup. This time round he is three kilos better off at the weights with the favourite than he was on those two prior engagements.
The fact that Pike has elected to come east to ride him is also significant. Pike is only a little older than Luciani and the two came through the WA apprentice ranks at a similar time until rising weight stopped Luciani’s jockey career in the tracks before he had turned 20.
The trainer describes Pike as a mate to this day, so for the two of them to team up here to grab group 1 glory would be a red letter day for both.
He certainly won’t get things all his own way. Aside from Amelia’s Jewel, who will be partnered by the now Melbourne based but Perth native Damian Lane, Benedetta and I Am Me will offer stiff opposition.
Benedetta has threatened to land a big race on several occasions and on her run over course and distance in the Sangster Stakes, Adelaide’s group 1 for fillies and mares, she will be in this up to her ears. So too will fourth placegetter that day I Am Me, from the Ciaron Maher stable.
The winner of the Sangster, Climbing Star, was friendless in the market and gave young rider Lachie Neindorf his first ever group one winner despite her starting price of $26.
Punters and bookies seem to think that result was an aberration, with the two mares she finished in front of that day still preferred in the market. In the Sangster Neindorf came up inside of his rivals and was perhaps able to slip under their guard, something they will be aware of this time.
In reality though almost all of this field could be given chances: Skybird and Extremely Lucky both won support races on Sangster day, while Johnny Rocker wasn’t far away when seventh in the group 1 TJ Smith Stakes in Sydney during the Championships in a field that had more depth than this, competitive though the Goodwood is.
