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Warwoven ruled out of potential Blue Diamond bid
Bjorn Baker’s unbeaten colt Warwoven (Sword Of State) will not run in next month’s Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) after being sent for a short break. The son of Sword Of State (Snitzel) landed his debut at Randwick over 1000 metres before doubling that tally in a 1200-metre handicap at Eagle Farm and was then installed as the favourite for the Magic Millions 2YO Classic (RL, 1200m). After missing a start in the lucrative Gold Coast contest after stewards deemed him to be lame, Baker has now decided to target the Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) instead of the Blue Diamond. Having been third favourite for the Blue Diamond Stakes, Warwoven was still the $8 co-favourite for the March 21 Golden Slipper on Tuesday. “We’ll try to get him to the Slipper, but we’ll just take it one step at a time,” Baker told Racing.com. “We thought he was ok to run [in the Magic Millions] and they [veterinary stewards] didn’t, so that’s the way it goes. If we have any doubts with him, we’ll put him straight out.”
Freedman happy with his trial trio
Michael Freedman came away happy from Tuesday’s Randwick trials after sending out three Group 1 winners at the track. Last season’s Golden Slipper winner Marhoona (Snitzel) produced a stylish performance to run out an 0.8-length winner of a 900-metre heat, defeating fellow Group 1 scorer Autumn Glow (The Autumn Sun) with multiple Group 2 winner Pericles (Street Boss) a further 0.2-length back in third. In the following heat, also run over 900 metres, Apocalyptic (Extreme Choice) and Manaal (Tassort) ran third and fourth respectively behind winner Beiwacht (Bivouac). “She will just have a fairly steady one and then we will probably bring her here for the Light Fingers,” Freedman said of Apocalyptic. “I’m keeping options open. Depending how she comes back, we may look at keeping her to shorter course races. She is obviously pretty versatile but I’m a bit up in the air. The first two would be obvious choices, the Light Fingers and Surround, but beyond that we will keep an open mind. Manaal will run in either the Triscay or the Expressway on the same day, and Marhoona, I’m still trying to map a path for her. I’m really happy with her but I’m toying with the idea of having a look at Melbourne with her.”
Hasan sets up GoFundMe for Quilty
Trainer Saab Hasan has set up and donated $1000 to a GoFundMe page to help support veteran jockey Cameron Quilty, who is currently battling cancer. Quilty believed that he may have injured his ribs or chest in the barriers when he rode She’s Elusive (Lean Mean Machine) for Hasan at Sandown on December 10, but upon going for a check-up found that he had a tumour. “He’s been an integral part of racing and he’s fighting cancer at the moment, he’s got a tumor on the lung,” Hasan told Racing.com. “He started off at Flemington like I did with the Cerchis, he started off with Ray Lawson. He’s 53 and credit to him, he’s still coming up and riding trackwork for us, as is Johnny Keating, who’s another fellow in his 50s always helping out. We need these people in racing.” Jockey Andrew Mallyon and Kennewell Racing’s Melissa Kennewell have also made donations through the page, which can be found here.