Douglas chasing Top Reward in Sandown Guineas
Fresh off Giga Kick’s (Scissor Kick) exhilarating Champions Sprint (Gr 1, 1200m) victory, Clayton Douglas will look to extend his stable’s spring momentum at Caulfield on Saturday when emerging colt Top Reward (Shamus Award) takes an ambitious step into the Sandown Guineas (Gr 2, 1600m) at just his second career start.
The son of Shamus Award (Snitzel) made an immediate impression on debut at Mornington on October 23, easing down to score by 1.5 lengths and signalling his readiness for a rapid rise through the grades.
“He is a really nice colt,” Douglas told ANZ News. “He’s got nice qualities about him. He did everything right his first start and he is a horse I have always had a bit of time for.”
Raced in Douglas’ Turquoise and Royal Blue colours, the Trilogy Racing-bred colt was a $300,000 purchase for Top Pick Bloodstock from Blue Gum Farm at the 2024 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
“We paid a bit of money for him out of the Magic Millions and he had plenty of educational trials leading into his first run and put himself on speed and was obviously too good for maiden company first up.
“It’s a big jump in class, going from a maiden, then second start to the Sandown Guineas. But he’s a nice colt, does everything right, has a great attitude, and he’s shown me nice ability. The aggressive placement, I wouldn’t normally do it, but he’s a horse who has got a bright future.”
Top Reward has always shown Douglas the attributes of a colt capable of stretching out in trip.
“He’s quite a big horse. He’s by Shamus Award and he’s a really big, clean-winded horse. Hence why we kicked him off at the 1500 metres first up, and even the little extended trip out to the mile should even suit him better, and I think once he gets to 2000 metres, he’ll be better again.
“If we had him up going a bit earlier, he could have been a bit of a Derby-type, but just took a little bit longer than normal and hopefully at the back end of the carnival he can be performing well.”
Owned by the Happy Group, the colt is destined to continue his career offshore.
“He will end up in Hong Kong. Whether it’s after this campaign or next, we’ll work that out between the team. Top Pick are Hong Kong clients of mine that we have been able to get a few over there in the last few years and they’ve performed well and this guy, he’s obviously another nice addition to their team and hopefully he can do well over there.
“It’s exciting, hopefully he can perform well in the Guineas tomorrow and we can get a good result with him.”
Top Reward will have to topple short-priced favourite Sheza Alibi (Saxon Warrior), who arrives with strong form having won her first two starts in Queensland with Kris Hansen before finishing runner-up in the Tattersalls Stakes (Listed, 1400m) behind eventual Caulfield Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) winner Autumn Boy (The Autumn Sun)
Since transferred to the Peter Moody and Katherine Coleman stable this spring, the filly has shown her talent, finishing a solid third in the Gothic Stakes (Listed, 1200m), before posting a dominant win in the Vanity Stakes (Gr 3, 1400m) last start.
But Douglas believes his lightly raced colt has the class to measure up, aided by barrier seven and the booking of Luke Currie.
“I think [barrier seven] is good. He’ll bowl forward from that gate. He races fairly handy on the speed and there doesn’t look to be a lot of speed on paper. You’d anticipate the favourite should get the sweet run in the box seat and whether we’re outside it or a pair closer, we’ll work that out in the run. But he’s a fairly brilliant beginner, puts himself on speed, so barrier 7 shouldn’t be a problem for him.
“He can definitely feature in the finish. It’s probably just his lack of experience at that top level that might see him out a little bit tomorrow, but in saying that, he’s got nice ability, good clean winded horse, the step up to the mile will pose no problem and I’m sure he’ll run well.”
Douglas will also saddle two additional runners on the Caulfield program.
Tiger Shark, the Rich Enuff (Written Tycoon) mare who has contested strong races throughout the spring, including the Premiere Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) behind Briasa (Smart Missile) and the McEwen Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m), and now drops back in class for the Village Stakes (Listed, 1100m). Her most recent win came two starts ago over the same course and distance.
“She’s had quite a number of runs and I thought I’d give her a try twice at 1200 metres her last two runs and it hasn’t worked out,” Douglas said.
“She’s the winner at Caulfield over the 1100 metres and she comes back to the 1100 with a bit of a space between runs. Little gear change from Barrier 1, will see a vast improvement in her. It’s probably as easy a race as she’s seen for a while, so if she can run up to a Concorde run, even her win where she beat Oak Hill, she’ll be more than competitive.“
Perilous Fighter (Starspangledbanner) lines up in the opener, and Douglas is confident the Rosemont Stud-owned gelding is trending the right way after running second at Morphettville last start.
“I think he’d be hard enough to beat. He’s a big price, but he’s going really well. I have probably been chasing my tail a little bit with him, fitness wise, so I think we probably started to see the best of him last start in Adelaide, where he ran a nice second.
“Fourth up he’s got a really good record, so I think he’ll run well, he just needs to get the right run. He can be a horse that can be a bit aggressive, and if he switches off early he will be in the finish, so hopefully we see that tomorrow. After the claim he gets in okay at the weights. But he’s coming back from 82 grade, so he drops a couple of classes, so that’ll definitely help his chances.”
Meanwhile, Douglas is thrilled to have stable star Giga Kick back to Group 1-winning form.
“It was great to see him back to his best. Obviously, he’s had a really good start to the spring carnival, being able to win the Scillaci and then going on to win the Champions Sprint last week. It’s really good to have him back. He obviously hasn’t won a race for a while, but to win two in a row, it’s been awesome.”
After some talk about a possible Perth campaign, it was confirmed on Friday that Giga Kick will be sent for a spell and prepared for the Black Caviar Lightning (Gr 1, 1000m) in February.